Baxter State Park is a magnificent landscape of mountains, forests, and lakes that comes closest to revealing the wild and storied Maine of two hundred years ago. The centerpiece of the park is Katahdin, Maine’s highest peak and a terminus of the Appalachian Trail. A gift of Maine’s greatest citizen, Percival Baxter, the park abounds in history and legend. Because the park is all about preserving the wild, a guidebook is essential, and visitors are not catered to in the same fashion as in some of the more domesticated parklands. A history of the park will also offer a good understanding of the importance of wilderness to both past and present Mainers.

See a list of our other books about Baxter State Park.

Buzz Caverly first joined the ranger staff at Baxter State Park in 1960, when the new park was just taking shape under the direction of Helon Taylor and the park's donor, Percival Baxter, who wished the park to be "forever wild." Caverly's legendary career in the park – one of the most unusual wilderness areas in the nation – culminated when he became park director in 1981.

Over the years he saw tremendous changes in attitude about land conservation, public access, and park management. From the "Wild West" days of the 1960s to the intensely managed years of the 1990s and beyond, the clash of personalities and politics is entertaining and inspiring, and reveals the minefield of people and issues Buzz had to negotiate to save the park's wilderness character.

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2009 Edition

The Baxter/Katahdin visitor's bible. The 6th edition includes the recently-acquired areas, including Katahdin Lake. Guides you through the Park's 226 miles of trails, leading to remote ponds, more than 40 granite peaks, along roaring mountain streams, and through a country our forebears once knew by heart.

Includes:

• New Trail Updates
• Campground Descriptions
• Remote Campsites
• History & Geology of the Park
• Flora and Fauna
• Four-color Topographical Map of the Park

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Neff draws together rare sources for a journey through Mount Katahdin's history, legend, and legacy. The narrative retraces the steps of Native Americans, whose spiritual approach to the mountain still resonates today; recounts the first glimpses colonial Europeans recorded of the dramatic mountain; and accompanies Thoreau as he soaks up the landscape's majesty. Neff's analysis of the region's development through the advent of railroading and logging, sporting, and trailbuilding illustrates the history of its pathways, including the Appalachian Trail. The voices of today's Native American, conservation, and community members infuse this historical narrative with the life of the people who are intricately connected with the mountain. Neff also explores the mountain's more sinister legacy – that of misadventure and tragedy in the wilderness.

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Covers the entire State, but includes a significant section on Katahdin. Topo maps included with book.

Steve Tetreault’s true account of his time spent as a ranger in Maine’s Baxter State Park, a wilderness area of over 204,000 acres. In this collection of anecdotal stories, Tetreault describes his life as a new ranger in a strange place, meeting new people – and learning about his wild neighbors. If you are a lover of the outdoors in general, or Maine and Baxter State Park in particular, you will appreciate Steve’s depiction of a park ranger’s life from the point of view of a young and idealistic person.
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