50 Miler Patch

Adventure Trek

Confirmed C Participating Participating

When and Where

When: August 9-15, 2026 , 7:00 am — 1:00 pm
Nights: 6

Location: Mount Katahdin / Baxter State Park, Maine

🙋🏻‍♂️ RSVP

Passed

When: 06/22/2026

✍️ Waiver

Passed

When: 08/03/2026

🚲 Gear shakedown — bring everything, load it on the bike

Passed

When: 08/03/2026

🚴 Fully loaded group ride

Passed

When: 08/05/2026

📦 Gear drop-off & vehicle loading

Passed

When: 08/08/2026

💰 Mandatory Fee

Passed

When: 08/08/2026

🩺 Medical Form

Passed

When: 08/09/2026

🚗 Go

Passed

When: 08/09/2026

Advancement Opportunities

Opportunities offered at this event. Per-scout credit varies with attendance; for some metrics, adults record the qualifying portion after the event.

Metric All attendees

Nights

Centre primitive — any overnight on a troop event. Trunk of the nights snowflake.
Unit: nights

Adventure Trek is Troop 23's flagship high adventure — a week-long expedition that pushes scouts beyond weekend camping into serious backcountry territory. From Sunday, August 9 through Saturday, August 15, 2026, we're heading to Maine for a multi-sport push around Mount Katahdin — the highest peak in the state and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

The trek combines two disciplines into one expedition: a ~100-mile bike loop around Baxter State Park's eastern boundary along the International Appalachian Trail corridor, plus a summit attempt on Mount Katahdin on foot — about 10 miles round trip with ~4,150 feet of elevation gain. Combined, the trek is designed to qualify for the 50 Miler Award: five consecutive days, 50+ miles under your own power, and 10 hours of service along the way. Our planned ~115 miles and ~9,900 ft total vertical clear the bar with room to spare.

When and Where

Dates: Sunday, August 9 — Saturday, August 15, 2026 (7 days, 6 nights)

Region: Baxter State Park & Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, north-central Maine

Trip start / end: Togue Pond Gate, Baxter State Park (the main southern entrance), about 10 hours by car from Brooklyn — split across two days in each direction.

Format: 1 travel day → 4 days cycling on quiet North Woods roads → 1 summit day on foot (Katahdin), interleaved so the five active days run back to back → 1 travel day. The bike loop runs clockwise around Baxter's eastern boundary, with three group campgrounds along the way.

Partly supported: the vehicles come into the park with us and stay at Foster Field for Monday and Tuesday, which is what makes the summit day work — the heavy kit, the coolers, and the troop kitchen are all right there. From Wednesday morning the cars are out of the picture, so what a scout needs for the rest of the week rides on the bike: sleep kit, tent, the day's food, water and layers. That is what the rear rack and panniers are for.

⚠️ Weather

Northern Maine in August: daytime highs typically 70–80°F, nights dropping into the 40s. Black flies are usually past peak by August but mosquitoes are not. Mount Katahdin makes its own weather — afternoon thunderstorms are common and the park can close the summit above treeline with little warning.

Where we actually are, and what it means

Worth being precise about this, because it drives the whole packing list. Every campsite and every mile of riding on this trek sits in a narrow band between 375 and 1,090 feet. There is exactly one day that goes anywhere near alpine terrain — Tuesday.

Each point below links to its own National Weather Service point forecast, generated for those exact coordinates. Millinocket's forecast is a useful directional read, but a camp at 375 feet on a river and a summit at 5,267 feet are not the same weather, and the point forecasts say so.

WhereElevationWhat that means for usForecast
Lunksoos Camp — Thursday night375 ftLowest and warmest camp. River bottom on the Penobscot, so the buggiest night of the week.NWS
Togue Pond Gate — start & finish615 ftWhere the loop opens Monday and closes Friday.NWS
Trout Brook Farm — Wednesday night705 ftOpen meadow, no canopy. Clear nights cool off fast and the dew is heavy — expect a wet tent in the morning.NWS
Katahdin Stream trailhead1,075 ftWhere Tuesday's climb starts.NWS
Foster Field — Monday & Tuesday nights1,090 ftHighest camp of the trip, and the coldest nights we'll have.NWS
Baxter Peak5,267 ft4,200 feet above where the day began.NWS · summit

So the riding days are a warm-weather problem — sun, sweat, bugs, and afternoon thunderstorms. The nights are a 40s-Fahrenheit problem. And Tuesday is a completely different mountain, in every sense.

What 4,200 feet of climbing does to the temperature

Air cools roughly 3.5°F for every 1,000 feet you gain. Climb from the trailhead to Baxter Peak and that's about 15°F colder at the top than at the bottom, before wind enters the picture. A 55°F morning at Katahdin Stream is around 40°F on the summit plateau — and the Tableland is a broad, open shelf with nothing to hide behind.

