The Nobo’s guide to Baxter and Katahdin for 2017.

[TJ aka Teej]

Congrats! You’re almost there!
Some things you might want to know: The Nobo’s guide to Baxter and Katahdin for 2017. (https://baxterinfo.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/first-blog-post/)

Monson: If you’re really late in the season, consider a flip up to Katahdin, and a hike back to Monson thru the 100. I highly recommend Shaws and Lake Shore House. Pete’s Place has great food and an excellent hiker store. A philanthropic group is revitalizing ‘downtown’ – including a new general store!
The ATC’s Monson Field Office – stop in for up-to-date trail info! New location for 2017 – right across from Pete’s Place and Lakeshore House! Get your AT passport’s final stamp!
Baxter Planning: When you get to the Park, there will be only 12 spots at the Birches each night for long distance hikers. (You must hike in from at least Monson to qualify for a spot.) You can either chance getting a spot, or call ahead from Monson and see if there are any open spots at Katahdin Stream Campground. KSC is on the AT with a water source, the Birches (pictured above) are up a dirt road a bit from the campground with no water. If you’re looking at a weekday in September or October you may score a site to share with a friend or two. Call the Park at (207) 723-5140, you can charge the $32 fee over the phone. Tell them you’re a thru, and you’ll pick up the reservation paperwork at the KSC Ranger’s Cabin.

Much more at the link above.

[peakbagger]

Nice work. The Mountain Crossings link doesn't appear to link to any Baxter Sate Park article but rather their blog. I am guessing that the article is in the archived blogs?

[TJ aka Teej]

Nice work. The Mountain Crossings link doesn't appear to link to any Baxter Sate Park article but rather their blog. I am guessing that the article is in the archived blogs?
It fell off their front page. Fixed it, thanks, pb.

[peakbagger]

Would you happen to know the hours for Togue Pond Gate around Labor Day? Mostly need to know when they close at night.

[TJ aka Teej]

Would you happen to know the hours for Togue Pond Gate around Labor Day? Mostly need to know when they close at night.
10PM. Cut off time for first night of reservations is 8:30PM. If you arrive after the 8:30 cut off time with a rez, you won't be admitted.

[peakbagger]

Thanks for the help !

[buoyantbeans]

Would love some help, Is my thinking correct? My flight home from Portland is September 18. From what I've read, if I'm going to use public transport, I need to get to Medway, then bus to Bangor and bus to Portland. I think I can do this in one day since my flight out of Portland is not till 5:30 pm. So on September 17, I can summit Katahdin, and catch a ride to Millinockit for the night after I summit and catch a shuttle to Medway the next morning. Then I would plan to spend September 16 in the Birches/KSC area to start Katahdin early the next morning.

Is this do-able, or do I need to plan on another day? In theory I would love to get there quicker.

[TJ aka Teej]

Would love some help, Is my thinking correct? My flight home from Portland is September 18. From what I've read, if I'm going to use public transport, I need to get to Medway, then bus to Bangor and bus to Portland. I think I can do this in one day since my flight out of Portland is not till 5:30 pm. So on September 17, I can summit Katahdin, and catch a ride to Millinockit for the night after I summit and catch a shuttle to Medway the next morning. Then I would plan to spend September 16 in the Birches/KSC area to start Katahdin early the next morning.

Is this do-able, or do I need to plan on another day? In theory I would love to get there quicker.
Do-able. The key is that Cyr bus out of Medway. Leaves southbound at 9:30AM, gets into the Bangor Greyhound Station at 11:10AM - and the bus to Portland leaves about 20 minutes later. Miss that first bus and you're screwed.

[buoyantbeans]

thanks TJ, hopefully I can use my feet and wont have to yellow blaze to make it happen.


Do-able. The key is that Cyr bus out of Medway. Leaves southbound at 9:30AM, gets into the Bangor Greyhound Station at 11:10AM - and the bus to Portland leaves about 20 minutes later. Miss that first bus and you're screwed.

[TJ aka Teej]

Nobo timing: Do NOT plan to finish on Labor Day weekend if you can avoid it!
All parking, and all campsites, at Katahdin Stream are set aside for the Penobscot gathering.
The Birches is still open for 12 ATers a night, one night's stay only.

Avoid Labor Day weekend. KSC is booked solid by a Native American group. Try to summit by the first week in October, later dates are pushing the weather window. Baxter and Katahdin do not “close” on October 15th. The Birches and Katahdin Stream stay open until October 22nd, and trails up stayed open until the 26th in 2016.

