Baxter State Park officially opened for the season yesterday, May 15th, but winter has not been kind to the park road system, so the majority of trails and campgrounds will be late opening up this year.

I spoke with Baxter State Park naturalist Jean Hoekwater this morning and she gave me the lowdown on current park conditions and what we might expect for the next several weeks. Park officials are asking the public to be patient and give the park sufficient time to let things thaw out and dry out.

The Park has big trucks and crews in there right now trying to repair a great many washouts and remove blowdowns, but it's a slow process. The recent heavy rains haven't helped the situation any, and as much as 39 inches of snow is reported to be still on the ground at Chimney Pond.

There is no through traffic on the main Nesowadnehunk Tote Road. From the south entrance at Togue Pond, you can travel only as far as Foster Field. The road into Roaring Brook is closed beyond Rum Brook. At the Park's north end, you can travel only as far as the Fowler Ponds trailhead, so getting to South Branch Pond is out for now.

There are no trails open on Mount Katahdin at this time. And it may be as late as June 1st before any actually do open. The Abol Trail, on the south side of the mountain, will likely be the first, and may possibly open prior to the Memorial Day weekend. But many lower mountain trails will likely be opening up soon.

As for campgrounds, only Abol, Katahdin Stream, Daicey Pond and Kidney Pond are open at this time. The park hopes to have South Branch and Russell Pond open by the 20th, but that's iffy.

So, bottom line: If you have hiking plans or camping reservations for Baxter State Park over the next several weeks, please call ahead at 723-5140 to make sure you can get in to where you're going. If you don't have camping reservations, you may call the park and make them with a credit card.

And just in case you weren't aware, the park has completely revamped their reservation process to a new "rolling reservation system". There's a lot to it and I recommend checking it out yourself to be sure you understand how it works.

So give the good folks up there a little time to do their thing. And just think, while we're all waiting patiently to get in and enjoy the park, the black flies will have that much more time to gather strength and plan their bloody attacks on our arms and legs!