Wind is what turns that from brisk into dangerous. Two examples, using the National Weather Service wind-chill formula:

That is not a forecast — it's arithmetic, and it's why a fleece and a wind shell go up the mountain in August even when it's 75°F and sunny at camp. As the park puts it, a warm summery day at the bottom can mean near-winter conditions on top. Add sweat from 4,000 feet of climbing and a cotton t-shirt, and hypothermia stops being theoretical.

The forecast widget below is for Millinocket, ME — the closest town with a reliable point forecast, about 80 miles south of Baxter. Use it as a directional read on the week's weather; ranger postings at the trailhead are the source of truth for above-treeline conditions on summit day.The forecast widget below is for Millinocket, ME — the closest town with a reliable point forecast, about 80 miles south of Baxter. Use it as a directional read on the week's weather; ranger postings at the trailhead are the source of truth for above-treeline conditions on summit day.

 

Powered by the Tomorrow.io Weather API

Overview

The full route — bike loop and Katahdin summit on one map. Pan and zoom to inspect any segment.

The same week is also available as a single KML file for phone map apps — all five days in colour, every camp, the summit, and the shops on the drive up. It loads into Organic Maps, Google Earth and anything else that reads KML, and unlike the track above it keeps the pin icons and the per-day colours. Worth putting on the phone before the signal runs out on Monday morning.

What to Bring

Everything here gets loaded into the vehicles at the Saturday, August 8 drop-off, so pack to that deadline, not to Sunday morning. Before that there are two rehearsals — the gear shakedown on Monday, August 3 and the loaded group ride on Wednesday, August 5. Use them. A sleeping bag does not just "go somewhere" on a bike: cables run out of slack, handlebars have less room than they look, and the time to discover that is the 3rd, not the 8th.

The list is organized around where we actually are, because that's what determines what you need. Six of the seven days happen between 375 and 1,090 feet — warm days, cool nights, mosquitoes. One day goes to 5,267 feet. Those are two different packing problems, and the useful way to think about this trip is as three kits: what rides on the bike, what lives in camp, and what goes up the mountain on Tuesday.

The vehicles help for the first half of the week. They're at Foster Field Monday and Tuesday, so the summit kit doesn't have to be carried anywhere — it sits in a bag in the car and comes out Tuesday morning, and goes back in Wednesday when the cars leave.

Know where the vehicles are, because that is what sets the load. There is one at every camp except Trout Brook:

NightCampVehicle?What that means
Mon + TueFoster FieldYes — bothCoolers, kitchen, bags. Cook properly, sort the summit kit.
WedTrout BrookNoDinner and Thursday's breakfast arrive on your rack.
ThuLunksoosYesFood for the evening and Friday morning is waiting.
Frion the road southYesThe loop closes where the cars are parked.

So the stretch that decides your pannier size is Wednesday morning to Thursday afternoon: you leave Foster Field carrying four meals — Wednesday's lunch and dinner, Thursday's breakfast and lunch — not one day's worth. Plan it with your tent partner and split what can be split.

Kit 1 — On the bike, every riding day

Kit 2 — In camp

Nights run into the 40s°F. Foster Field is the highest camp and will be the coldest; Trout Brook sits in an open meadow where clear nights cool fast and the morning dew is heavy; Lunksoos is the warmest and the buggiest.

The sleep kit rides with you all week — bag, pad, tent and tarp go in the panniers on your rack. It is needed at Foster Field on Monday and again at Trout Brook on Wednesday, and no vehicle carries it between the two, so it never leaves the bike.

Kit 3 — Summit day

This is the one that matters. Baxter State Park publishes a Ten Packing Essentials checklist and it is the standard we hold to — every scout carries a full set, not one set shared across the group.

One rule that overrides the whole list: no cotton on summit day. Cotton holds sweat, stops insulating the moment it's wet, and pulls heat out of you. Coming out of a 4,000-foot climb soaked in a cotton t-shirt, into 40°F and wind, is the textbook path to hypothermia. Synthetic or wool, base layer to mid-layer.

Park etiquette worth knowing: Baxter asks that cell phones stay off and stowed in your pack. There's no signal anyway — but the ask is about what the place is for.

Group gear

The patrol sorts this out, not the adults. Go through the list together and work out who brings what — it is not necessary for every scout to carry a stove, and two stoves and two canisters between the group beats eight of each. That decision is yours to make, and making it well is most of what "be prepared" means here.

