WELD – Paul and Mary Sue Babb were on Day 72 of their cross-country trip when they stopped to camp at an isolated tent site at Mt. Blue State Park.

All around birch trees dazzled them with bright yellows, hardwoods showed off various shades of red, and pine trees provided that stark green contrast you get in a Maine fall landscape.

“I could get used to this,” Paul Babb posted on the Facebook page that has chronicled the Californians’ retirement trip.

Their experience at the Maine state campground mirrors that of other fall campers. They were passing through or drawn here to see the foliage, but the peace, solitude and remote feel at the campground made them want to linger.

“We were hoping nobody would be here. It’s so quiet,” said Mary Sue Babb of Santa Cruz.

This summer many more were lured to Maine’s state park campgrounds. And officials think camping at state parks may be making a comeback.

This year Maine’s 12 state park campgrounds saw a 7 percent increase in camping visitors, from 219,019 to 234,843, even while overall park attendance rose just 3.9 percent (from 2,238,120 to 2,326,159).

After reaching a 20-year high mark in 2002 with 249,500 campers at state parks, attendance dropped below 230,000 for seven years.

Then in 2010 during the 75th anniversary celebration of the Maine state park system, the remote and sometimes wild state parks drew campers back, and 244,000 filled tent sites and motor home spots from Freeport to Dover-Foxcroft.

And after a drop last year to 219,019, attendance soared again this year, with 234,843 roughing it in the woods.

Certainly the recent upsurge in camping visitors could be due to the sensational dry and sunny summer. But state officials think it could be something more.

“Camping is such a bargain during difficult economic times. It’s a combination of gas prices and extraordinary rates. Where else can you pay $15 to $20 a night to camp beside the ocean?” said Jeanne Curran, spokeswoman at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

Add to that Maine’s state parks have gotten some serious TLC of late by way of a $2.7 million bond in 2007 and a $500,000 bond in 2010 that led to far-reaching upgrades, including the construction of 10 new restrooms and bath houses, and eight new playgrounds. And Curran said the ethic at state parks has changed in recent years.

“We have made a real effort to make them year-round with fall activities and winter activities. Camping is May through September but we have events all year long,” she said.

The visitors at Mt. Blue State Park on Columbus Day weekend came for neither the events nor the upgrades. Campers from New York, Montreal and southern Maine wanted fall scenery and a room with a view.

Nina Edwards and Kip Miller of York said they got it.

They brought their clan for their annual fall trip to camp the last weekend of the season at one of their favorite sites.

“It’s usually not very busy now. We used to go to New Hampshire. But Mt. Blue is a little quieter. And they have really good hiking trails,” Edwards said.

And Alex Grennon and Philip Shinnick of Montreal were pleasantly surprised the park wasn’t more full at the peak of foliage during a holiday weekend.

With a little more than two dozen campers among the 136 camp sites, park manager Bruce Farnham said it was a decent crowd for late fall. But the Canadians still were treated to rare solitude.

As for the Babbs, they parked their homemade pop-up camper far back in the state park where their campfire and moving leaves were all they heard as they listened for loons.

“We hope to be back. Everything now is a possibility. And Maine is gorgeous,” Mary Sue Babb said. 

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com

Twitter: Flemingpph