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Babes in the Woods

Take a kid-friendly trip through the Katahdin region.

Babes in the Woods

 

ten days in the north woods
Order your copy on islandportpress.com.

Hope Rowan knows kids aren’t always stoked to hike with their parents. Two years ago, she wrote Ten Days in Acadia: A Kid’s Hiking Guide to Mount Desert Island, a guidebook framed as a travelogue by a fictional 12-year-old named Hattie. A cartographer from MDI, Rowan wanted kids to think about what they want to explore, rather than feeling dragged along. Ten Days in the North Woods, out this month, is a sequel of sorts, full of maps, naturalist notes, and lovely illustrations of flora and fauna by Addison artist Jada Fitch. In Baxter State Park, Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, and the Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area, Hattie encounters remoter, rougher terrain — in Baxter, kids under 6 aren’t even allowed above tree line. But while planning a trip for her septuagenarian parents, Rowan realized there are plenty of trails suitable for hikers of all ages, if only you know where to look. “We were definitely more in the wilderness than on our last trip,” Hattie notes, “which was pretty cool.”