Assigned by patrol: cooking stoves and fuel, water filters (carried by the adults — nobody needs to buy one), group first aid kit, bike repair kit and pump, and food storage per Baxter rules. While the vehicles are at Foster Field the food goes in a car overnight, which satisfies the park's bear rule; after that it is a bear hang or a canister, same as any backcountry night.

Travel to Maine, Sunday

Long driving day — Brooklyn to the Baxter region is roughly ten hours, past the practical limit for a single day with a convoy. The Togue Pond Gate closes at 8:30 p.m. and Foster Field is another ten miles of riding past the gate, so trying to reach camp the same day we leave Brooklyn was never going to work. Instead the drive splits in two: a long Sunday leg to a campground outside Bangor, then a short Monday morning run north to the park.

Departure: early morning from OLA. [TBD — exact time.] Everything is already loaded from the previous day's packing session, so the convoy pulls out rather than packs.

Vehicles: three. One carries the bikes and the gear, one carries passengers, and the Eagle Scout contingent travels self-contained in its own vehicle.

Driving stops: two or three on the way — gas, food, leg-stretch.

Sunday night: KOA Bangor, about eight to nine hours from Brooklyn and about ninety minutes short of the park gate. There's a pool on site, which is a better reward after a day in the car than another hour of driving.

Optional side trip: if the convoy makes good time, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are about an hour east of the campground — worth a look for anyone who still has energy. Strictly a bonus; the trek doesn't depend on it.

Monday morning opens with the last ninety minutes of driving, north to the park gate.

Sunday Night — KOA Bangor

Our stop on the drive up — about eight to nine hours from Brooklyn, about ninety minutes short of the park gate. Pool on site. Phone: 207-843-6011. This is the last night with cell signal and a store nearby; from Monday morning on, the nearest supplies are back in Millinocket.

Bangor / Holden KOA
Address:
602 Main Road
Holden, ME, 04429
Coordinates(i): 44.7550802°, -68.6591747°
Google Maps  |  Waze  |  Organic Maps

Foster Field, Monday

Start: Togue Pond Gate (Baxter State Park southern entrance)
Finish: Foster Field Group Camp
Distance: ~11 miles by bike
Elevation gain: ~900 ft

The day starts with about ninety minutes of driving north from Bangor to Togue Pond Gate, the park's southern entrance, where the vehicles pay in and the bikes come off the racks. Our reservation itself checks in further up the road at Katahdin Stream Campground — which is also where Tuesday's climb starts, so the ranger conversation about the week's weather happens at exactly the spot we'll be standing at dawn the next morning.

Togue Pond Gate

Togue Pond Gate is Baxter State Park's southern entrance at 64 Balsam Drive, Millinocket, and the payment and entry point for everything in the park's southern half — though individual campgrounds handle their own check-in, and ours is at Katahdin Stream. The gate typically opens at 6 a.m. and closes around 5 p.m. in the shoulder season; summer hours run later. Katahdin Trailhead Pass (KTP) holders must arrive by 7:05 a.m. or forfeit the spot — a hard rule that catches first-timers off guard. Day-use line-up at the gate begins at 5 a.m. The adjacent Togue Pond Visitor Center has rangers, maps, restrooms, the park's printed rules, and the day's posted above-treeline weather class (1–4, with 4 strongly discouraging summit attempts and a separate "black" closure status). Cell signal drops near Millinocket and is gone past the gate. The reservation office line is 207-723-5140. Maine vehicles enter free; out-of-state passenger vehicles pay a $20 day-use fee. Bikes enter free but must carry Baxter bike tags (issued one per four bikes) at the trailheads.

Then the easy first day on the bikes — short mileage to break the legs in and let everyone shake out their setup before the bigger pushes mid-week. The route follows the Tote Road, the gravel road that loops through Baxter, climbing gently toward the heart of the park. All the camping gear and food goes ahead by vehicle, so the ride is a ride.

Foster Field Group Camp sits in the western part of Baxter, within striking distance of the Hunt Trail trailhead at Katahdin Stream Campground. It serves as our base for two nights — Monday and Tuesday — so we can attempt Katahdin without having to break and rebuild camp on summit day. There is time to cook both lunch and dinner here; it's the most relaxed day of the week.

How the vehicles work

The cars come in with us and stay at Foster Field for Monday and Tuesday. That is what makes the summit day work: the coolers, the troop kitchen, the climbing kit and everyone's spare clothes are all sitting right there, so Tuesday can be about the mountain and nothing else.

Wednesday morning the cars head back out to the gate, and they wait there until the loop closes on Friday. So Wednesday morning at Foster Field is a real decision point: whatever goes into a car then — the boots you climbed in, anything you have finished with — you next see on Friday afternoon. Whatever doesn't goes on the bike for three days.

Water is not in the cars at all. It comes out of a stream at every camp and gets filtered, which is the first job after the tents go up.

