Here’s what we planned to do – travel from Quebec City, Quebec, Canada to Baxter State Park to enjoy a few days up in the remote north of Maine. We plugged everything into the GPS at our Airbnb in Quebec City, where we had internet, and had the route set. It should have taken us about 4.5 hours to get up to Baxter. We were leaving around 10:30 am, so should arrive mid-afternoon in Baxter to set up our tent and enjoy our lakeside campsite – perfect. We had also been informed by the tourist office of the wine and cheese region located between Quebec City and Maine, so we planned to make a stop or two for wine and cheese tasting. And so we set off.
For the first hour or so, all was well. We saw a few signs indicating wine and cheese early in our journey but weren’t ready to stop yet. And then we stopped seeing signs, so guess we should have stopped earlier! We figured that was okay, we would just save some money. After about 2 hours, we were approaching the Canadian/American border and suddenly the road became a dirt road. We thought maybe we made a wrong turn, but our GPS indicated we were correct, and we didn’t have any service to double check this, so we continued another 2 miles to where the border supposedly was. As we approached, there was a small building and a Canadian guard standing outside. We asked if we needed to get out and enter the building to make the crossing. He asked us where we were trying to go and we indicated that we were on our way to Baxter State Park in Maine. Then he told us that we were on a logging road and could continue if we wanted, but that in about 30 more miles of dirt road, at the American border control point, we would likely be turned around (99% likely) and told to go to the border crossing approximately 1.5 hours south of where we were. He also mentioned that this mistake was common with GPS systems (so beware!). Given that the road ahead would be dirt AND we had no cell service AND our chances of crossing there were unlikely, we turned around and headed down to the border crossing on 201 that the guard mentioned. And this is when our trip started turning south (literally and figuratively). We pulled out our actual maps of Quebec (thanks Dad for picking these up at AAA for us). As soon as we pulled it out, we realized that we should have done this sooner – the map indicated where all of the unpaved roads were located, and we were clearly on an unpaved section.
So, we headed south to reach the actual border crossing point. This was about a 3-hour delay at this point, but we stayed positive. We had plenty of daylight left and full confidence that we could still reach Baxter in time for dinner. Approximately 2 hours later, we reached the actual border crossing. The American border control officer told us it was likely another few hours to Baxter and that we would have limited to no cell service the entire way. No problem, we had maps.
We finally got a few bars of service about 45 minutes after crossing the border and confirmed we were on the correct route. We also realized at this time that there was no potable water available in Baxter – and we were pretty low on our water supply in the 7-gallon tank and other water bottles. Fortunately, along the way, we came across Lily Bay State Park, so we pulled over there and asked the ranger if they had any water we could use to fill our supply. The rangers were extremely nice and let us in free of charge to use the spigots. Great, we thought, now we are all set for Baxter. We continued towards Baxter another 20 miles or so, when suddenly the road became unpaved. You would think we would have learned the first time, but we once again referenced our map and came to find that the rest of the way (60 miles) would be unpaved. At this point, we were losing daylight and nervous about having car issues at night, without cell service. We decided to abandon Baxter for the night. We turned around and headed back to Lily Bay State Park and fortunately, they had two open campsites for the night. After some discussion with the rangers, we found out that Baxter is only accessible via dirt road. The more traditional approach is by way of I-95, but regardless, we would have to spend some time on dirt roads and the journey takes a while. We slept on the decision, but ultimately decided to abandon Baxter entirely and eat the pre-paid campsite fees in order to avoid another 4 hours of driving. On the plus side, Lily Bay State Park, was fantastic and a very fortunate accidental stop (see our post on Lily Bay for more information)!
