Alone in the southwest corner of Baxter State Park, Sentinel Mountain has a fitting name. Surrounded by pristine ponds and lowlands, it rears up out of the forest, standing guard over one of Maine’s most beloved swathes of conserved wilderness.
The mountain tops off at just 1,842 feet above sea level, making it one of the smaller peaks in the park. Yet from its bare granite ledges, hikers are rewarded with open views of Maine’s tallest mountain, Katahdin, as well as neighboring behemoths such as Doubletop, OJI, Barren and The Owl.
This summer, after poring over a Baxter State Park trail map, I decided that Sentinel was the perfect location for my niece’s first major mountain hike in the park — and I’m happy to report that I was right.
Now 12 years old, Willa has joined me on several adventures during our family’s annual camping trip in Baxter. She’s hiked along the Appalachian Trail to visit waterfalls, canoed on Daicey Pond to spot a moose and explored the lower portion of Katahdin’s rocky Abol Trail. However, Sentinel was her first big summit, and the 6-mile trek on a rocky, rooty trail was no joke.
Joined by my mother and our friend Gail, we started the adventure at Kidney Pond Campground, where several paths branch out to visit remote ponds.
Following blue blazes along the western shore of the pond, we soon came across a large, fern-covered boulder called Kidney Stone. A sign displayed the clever name.
Nearby, a group of four loons swam just offshore. As we watched them, I realized it was a mated pair fishing with their half-grown offspring. Every once in a while, one of the loon parents would carry a fish over to one of the “teenage” loons and pass it off. A free meal.
After about half a mile of hiking, we turned away from the pond to follow Sentinel Mountain Trail through a lovely forest. The trail crosses Beaver Brook, then gradually climbs the north side of the mountain.
Colorful caterpillars dotted the trail, clinging to leaves and crawling across the damp forest floor. I recognized a few species, such as the white hickory tussock, but for the most part, we made up our own names for them.
For example, Willa observed that a black-and-yellow striped caterpillar looked like a bumblebee. So, in honor of the famous woolly bear caterpillar, we called it a bumblebear. (It was a spotted tussock moth, I later learned.)
Here and there, the dainty vines of creeping snowberry, festooned with white, oblong berries, coated the forest floor. My friend Tori recently introduced me to the plant. She described the berries as looking like white Tic Tacs.
They even taste a bit like Tic Tacs. When you first bite into them, they’ve a fruity, tart flavor, much like a blueberry, which soon transitions into a flavor much like wintergreen.
I handed them out to my fellow hikers, who put their lives in my hands and trusted the berries were edible. Good reviews all around.
As usual, I found myself delightfully distracted by the wide variety of late summer mushrooms. Bright red, orange and yellow caps had popped out of the duff, along with yellow spindle mushrooms that look a bit like a cluster of French fries.
“There are French fries everywhere!” Willa exclaimed after I made the observation.
We also noticed mushrooms that looked like bagels. Food is often on one’s mind while hiking. However, we waited until we reached the top of the mountain before settling down on an open ledge to eat sandwiches in the sun.
As is often the case, the trail became steeper near the top, with a few areas of relatively easy hand-over-foot scrambling up rocks. Then the trail split into a 0.6-mile loop that circled the top of the mountain to visit a number of overlooks on rock ledges that are great for picnicking.
Sentinel Mountain actually used to be called Roosevelt Mountain after the famous president Theodore Roosevelt, who hunted and hiked in the area when he was a student at Harvard in 1879. Over time, the name Sentinel replaced Roosevelt on maps, according to “Mountains of Maine: Intriguing Stories Behind Their Names” by Steve Pinkham.
Out, around the loop and back, the hike was 6.2 miles.
We returned to Foster Field Campground — one of the park’s many camping locations — to soak our aching feet in the icy water of Nesowadnehunk Stream. For dinner, we dug into our coolers to unearth the ingredients for chicken, alfredo sauce and pasta, plus broccoli slaw, sourdough bread made in a dutch oven in coals, and s’mores over a campfire. By the time we crawled in our tents, our hiker appetites were sated.
Sentinel Mountain ended up being the perfect first mountain hike for my niece. Next, I think I’ll take her up South Turner Mountain, though that will require securing parking at the popular Roaring Brook Campground. Horse Mountain or Trout Brook Mountain are other great beginner options, though they lie in the less-traveled north end of the park.
Offering my niece the best Baxter hiking experience is important to me for several reasons. Selfishly, I want her to be my hiking buddy on family trips. I want to pass on my love of an activity that has brought me such joy and good health.
My hope is that Sentinel is the first of many mountains we hike together. As such, it’ll become a special place to us — that lonely mountain in the corner of Baxter State Park.