Foster Field Group Camp

Foster Field is one of four group-camping areas in Baxter State Park, on the Park Tote Road west of Katahdin Stream. It has three numbered group sites (capacities roughly 12, 13, and 25 people) sitting in an open field rather than tucked under canopy. Standard Baxter rules apply: wood fires permitted in provided fire rings, camp stoves recommended. Our sites are tent sites — there are no lean-tos, so everyone pitches. There is no drinking water: it comes from the stream and gets filtered or boiled. Pit privies serve the area. Group reservations are made by mail or in person at Park Headquarters in Millinocket — not online — and open four months ahead on a rolling basis; check-in is at Katahdin Stream Campground, roughly 2 miles up the road, which is also the Hunt Trail trailhead. That proximity is why Foster Field is the standard base for groups doing a Katahdin summit day. Baxter's food-storage rule allows any of three options: bear hang, bear canister, or food locked in a vehicle — with a vehicle at camp, the food goes in the car.

Set up camp, cook dinner, gear-check for the summit. Lights out early.

Togue Pond Gate

Park's southern entrance and where Monday actually begins — the vehicles pay in here and the bikes come off the racks here. It's also where the loop closes on Friday. Our campground check-in is further up the road at Katahdin Stream. Reservation office: 207-723-5140. No services past this gate.

Togue Pond Gate — Baxter State Park
Address:
64 Balsam Drive
Millinocket, ME, 04462
Coordinates(i): 45.8237°, -68.8855°
Google Maps  |  Waze  |  Organic Maps

Foster Field Group Camp

Our base camp for Monday and Tuesday nights. Open-field group sites — tent sites, no lean-tos — with fire rings, pit privies, and no drinking water (stream source, filter or boil). Roughly 2 miles by road from the Hunt Trail trailhead at Katahdin Stream Campground, which is both our check-in point and the launch point for Tuesday's summit.

Foster Field Group Camp — Baxter State Park
Address:
Park Tote Road
Millinocket, ME, 04462
Coordinates(i): 45.9042°, -69.038°
Google Maps  |  Waze  |  Organic Maps

Mount Katahdin, Tuesday

Start / Finish: Katahdin Stream Campground (trailhead near Foster Field)
Route: Hunt Trail (Appalachian Trail) — out-and-back
Distance: ~10 miles round trip
Elevation gain: ~4,150 ft to Baxter Peak (5,267 ft)
Time: 8–12 hours round trip — alpine start required

This is the centerpiece of the trek. Mount Katahdin is the highest peak in Maine and the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail — the endpoint AT thru-hikers spend months walking toward. Standing on Baxter Peak puts our scouts on that same summit.

The Hunt Trail climbs through forest for the first 2 miles, breaks treeline around 3,500 feet, then turns into exposed boulder scrambling for the final mile to the summit plateau. Above treeline there is no shelter from weather. The park can — and will — close the summit if storms threaten.

Our route is the Hunt Trail, up and back down the same way. That is what the GPS track shows and that is the plan.

About the Knife Edge. Katahdin's most famous feature is the arête running 1.1 miles from Baxter Peak across to Pamola Peak — three feet wide in places, with drops of 1,500 to 2,000 feet on either side. It is one of the great ridge walks in the eastern United States and it is not part of this trip. It is an exposed scramble with no bail-out once committed, it is the wrong place for a group of this size, and after 4,000 feet of climbing it is the wrong place for tired legs. We go up the Hunt Trail and we come down the Hunt Trail. Mentioned here because scouts will read about it and ask.

Water: Katahdin Stream at the trailhead is the last reliable water below treeline — there is none above it, and the park warns that trailside springs are unreliable, including ones printed on Katahdin maps. Baxter's stated minimum is two quarts per person for climbing any mountain in the park; we carry 2.5–3 liters, because our day starts early and ends long. All water taken from any source in the park gets filtered or treated.

Getting from camp to the trailhead: the vehicle that stayed at Foster Field shuttles the group the ~2 miles to Katahdin Stream Campground. The bikes get the day off along with the legs that would otherwise have ridden there. We need to be at the trailhead by roughly 6 a.m. — separate from the 7:05 a.m. KTP cutoff at Togue Pond Gate, which only applies to day visitors entering the park. Footwear: cycling shoes are not climbing shoes — bring sturdy trail runners or lightweight hikers for the boulders above treeline.

The go / no-go call

Tuesday is the summit day, and it is the only summit day. That isn't stubbornness — it's the reservations. Wednesday night we're booked at Trout Brook Farm, 28 miles north, and the support vehicles are already staged down the loop. There is no version of this week where the climb slides to another morning. So the plan is to give Tuesday the best possible shot: sleep early Monday, start before dawn, move efficiently — and be honest about the weather instead of hopeful.

