Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Maine / Baxter State Park

Russell Pond via Roaring Brook

Baxter State Park (near Millinocket)

Russell Pond is the most remote campground in Baxter State Park, a cluster of lean-tos, tent sites, and a small bunkhouse in the wild country north of Katahdin. The park lists it 7.2 to 7.6 miles from Roaring Brook Campground, or 9.6 miles from South Branch Pond, and every route in involves fording streams with no bridges.

The walk itself is gentle. Maine Trail Finder calls the Russell Pond Trail “primarily a valley trail, crossing just a few low ridges,” and a 2024 trip report on Hyperlite Mountain Gear’s blog describes it as “super mellow with only a minor amount of elevation gain.”

The hike

The Russell Pond Trail starts at Roaring Brook Campground, the same trailhead used for Chimney Pond and the east side of Katahdin. According to Maine Trail Finder, it passes the junction with the Sandy Stream Pond Trail after about a mile, then winds past Whidden Pond and heads north “through the long valley between North and South Turner Mountains to the east, and Russell Mountain and the bulk of Katahdin to the west.”

About 3.3 miles from Roaring Brook, the Wassataquoik Stream Trail branches off. It follows the South Branch downstream and passes old fields from the logging operations at New City, then rejoins the route toward Russell Pond; Maine Trail Finder lists it at 3.9 miles. It requires its own ford of the South Branch, which Maine Trail Finder says is unsafe during spring runoff or heavy rain. A TrailGroove writer who brought a family of five to Russell Pond in 2024 used the Wassataquoik Stream Trail on the way out.

The main trail fords Wassataquoik Stream. Maine Trail Finder says the crossing is “typically knee-high, but can be dangerous at times of high water,” and the park notes there are no bridges over the Wassataquoik and that the trail may close when the water is up. The Hyperlite writer, hiking in early October 2024, forded the Wassataquoik twice and found the water “about knee deep.” Two four-person lean-tos sit on the south shore near the ford, according to Maine Trail Finder, and a poster in a Views from the Top thread called them “easy to hike into with nice views up the stream.”

Russell Pond Campground has five lean-tos, three tent sites, and an eight-person bunkhouse, according to the park, and it’s known for fishing. From there, the TrailGroove family spent their days on side trips: swimming and lunch at Wassataquoik Lake, where they explored the Green Falls cascade; a swim at Deep Pond; boulder-hopping at Lookout Ledges, where “massive boulders poke above the trees”; and a walk to Grand Falls and Inscription Rock, with relics of the logging era in the stream gorge. They saw moose several times, including one near the pond’s inlet.

Russell Pond also works as the first night of longer loops. The Hyperlite writer went from Russell Pond up the Northwest Basin and North Peaks Trails, over the Howe Peaks, Hamlin Peak, Baxter Peak, and the Knife Edge, and down the Helon Taylor Trail. He called the North Peaks Trail a good choice for solitude, with “very gradual” climbing. A 2020 Backcountry Post trip report strung Russell Pond together with Wassataquoik Lake, Chimney Pond, and Martin Ponds over five days.

For a shorter, steeper overnight from the same trailhead, see Chimney Pond.

Tips

Camping

Camping in Baxter is allowed only at designated, reserved sites, and the park caps groups at 12 people per campground. Russell Pond Campground has five lean-tos, three tent sites, and an eight-person bunkhouse; the two Wassataquoik Stream lean-tos near the ford are another option. The park’s sites are generally open May 15 to October 15. Fires are allowed in Baxter except at Chimney Pond and Davis Pond, according to the Friends of Baxter, and the park asks visitors not to bring firewood from elsewhere.

Inside Intel: Lean-to #5 comes up again and again. A 2020 Backcountry Post trip report called it “the penthouse suite of Russell Pond,” noting that “this site is all by itself at the bottom of the pond,” and a poster in a Views from the Top thread on favorite Baxter walk-in sites called it “quite private.”

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Fording Wassataquoik Stream to Russell Pond:

Every route to Russell Pond fords unbridged streams, and Wassataquoik Stream is typically knee-high but can be dangerous in high water. Read five tips before you wade in.

Get the five tips →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.