From Katahdin to "civilization".

[SweetestFetus]

Just curious...

How can I expect to reach the nearest Greyhound/Amtrak town from Millinocket? Planning on bussing/railing-it back to Ohio from Maine, as we won't have a car or family up there to help us.
Is this feasible?
Just asking, 'cause I'm clueless...
(Is hitching the only way?)

Any help is appreciated.

[garlic08]

For me, it was easy enough to take Cyr Bus Lines from Medway to Portland, ME, and Amtrak from there. The AT Lodge ran a shuttle from Millinocket to Medway.

[BrianLe]

The easy approach is to bus to Bangor from Millinocket; stay at the hostel there and they'll shuttle you to the gas station that serves also as the bus stop. Bus took us directly to the airport, I think it might go on directly to a bus terminal and/or train station too (don't recall for certain).

You do have to hitch to Millinocket.

[peakbagger]

A couple of bus planning hints, there are at least two bus services between Bangor and Portland . Concord Coach runs from Bangor to the Amtrak Station in Portland. Grayhound runs from Bangor to their terminal in Portland which is about 1.5 miles from the Amtrak station. The Cyr bus line you take from Medway stops at both the Grayhound and Concrod coach bus stations (make sure you know which one). There are several bus lines from Portland to Boston. If you elect to take the bus from Portland to Boston, you want to end up at South Station (not North Station). If you take Amtrak from Portland it stops in North Station and you will need to either walk or ride to South Station to continue on so you may consider taking the express bus to Boston as they go to South Station and save you the hassle of going from North to South Station

For completeness, even though you want to ride Amtrak, if someone wants to go to the Portland Airport from Bangor, there are no major bus lines that end up there. To walk from the airport to the either bus station is several miles (despite them being very close to each other as the crow flies). There is a local bus service called the Metro that you can take but its routes are confusing. The Congress Street route (which goes to the Maine Mall) runs right by the airport entrance.

[Bare Bear]

From Baxter it is exceedingly easy to get a ride during the hiking season to Millinocket.

[BrianLe]

"From Baxter it is exceedingly easy to get a ride during the hiking season to Millinocket."

I had heard that too, but I think it might depend on time of day. Our group of thru's staying at "the Birches" were like a bunch of kids at Christmas, we couldn't sleep in and got up quite early to summit the mountain and so I an another fellow were out and ready to head into town not much after noon. Very little in the way of traffic going either direction at that point, at least on that particular day.

[10-K]

From Baxter it is exceedingly easy to get a ride during the hiking season to Millinocket.

I got a ride within minutes standing right in front of the Birches sign.

I do think I was pretty lucky though because it was the middle of the day and traffic appeared to be pretty light. I'd imagine later in the day when people are leaving would be the best time to hitch.

[peakbagger]

With regards to hitching, there are a pretty good run of cars leaving the Katahdin Stream parking lot (just north of the Birches) and heading to Millinocket and beyond any day there is good weather during hiking season. I would suggest hitching from the Kathadin Stream parking lot rather than the Birches. If you want to hitch in a group it is less likely as most of the cars will be passenger cars with at least two occupants, so they may not have the room. There is even a larger group of dayhikers that leave the park via the Roaring Brook parking lot in the afternoon for those who want to go down the east side of the mountain via the Knifes edge, Saddle or Cathedrals trails. It is also very likely that if you write your destination on a piece of cardboard and hitch at Medway, that you can hitch to Bangor or beyond as the majority of the hiker traffic leaving Medway is going to Bangor at a minimum. If you dont get a ride you can catch a bus at the Irving gas station across the street from the exit. Do note that when you get a ride, few folks know bangor and therefore you should have directions to the bus station in your possesion so you know which exit to let you off on.

[SweetestFetus]

Ahhh... much more confident now. Thanks so much to you all!