How many Thruhikers on the trail end of Sept?

[Turtlehiker]

I am going to be backpacking the 100 mile wilderness from Monson to Katahdin from Sept 21 to the 30th will there still be thruhikers on the trail then? I think Katahdin closes on the 15th of Oct or close to that. I am just wondering if I will run into many people at the shelters and if I should pack in some trail magic for the first couple nights.

[Jack Tarlin]

Late September is a GREAT time to be hiking in Maine, maybe the best. There will be plenty of folks out at this time including lots of thrus about to finish up (some shelters will fill up on rainy nights so bring a tent!) But in any case, you'll meet lots of great folks and I hope you have a fine time.

[celt]

I am going to be backpacking the 100 mile wilderness from Monson to Katahdin from Sept 21 to the 30th will there still be thruhikers on the trail then? I think Katahdin closes on the 15th of Oct or close to that. I am just wondering if I will run into many people at the shelters and if I should pack in some trail magic for the first couple nights.
You'll have plenty of opportunity to do some trail magic. I did the same hike in 2003 between September 24th and October 3rd. I only had one completely full shelter, Wilson Valley which is 13 miles north of Monson, but I crossed paths with nearly 200 northbounders so I may have been lucky. My journals from '03 are online with more details:

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=49621

[TJ aka Teej]

Northbound thru-hikers will be coming into Baxter at about 8 a day between the second week of September and the first week of October.