[TJ aka Teej]

Total AT hiker numbers just passed 2600.
29 degrees last night at the Birches.
Kennebec Ferry closes October 9th.
Pete's place in Monson closes today.
Carartunk B&B is closed.
Abol Bridge restaurant is closed.
AT Lodge's last shuttle out of Baxter: Oct. 15th.

[Slo-go'en]

Weather hasn't been a factor to keep the numbers down this year. The weather has been so good it's scarry. The next week looks good too, so expect a mad dash to the finish over the next 2-3 weeks. I bet that 2600 number goes up significantly by the final tally. Which is just crazy.

[Suzzz]

A friend and I are planning to summit Katahdin on Saturday. We are section hikers and this will be her first visit at BSP. We have reservations at KSC for Friday night. Lets hope the weather cooperates.

[Starchild]

Nobo timing: Do NOT plan to finish on Labor Day weekend if you can avoid it!
All parking, and all campsites, at Katahdin Stream are set aside for the Penobscot gathering.
The Birches is still open for 12 ATers a night, one night's stay only.

Actually it was a wonderful finishing then, Katahdin was not the ending, but the Penobscot pilgrimage was awesome, I felt blessed that I ended on that weekend.

[rickb]

Total AT hiker numbers just passed 2600.Any breakdown of how many of those were thru hikers— in the sense most of us use term on Whiteblaze?


Im recent years the total number of NOBOs reporting thru hikes to the ATC has never topped 700, and the number of SOBOs starting out has hovered around 500.

[MuddyWaters]

Any breakdown of how many of those were thru hikers— in the sense most of us use term on Whiteblaze?


Im recent years the total number of NOBOs reporting thru hikes to the ATC has never topped 700, and the number of SOBOs starting out has hovered around 500.

The ferry data has topped 700. Its topped 1200



Greg Caruso, Maine Guide Service, LLCI am happy to report that the 2016 Ferry season has come to a close without injury or incident of any kind related to the AT Kennebec River Ferry Service. Again, we had a record number of hikers this year. The final numbers for the season break down as follows:


Southbound through hikers: 420
Northbound through hikers: 1,194
Flip Flop through hikers, heading south when they crossed the river: 150
Flip Flop through hikers, heading north when they crossed the river: 113
Southbound section hikers: 356
Northbound section hikers: 405
Day use hikers: 2
Total hikers using the Ferry Service during the 2016 season: 2,640
We also took 33 dogs across the river this season.
Confirmed Forders/Swimmers: 10

As in seasons past, a small minority of hikers chose to ford the river this year. I confirmed 10 forders, but suspect from my conversations with hikers, there were several more. This number is much lower than last year’s tally, in my opinion, due to the change in the Ferry hours to a contiguous 5 hour schedule during peak season. It seems that the 9am start is early enough for those coming from a short distance, and the 2pm end time is late enough for most to come from a reasonably longer distance.

[rickb]

The ferry data has topped 700. Its topped 120


Thanks, Muddy.

I had expected the number of NOBO thru hikers making it to the Ferry (and by inference Katahdin) was greater than then number reporting their hikes to the ATC, but I didn’t expect the difference to be nearly as large as your numbers suggest.

Those from BSP will be interesting.

[TJ aka Teej]

That's last year's totals for the Ferry. Today's the last day of the 2017 season.
The BSP numbers include every AT hiker that has hiked in from at least Monson, every flipper, every sectioneer, and every sobo.
The exact breakdown? I don't know anything official, other than what hikers say when they get their numbers.
I'm up Baxter 8 more nights before the camping season ends, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

[rickb]

That's last year's totals for the Ferry. Today's the last day of the 2017 season.
The BSP numbers include every AT hiker that has hiked in from at least Monson, every flipper, every sectioneer, and every sobo.
The exact breakdown? I don't know anything official, other than what hikers say when they get their numbers.
I'm up Baxter 8 more nights before the camping season ends, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

On the Baxter Facebook page last week they said they had issued more than 2500 permits and had just 650 left.

I would think that would be more than enough, right?

Interesting that some NOBOs could pay a price (in theory, anyway) for the number of AT SOBOs and flipper SOBOs that climb Katahdin earlier this year.

Are the Trails up Katahdin especially busy right now?

[TJ aka Teej]

BSP 10/9/2017:
Issued AT Hiker Permit cards have passed the 2750 mark. All AT hikers are encouraged to finish their Katahdin hike in the next two weeks.
To Rick: I don't know, AT hikers are all AT hikers, and not on weekdays.