South Turner Mountain is an excellent summit hike in Baxter State Park. The trail is perfect if you’re not quite feeling ready for a full-day hike to summit its bigger brother Mount Katahdin. The views from South Turner’s summit are almost as expansive as the views from Katahdin’s summit, but at just 3.7 miles, it’s a much shorter hike, and its 1,830 ft elevation climb is about half of the elevation climb of Katahdin, though this still quite challenging.
I hiked South Turner Mountain on July 5th, 2016, with my sister and nephew who was just seven years old, after hiking Mt Kineo on Moosehead Lake the previous day. The hike was a workout, more-so for my sister and I than my nephew, but not too difficult, and despite it being a busy weekend, we had the summit to ourselves. This has been one of my favorite hikes in Baxter.
Photo of South Turner Mountain by Matt Libby | Flickr
After entering Baxter State Park through its south entrance, you’ll bear right and head to Roaring Brook Campground at the end of the road. This is a busy campground and the parking lot often fills up with campers and hikers, so I suggest securing a parking reservation if you’re not camping there, or going very early or later in the afternoon. If the parking lot is full, they’ll tell you at the gate, and you can head to another trail in the park.
The hike begins on the Russel Pond trail near the park ranger’s cabin. You’ll pass the trail junction for Chimney Pond and Katahdin on your left, the Roaring Brook Nature Trail on your right, then the Russel Pond trail on your left. Keep walking straight toward Sandy Stream Pond.
As you walk past Sandy Stream Pond, there are a few short paths that take you to viewing areas on the shore. This is a great place to see moose (if you’re lucky!) especially around dawn or dusk, and it offers excellent views of Katahdin to your left and South Turner Mountain to your right.
After hiking for about a mile through the woods, the elevation will pick up as you begin to ascend South Turner Mountain and the terrain gets a lot more rocky.
At 1.8 miles, you’ll reach a clearing at the bottom of a rock slide. The views here are excellent, so take a break here before you tackle the last 0.1 mile of difficult (but fun!) boulder scrambling to the summit.
From the summit, you’ll have expansive views of Baxter State Park. To the south is Mt Katahdin, Whitten Pond and Sandy Stream Pond. To the east is East Turner Mountain, Katahdin Lake and Katahdin Woods & Waters beyond it. To the west is Russel Pond Mountain. To the north is North Turner Mountain and the Traveler. It’s amazing. When you’re done taking in the views, return to the trail head the same way you came up.
