View Full Version : Questions about NH/Maine in May
that_guy
12-11-2014, 19:25
Hey guys,
Earlier this year, I attempted a NOBO thru-hike and for a variety of reasons ended my journey in Duncannon. I'm looking to finish the trail in 2015, continuing NOBO from Duncannon, and am tossing around a few different start dates.
I really like the idea of April 1st or so. It would allow for way more solitude than if I started during May/June/July when all the thru-hikers are rolling through. The weather looks to be pretty solid up through Vermont, but I am definitely worried about the higher elevations in New Hampshire and Maine that early in the year. If I hike at a similar pace to what I did for the first half of the trail, I'd be getting into New Hampshire at the end of April and summitting Katahdin around May 20. I'm curious if anyone has any experiences hiking that far north that early in the year that they'd like to share. My main worries are the winter snow still being unmelted throughout much of New Hampshire and Maine, and/or the black flies hitting hard hundreds of miles away from Katahdin.
speedbump
12-11-2014, 19:34
Be prepared for winter weather, even in the summer. So for that time of year, you could get freezing cold and snow. And the bugs can be aweful.
freightliner
12-11-2014, 19:49
I don't even think Mount Katahdin is open that time year. I do know that spring skiing in Tuckermans ravine is best April and May. They should still be skiing on Bromley that time year so I don't know how your going to get up the trail there. They ski on Mount Killington until June so I don't know how you going to go cross that. Then there's Pico Peak your going to walk down that ski trail and they'll still be skiing there. I should probably also point out that every creek that you going to go thur will be rivers of icy cold water that time year. There will be no canoe to cross Kennebunk river and all the fords in Maine will be undoable. Seeing that there is still ice and snow in Moosic notch in the summer I don't even know what it would be like that time of year. I hate to be a buzz kill but it's just not a good idea.
Freightliner is right. I lived in Maine for several years. April is mud season, as in up to your knees mud. May is when all the black flies make their appearance. My kids would come in the house with their hair caked with blood thanks to those insects.The rivers will not be fordable because of spring run off. Hike your hike but I wouldn't.
freightliner
12-11-2014, 20:15
Freightliner is right. I lived in Maine for several years. April is mud season, as in up to your knees mud. May is when all the black flies make their appearance. My kids would come in the house with their hair caked with blood thanks to those insects.The rivers will not be fordable because of spring run off. Hike your hike but I wouldn't.
Isn't the blackfly your state bird. I don't know about you but a black fly bite looks like I have a golf ball under my skin they just tear me up. Okay now I'm starting to itch.
that_guy
12-11-2014, 20:21
Oh yep I forgot to even mention the filled creeks/rivers. Thanks for the advice. I will likely aim for either a July start from Duncannon or an August start from Katahdin instead.
SouthMark
12-11-2014, 20:39
I'm really afraid to ever go back to Maine. I have hiked it three different years in May, June, and August. I have yet to be bitten by anything. I just know that the odds will watch up with me if I ever go back.
swisscross
12-12-2014, 00:13
I lived in Burlington VT for a few years. The year that I decided to move home it snowed May 29th (swimming time in the South) The mountains were covered with snow.
Be careful and be prepared for any weather.
The locals told me they had four seasons...winter, mud, mud and mud.
That_guy There's no way you will hike through New Hampshire in April and summit Katahdin May 20. You would face mid winter conditions (feet of snow and ice, sub zero windchills) in the Presidentials and in the Mahoosics, streams would be a torrent in Maine, bugs would be waking up, mud will be everywhere, and Katahdin will be either not open to hikers yet or just barely opened. Wise up and move this trip to a month later. Clearly, you've got no idea what you are getting into.
Slo-go'en
12-12-2014, 00:49
Clearly your not from around here. You "might" get away with starting in Duncannan 1st of May. You'd be at the the tail end of mud season in Vermud, but in the peak of black fly season the rest of the way.
An April 1st start is just silly. There is no way you'd do that many miles, in that short a time, that time of year. Anyway, that part of Maine is pretty much shut down in May, along with much of NH and Vermont.
illabelle
12-12-2014, 05:31
Oh yep I forgot to even mention the filled creeks/rivers. Thanks for the advice. I will likely aim for either a July start from Duncannon or an August start from Katahdin instead.
If your responsibilities elsewhere allow, don't discount the possibility of starting April 1 in Damascus and walking through the spring up to maybe Connecticut or Massachusetts. We did a section of Pennsylvania in mid-April, and it was quite pleasant. I'd hate to be doing that in July/August. The heat would be awful.
Then go home and rest up for a bit. Come back after the snow and ice and mud and bugs and raging rivers are gone, and finish your hike. I hear Maine is very nice in August.
garlic08
12-12-2014, 08:22
I finished my thru hike up there in mid July and it was just about perfect. I was a week or so too early--just a few flies in ME and a few spots of that knee-deep mud in VT. I walked on one spot of snow in the Mahoosuc Notch and it was just enough to be fun. I would not have wanted to be much earlier, that's for sure, or it would have been a different experience.
When did you do the Whites? Beginning of July?
I finished my thru hike up there in mid July and it was just about perfect. I was a week or so too early--just a few flies in ME and a few spots of that knee-deep mud in VT. I walked on one spot of snow in the Mahoosuc Notch and it was just enough to be fun. I would not have wanted to be much earlier, that's for sure, or it would have been a different experience.