How we decide. The information arrives in this order

  1. Monday evening — the summit and trailhead forecasts linked above, checked from the last spot with signal on the way in.
  2. Monday at Katahdin Stream Campground — where our reservation checks in, and where this climb begins. That conversation with the ranger is the single most valuable thing we do on Monday. Ask directly about the Tuesday outlook above treeline.
  3. Tuesday at the trailhead kiosk — whatever is posted when we arrive.

One wrinkle to be aware of: the park posts the day's above-treeline weather class around 8:15 a.m., and we intend to be climbing by then. So the morning posting is a checkpoint we may be past — which is exactly why Monday's ranger conversation carries the weight it does. If the forecast is marginal, the right answer may be to start later and read the posting rather than start early and guess.

Hard rules for the day — these are not suggestions:

  • Sign in and sign out at the hiker register. Rangers track which parties are still on the mountain.
  • Every hiker carries a working flashlight or headlamp. This is Baxter State Park Rule 2.2, not a recommendation, and the park is explicit that a phone light does not qualify.
  • Turnaround time. Whoever hasn't reached the summit by the agreed hour turns around wherever they are, no debate, no exceptions. The park's own guidance: if you aren't up by mid-afternoon, you likely won't get down before dark. Proposed: 1:00 p.m. — final call from trek leadership before departure.
  • The group climbs as a group. Nobody pushes ahead to the summit alone and nobody gets left behind on the descent, which is when tired people fall.

If it's a no-go — the ranger calls it, or the class is bad, or the sky says no — we take it and move on. Tuesday still has a good day in it: a lower-elevation hike on the Daicey Pond or Sandy Stream Pond loops (3–5 miles each, well below treeline), or the short walk from the trailhead up to Katahdin Stream Falls. With a vehicle at Foster Field, we can reach any of them. A mountain that's still there next year is a better outcome than a rescue this one.

Katahdin Stream Campground & Hunt Trail Trailhead

Katahdin Stream Campground is the launch point for the Hunt Trail, the Appalachian Trail's northern terminus route up Katahdin. Day hikers must hold a Katahdin Trailhead Pass (KTP) — $10, reserved through the park's online portal beginning April 1, capped at two reservations per calendar month June–October. KTP-holding drivers check in at Togue Pond Gate by 7:05 a.m. and proceed to the trailhead lot, where parking is the limiting resource: no KTP, no lot. Groups already camping inside the park don't need KTPs — our reservation grants trailhead access; we just have to carry our Baxter bike tags (or vehicle tags, if we shuttle) at the trailhead to prove we belong. The trailhead has a ranger kiosk with a hiker register (sign in, sign out — rangers track returning parties), a water spigot at the campground, and vault privies. Northbound AT thru-hikers finish here, sometimes mid-morning during peak fall season; expect a celebratory crowd. The first mile of trail follows Katahdin Stream, passing Katahdin Stream Falls before climbing in earnest. There is no resupply, no concession, no cell signal — last gas and food are in Millinocket.

The Climb Itself

The Hunt Trail runs 5.2 miles one way from Katahdin Stream Campground to Baxter Peak (5,267 ft), gaining roughly 4,000 feet. The first mile follows Katahdin Stream past Katahdin Stream Falls; the trail then climbs steeply through forest to treeline near the three-mile mark, where it hits the boulders of Hunt Spur — an extended hand-and-foot scramble with iron rungs and rebar steps drilled into the rock at the worst pitches. Above the spur, the Tableland opens into a broad alpine plateau leading past Thoreau Spring to the Baxter Peak summit cairn marking the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. From the summit, the Knife Edge runs 1.1 miles east to Pamola Peak — famous, spectacular, and not our route (see above); we descend the way we came. Rangers post the day's above-treeline weather class at Togue Pond and at trailhead kiosks each morning around 8:15 a.m.

Back to Foster Field for a second night — eat, rehydrate, sleep.

Hunt Trail Trailhead — Katahdin Stream Campground

Tuesday's start point. Ranger kiosk + hiker register (sign in/out — rangers track returning parties), water spigot, vault privies. Last reliable water before treeline. Day hikers need a Katahdin Trailhead Pass (KTP) ($10, advance reservation); our group is camping inside the park, so we don't need KTPs — we carry our Baxter bike/vehicle tags instead.

