MILLINOCKET – With the new year fast approaching, many people are thinking about making reservations for a special cabin or campsite this summer at many of Maine’s public campgrounds.

People can start making camping reservations at Baxter State Park and at 12 state park campgrounds on Jan. 2.

Reservation day at Baxter State Park has become quite a rivalry for some die-hard campers, who are willing to sleep outside a Millinocket hotel in below-zero temperatures and snowstorms just to be one of the very first in line.

Soon after Christmas, Kendall “Duffy” Akerley, 53, of Bar Harbor and Bill Gunther, 49, of Newfane, Vt., will pack up their sleeping bags, tents, lots of warm clothing and head for Millinocket. The men won’t say exactly when they are leaving because they want to be among the first in line to get their favorite campsites at Baxter this summer.

Akerley, who has visited Baxter nearly every year for the past 40, stands in line in January to make sure he can get a reservation for a cabin at Kidney Pond in the summer.

Gunther, who likes early summer and fall camping, stands in line to get Cabin 10 at Daicey Pond Campground, something he can’t get by mailing in his reservation. “It’s the only place I can go and feel totally relaxed. It’s Percival’s paradise,” said Gunther, a Vermont state forester, referring to the former governor who donated to the state the land for the park.

Akerley and Gunther are hoping for 40 below zero temperatures and a nasty blizzard on New Year’s Day so the reservation line will be shorter. “I want to see what people are made of and that they pay their dues for this,” said Gunther.

Irwin “Buzz” Caverly, the director of Baxter State Park, said the doors for preregistration would open at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2, at the Katahdin Inn, located on Central Street. From there, groups of 12 to 20 will be sent down the street to park headquarters to make their reservations.

“The first day, the competition is pretty much for the cabins at Daicey and Kidney ponds,” said Caverly. “Those are the popular ones people are driving and competing with each other for. For people who want to reserve tent sites and lean-tos it’s pretty safe to drive on up a few days after the initial rush.”

People who come in person are given first choice on reservations. People who mail in their reservations are assigned campsites based on the postmark date.

Caverly said about 250 people typically turn out on the first day to make reservations, and another 500 to 700 people will come during the week. Park staff also will be busy opening 450 to 600 pieces of mail and answering telephone calls, more than 100 a day right through October.

He hopes the number of telephone calls requesting information about reservations will drop because people can get it online at the park’s new Web site, www.baxterstateparkauthority.com. Reservations cannot be made online.

Baxter is the largest state park in Maine, but it is not managed by the state of Maine. It is exclusively run by the three-member Baxter State Park Authority. Its 204,733 acres include 10 campgrounds that can accommodate about 1,100 campers a day.

Staff at the Maine Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks and Lands will begin taking reservations for its 12 state park campgrounds on Jan. 2.

Reservations can be made by fax at 287-6170; by telephone at 1-800-332-1501 and 287-3824 (out-of-state); online at www.CampWithMe.com; by mail to Department of Conservation, Attention Reservations, 22 State House Station, Augusta 04333, or in person at the department’s Augusta office. Reservations made before Jan. 2 will be returned.

Camping reservations are available at the following 12 state parks: Aroostook in Presque Isle, Bradbury Mountain in Pownal, Camden Hills in Camden, Cobscook Bay in Dennysville, Lake St. George in Liberty, Lamoine in Ellsworth, Lily Bay in Greenville, Mount Blue in Weld, Peaks-Kenny in Dover-Foxcroft, Rangeley Lake, Sebago Lake in Naples and Warren Island in Penobscot Bay.

The camping season at the 12 state park campgrounds runs from May 20 to Sept. 15. Sebago Lake campground is the most popular with 249 campsites, said Susan Benson, director of information for the Bureau of Parks and Lands.

For the 2001 season, the state processed 9,528 reservations, nearly double that of five years ago, said Benson. “The Internet has been incredible, ” she said. “It has literally opened up reservation opportunities to folks from around the state and across the country.” More than 3,400 of the reservations were made online.

One major change for the 2002 state park camping season is a new name for the reservation Web site, www.CampWithMe. com.

Benson said the site provides access to a new searchable database of all the state parks and public reserve lands. Before the database was included, people had to know exactly what to look for to find it, but now they can search all the bureau’s lands and properties by name, region or by activity, she said.

Fees from state park campgrounds generated about $500,000 this year, which go back into the state’s General Fund.

People can make individual camping reservations for Blackwoods Campground in Acadia National Park on Jan. 2 by calling 1-800-365-2267. Reservations for Duck Harbor Campground at Isle au Haut can be made by mail or fax (288-2097) beginning April 1. For reservation information in the national park call 288-3360.