It's quite normal to have deep snow in the mountains of NH right into late May and early June. Memorial Day (end of May) is when thousands of New Englanders gather at Pinkham Notch to ski Tuckermans' Ravine (or watch others attempt to do so.) To make matters worse, it's the middle of the "melt" season so streams are running high. The trail from Pinkham to the base of the Tuckermans bowl is heavily traveled but almost always passable. Other trails can be a huge PITA, particularly at stream crossings. As for Mahoosuc notch -- I encountered ice there in August. Not enough to impede my crawl through the notch, but surprising in any case.
peakbagger
12-12-2014, 10:08
There is still plenty of snow in April in the whites on the trails. On many of the most popular trails, the dreaded "rail" can form. The "rail" if formed by winter hikers repeatedly hiking over snow compacting it which turns into a mix of ice and very compacted snow. Generally the trail will be packed out from one edge of the vegetation to the other but the majority of the buildup is in the middle. As the temps warm up the rail starts to form into a inverted bell curve shape with the center of the trail being the peak. Once the rail is in place the choices are all bad. One option is walk along the crown of the slope which can be solid for only a few inches with loose wet stuff to the sides. It like walking a fence and when you slip its posthole time. If you try to walk on the sides you will posthole. I one day took 2 hours to walk down from Wildcat E to Carter Notch (less than a mile) and had to quit a day hike as I beat up so bad. The "rail" will slowly disappear in the exposed sunny spots but will stick for quite awhile in areas that dont get a lot of sun like up the spruces. Falling Waters Trail off Haystack is somewhat infamous for a rail that stays late in the spring. Hiking on a rail can easily reduce your forward progress by 1/2 or even as much as 1/3.
Generally the "rail" is an issue on some trails in the whites to early to mid may.
Incidentally, the "rail" effect is also developed by snowmobiles which is one of the reasons why Baxter State Park doesn't open on times some years as the use of the park road as winter snowmachine route causes the road to be the last thing to thaw out.
DaveRowell
12-12-2014, 14:40
I hiked Katahdin to Bennington Vt in April to May last year. Snow was not an issue. Mud mud and more mud and bugs drove me insane. The snow is not an issue in May. Of course the Whites are my backyard so I'm well versed in snow and cold
Consulting my "records" from 2014: April 12 there was still about a foot or more of hard crunchy snow on the lower stretch of the Rattle River trail (near Gorham) between the Rte. 2 trailhead and the shelter, about 3 miles in. I gave a bit of thought to climbing Moriah the next morning but decided it would be too much work breaking trail in snowshoes, where the trail starts to ascend steeply.
May 18, climbing Mt. Liberty, most of the snow was gone, but there was still a considerable monorail to contend with near the summit. I did it in trailrunners but it was a bit dicey in places.
oldwetherman
12-12-2014, 22:09
I attempted a thru in 2013....knee issue took me out in Duncannon....I'm planning on doing Duncannon to Katadhin this year. I'm an old retired guy so my schedule is flexible.
Question for all you folks in the mid Atlantic and New England states. What would be the best time to leave Duncannon? I'm planning on 10 to 12 weeks on the trail.
oldwetherman: You get to choose between mud, mosquitoes, and heat, depending on your departure date. Late spring, you get mud. Mud season gives way to mosquitoes. After that comes the heat of mid-summer. Some of my most miserable (hottest) AT hiking has been in southern New England in mid-June.
Slo-go'en
12-13-2014, 00:02
Oldweatherman, the best time to hike New England is late summer/early fall. Ideally you want to finish by the 1st week of October, so work backwards from there. Unfortunately, that is also the time when most of the other thru hikers are here too.
garlic08
12-13-2014, 08:38
When did you do the Whites? Beginning of July?
Yep. I remember hiking into ME on the 4th of July, exactly three months after I left Springer. The hardest part of the trip in the north, I thought, was the June mud in VT. The Whites had perfect conditions. If I were to do that hike again, I'd leave two weeks later and hopefully miss the blizzards in the Smokies and on Mt Rogers.
Another Kevin
12-13-2014, 10:00
There is still plenty of snow in April in the whites on the trails. On many of the most popular trails, the dreaded "rail" can form. The "rail" if formed by winter hikers repeatedly hiking over snow compacting it which turns into a mix of ice and very compacted snow.
Yes, indeed! I took the following pictures, not in the Whites, but in the Helderbergs in eastern New York, which enjoy considerably milder weather. It was around about the first of April, but at less than 1000 feet elevation. I made my day trip down in this pretty little nature preserve because the ice in the Catskills that day was slushy and wouldn't hold a crampon safely. Hiking on unsound ice is not for me, thank you. Up in the peaks, conditions like this persist until late May. I've been on the monorail in T-shirt and shorts, but wearing full crampons.
The ice on the abandoned logging road there is about six inches thick, from repeated compaction by snowmobile traffic.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2839/13524430555_05c4abea96.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/mB7f2a)
(https://flic.kr/p/mB7f2a)
In the adjacent woods, there's a dusting of snow, except on the trails, which are solid ice. (The spots on the trail that look as if they might be bare dirt are duff and pine needles wind-blown on top of the ice.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/13524347915_59f9bdecd1.jpg
(https://flic.kr/p/mB6Psk)