Katahdin Stream Campground — Hunt Trail Trailhead
Address:
Park Tote Road
Millinocket, ME, 04462
Coordinates(i): 45.887469090173°, -68.998732566834°
Google Maps  |  Waze  |  Organic Maps

Trout Brook Farms, Wednesday

Start: Foster Field Group Camp
Finish: Trout Brook Farms Group Camp (northern Baxter, near the Matagamon Gate)
Distance: ~28 miles by bike
Elevation gain: ~1,270 ft

The first long day on the bikes, and by the numbers the friendliest of the three — 28 miles with the gentlest climbing of the week. The route runs north along the Tote Road, working through the heart of the park. This is real backcountry cycling — limited services, no cell signal, occasional moose. Lunch and snacks ride with you; carry at least two liters of water.

Trout Brook Farms Group Camp sits near the park's northern boundary, close to the Matagamon Lake area and an old farm clearing — open sky, good star viewing if the weather cooperates. This is the first night with no vehicle: dinner, breakfast and the sleep kit all arrived on the bikes.

There is one alternative, and it's the only night of the week close enough to civilization to have one. Matagamon Campground, a private camp just outside the north gate, runs a restaurant and can seat a group our size. It sits four miles from Trout Brook, which cuts two ways. Breakfast, served 7:00 to 10:30, is the easy one — Thursday's ride leaves through that same gate, so it costs almost nothing to stop. Dinner is the one on the clock: the kitchen closes at 6:00 p.m., so it means being back on the bikes by half past four after twenty-eight miles, and eight extra miles round trip. That is why Wednesday's dinner is packed and carried whatever the group decides — nobody hauls two days of food and then finds the kitchen shut. If the answer is yes, bring cash.

Water on route: streams cross the Tote Road at intervals, but every drop gets filtered or treated — there is no safe untreated source in the park. Carry the day's two litres from camp and top up rather than run dry.

Trout Brook Farm Group Camp

Trout Brook Farm sits in the park's far northeast corner, a few miles inside Matagamon Gate, and is the quietest developed campground in Baxter. It is unusual in the park system because the sites are set in open grassy meadows rather than woods — the clearing dates to early-1900s farming and logging, and a remnant apple tree in the tree line still marks the old orchard. The group area has four sites with capacities of about 8, 14, 14, and 14. Facilities are basic: tent sites, fire rings, pit privies, and no drinking water — the stream is the source, filter or boil. The open meadow gives a wide horizon and genuinely dark skies — there is no town glow on this side of the park. Access is via the northern park road from Patten / I-95 Exit 264; expect gravel road and slow driving. The camp is the staging point for Matagamon Lake day trips and northern backcountry routes.

Trout Brook Farm Group Camp

Wednesday night camp at Baxter's northeast corner, just inside Matagamon Gate. Open meadow group sites (a former farm clearing) — tent sites, fire rings, pit privies, no drinking water, dark skies. Staging point for Matagamon Lake, and there's a restaurant at Matagamon Campground just outside the gate.

Trout Brook Farm Group Camp — Baxter State Park
Address:
Park Tote Road (north)
Patten, ME, 04765
Coordinates(i): 46.164109208904°, -68.851618766785°
Google Maps  |  Waze  |  Organic Maps

Lunksoos, Thursday

Start: Trout Brook Farms Group Camp
Finish: Lunksoos Group Camp (Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument)
Distance: ~30 miles by bike
Elevation gain: ~1,890 ft

Today the route exits Baxter at the Matagamon Gate and rolls into the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument — an 87,500-acre federal recreation area that protects the East Branch of the Penobscot River and a long stretch of the IAT (International Appalachian Trail). The riding is similar in character to Baxter — gravel forest roads, low traffic, big trees. A little longer than the day before and hillier: a couple of genuinely steep pitches, though the day trends downhill overall. Two liters of water minimum, lunch and snacks on the bike.

Part of today's route crosses private land, and we ride it as guests. The way through Bowlin Camps is not a public road — the property manager gave Troop 23 permission to pass through, and asked that we not use the suspension bridge. The line we ride is the one the manager pointed us at, the same one cyclists passing through already use. What that means on the day: keep moving, keep the noise down, leave nothing behind, and thank anyone we meet. A permission like this is granted to one group and remembered for the next one.

Part of the route runs on active logging roads. Loaded trucks have the right of way and they do not stop quickly: when one comes, get off the road, let it pass, and let the dust settle before riding on. This is the one stretch of the week where the traffic rule matters more than the pace.

Lunksoos Group Camp is on the Penobscot River, and the food for the evening and the morning after is waiting in the site's bear boxes — it travels ahead of us and is there when we arrive, so nothing for Thursday night or Friday morning has to ride the day's thirty miles. Cook dinner, cook breakfast ahead, and get the legs up: the last day is the big one. Everything edible goes back in the bear boxes overnight.

