This remote Maine trail follows the route of a boy who survived 9 days lost in the wilderness

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 13, 2026

During the fourth and fifth days of his extraordinary ordeal in July 1939, 12-year-old Donn Fendler followed the old Wassataquoik Tote Road, the same route that runs through this remote corner of Baxter State Park. More than 80 years later, I’m following part of that route. My primary goal on this five-day journey is to hike the Grand Falls Trail, a little over four miles of footpath that has eluded me through all these years of exploring Baxter. I am a couple miles’ walk to Russell Pond. If there’s a beating heart in the middle of Gov. Baxter’s magnificent wilderness, this has to be it. ~ Carey Kish