Lunksoos Camp

Lunksoos Camp sits inside Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, on the East Branch of the Penobscot River, reached via Swift Brook Road off the monument's south entrance. The name comes from the Penobscot word for a fierce, now-extirpated woodland predator (variously translated as wolverine or mountain lion). The site was a working inn and lumber-camp lodge built on the old Dacey farmstead in 1881. The campground has six numbered sites plus a lean-to and a boat-launch site: picnic tables, fire rings (no separate permit required), bear-proof food boxes, vault toilets. Site 6 is the larger group site (6–20 people) and is ours — a tent site, not the lean-to. There is no potable water — bring a filter, no trash service (pack out everything), and no cell signal. The International Appalachian Trail (IAT) begins at Mile 12 of the Katahdin Loop Road and passes through this section, climbing Deasey Mountain and Lunksoos Mountain nearby. River access supports paddling on the East Branch.

Lunksoos Camp

Thursday night, and the launch point for Friday's closing ride. Ours is Site 6, the group tent site, on the East Branch of the Penobscot. Picnic tables, fire rings, bear-proof food boxes, vault toilets. No potable water — bring a filter. Pack out all trash. No cell signal.

Lunksoos Camp — Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument
Address:
Swift Brook Road
Stacyville, ME, 04776
Coordinates(i): 45.908256164677°, -68.613642454147°
Google Maps  |  Waze  |  Organic Maps

Closing the Loop, Friday

Start: Lunksoos Group Camp
Finish: Togue Pond Gate (where the vehicles are waiting)
Distance: ~36 miles by bike
Elevation gain: ~1,700 ft

The hardest day of the trek and the last one — the longest mileage, the most climbing, and the fifth consecutive day of moving under our own power. Everything the week has been building toward gets spent here. Early start, two liters of water minimum, snacks in the bag.

The line out of the monument crosses at Swift Brook and picks up Roberts Road, which rolls — a lot of short ups and downs rather than one long climb — then Huber Road cuts west back onto the Tote Road for the last run in to Togue Pond.

The loop closes at the Togue Pond parking lot, back where it opened on Monday, with the vehicles waiting. Load the bikes, change out of the riding clothes, eat something that isn't a snack bar — and then drive. The group heads south the same evening rather than spending another night in the park, which is what turns Saturday into a short, civilized drive instead of a marathon.

Friday night: the group overnights at a campground in Lebanon, Maine, roughly four and a half hours south of the park — two sites are booked. That is deliberately most of the way home rather than a short hop, which is what turns Saturday into a five-hour drive instead of a nine-hour one.

 

Friday Night — Lebanon KOA

The stop on the drive home, booked for Friday night — two sites on the Salmon Falls River in southern Maine, right on the New Hampshire line. About four and a half hours from the park and about five and a quarter from Our Lady of Angels, which is what makes Saturday a half-day drive instead of a marathon. Phone: 844-888-3423.

Lebanon KOA Holiday on Salmon Falls River
Address:
21 Flat Rock Bridge Road
Lebanon, ME, 04027
Coordinates(i): 43.346133°, -70.964661°
Google Maps  |  Waze  |  Organic Maps

Road Home, Saturday

The last leg. Because the convoy pulled out of Maine on Friday evening, Saturday is a short drive rather than a ten-hour push on top of a 36-mile ride — and the group is targeting a return to Our Lady of Angels at a genuinely reasonable hour, not the small hours of Sunday morning.

Bikes and gear get unloaded at OLA and sorted; troop gear goes back into storage. Scouts should plan to stay until the vehicles are empty — the trip isn't over until the last stove is put away.

Arrival at OLA: with the Friday-night stop booked in Lebanon, Maine, the time at the top of this page is arithmetic rather than a guess — about five and a quarter hours of driving. It still depends on how promptly the convoy gets moving on Saturday morning, which is the argument for driving late on Friday rather than stopping early: an extra two hours on Friday is two fewer on Saturday.

The 50 Miler Award

The 50 Miler Award requires more than just covering distance. The full criteria:

Our five qualifying days run Monday through Friday: four days of riding plus the Katahdin summit day, with no rest day in the middle. The mileage isn't close — roughly 115 miles against a 50-mile bar, and about 9,900 feet of climbing along the way.

The 10 hours of conservation service aren't a work party bolted onto the end of the week. They happen as we go, which is how trail service has always worked: you roll into a camp and leave it better than you found it, and when a tree is down across the road you get off the bike and move it.

What that looks like across the week:

Scouts log their own hours as they go. It's a better version of the requirement than a scheduled work day would be — the route hands you the job, and you're already there with the crew and the tools.

The Friday Service Project — NPS BioBlitz

The National Park Service is running a BioBlitz in Katahdin Woods and Waters on Friday, August 14, and Troop 23 is registered for it. A BioBlitz is a short, focused survey: volunteers photograph plants, animals, insects and fungi in one area and log them, and the park's Natural Resources division uses the result as baseline data for places it has flagged as being at risk of disturbance. It runs about four hours, and it falls in the monument's 10th-anniversary year.

Everyone: install iNaturalist and join the project — at home, before you leave

Two steps, not one. Install iNaturalist and create an account, then join the "Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument" project inside the app. The second step is the one people miss, and it matters: an observation that isn't attached to the project doesn't reach the park's dataset, which is the entire point of the day. Both steps need internet, and there is none on the route from Monday morning to Friday afternoon.

The paperwork — two different routes, and nobody does both

Under 18 — on paper, and a parent signs the same page. Read the Volunteer Service Description and the Job Hazard Analysis, then complete and sign the Volunteer Service Agreement (Form OF-301A). A parent or legal guardian must read those same two documents and sign the form as well — a troop leader cannot sign in their place. Scan it and send it to the Scoutmaster, who files it with the park. Scouts do not register on volunteer.gov; the signed form is the whole of it.

18 and over — online, and no paper form. Create an account at volunteer.gov and apply for the opportunity. Adults do not fill in the OF-301A — an electronic signature takes its place. Applying is only half of it. Once you have applied, the park releases your own onboarding agreement and volunteer.gov emails it to you to sign; that second email is what completes the registration, and it does not arrive until a ranger sends it. Leaving the application to the last day risks the signature arriving after the project.

Volunteers under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times while volunteering. That is the park's rule as written in the service description, and it is the one line worth reading twice before the trip rather than discovering on the day.

What to wear, and what the park hands you

The park provides a safety vest, which is worn the whole time, plus insect repellent and eye protection, and it drives volunteers to the work site in government vehicles — expect up to two hours in a vehicle on rough gravel.

You bring the rest, and two items are easy to miss because nothing else on this trip needs them: a long-sleeved shirt and leather work gloves. Cycling gloves do not substitute. Also long trousers, a hat, closed-toed shoes, sun protection, and your own food and water for the four hours.

Conditions

Up to three miles of walking on uneven ground, on trails that are moose and bear habitat, with ticks a real consideration in August — which is what the long sleeves and the repellent are for. The park's own rule is that nobody works in the field during lightning, thunder or hail, or in winds above 25 mph.

 

Useful Links

Weather — check these before and during the trip

Parks, rules, and gear

Route and award

Goals

Trek participants can work toward the following advancement and awards:

Awards:

Merit Badges (active progress on the trek):

Rank Advancement: cycling, hiking, camping nights, and orienteering all map to Tenderfoot through First Class requirements. See Youth Training for the full matrix.

Camping Merit Badge

Please read ahead and be ready. The hardest to get:

Requirement 9b. On any of these camping experiences, you must do TWO of the following, only with proper preparation and under qualified supervision.

(1) Hike up a mountain, gaining at least 1,000 vertical feet.
(2) Backpack, snowshoe, or cross-country ski for at least 4 miles.

First Class Rank Emblem

First Class

(!) A lot of items will be covered. Please read ahead and be ready. Most important:

4b. Demonstrate how to use a handheld GPS unit, GPS app on a smartphone or other electronic navigation system Demonstrate how to use a handheld GPS unit, GPS app on a smartphone, or other electronic navigation system while on a campout or hike. Use GPS to find your current location, a destination of your choice, and the route you will take to get there. Follow that route to arrive at your destination.. Use a GPS to find your current location, a destination of your choice, and the route you will take to get there. Follow that route to arrive at your destination.

5a. Identify or show evidence of at least 10 kinds of native plants found in your local area or campsite location. You may show evidence by identifying fallen leaves or fallen fruit that you find in the field, or as part of a collection you have made, or by photographs you have taken.

9c. On a Scouting or family outing, take note of the trash and garbage you produce. Before your next similar outing, decide how you can reduce, recycle, or repurpose what you take on that outing, and then put those plans into action. Compare your results.

The Adventure Trek Tradition

Every year, the Trek takes a different form — a different discipline, a different landscape, a different kind of challenge. Here's where we've been:

The 2026 trek to Katahdin combines two disciplines in a single expedition — a 100-mile bike loop and a 4,000-foot summit climb in one week. The previous Adventure Treks listed above each picked one mode (paddle, hike, or pedal); this is the first multi-sport edition in recent memory.

On the Horizon

Before we settled on Maine, the planning conversations went big — and some of those ideas are worth keeping on the radar for future years:

None of these are off the table — they're the kind of ambitious goals that keep the Adventure Trek program evolving. For now, Katahdin is the mission. But the conversation about what comes next is always open.

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Last updated on August 08, 2026