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PKH
08-20-2004, 07:06
Just an informative note - no big dea. Just finished my southbound IAT hike from Cape Gaspe to Mount Katahden. Commenced 1 July and completed 12 Aug - 40 hiking days. A different sort of hike - lonely from a thru hiker's perspective.

I'd be happy to answer any questions about this trail.

Cheers,

PKH (Poor Knobby)

Tramper Al
08-20-2004, 07:55
Hi PKH,

First, congratulations!

I am a New England long trail hiker, so I am interested in hiking the IAT from Katahdin to the Canadian border. I plan to hike northbound simply because my hike will be a continuation of my nothbound NE AT hike.

Did you stick to the route specified by the current IAT materials, or did you find some more interesting alternatives. I have found some old railroad grades and forest roads on my maps that might be good alternatives. Were there blazes or other trail markers in Maine, or did you stay on track only by using the trail guide? Is it still pretty much all (car driven) roads from Mars Hill just inside the Maine border all the way to the gate at Baxter?

I'd love to hear more details in general. Do you have a journal or trip reports to share?

Thanks!

IAT Guide - Maine (http://www.internationalat.org/Info/SIAIAT_PDF/maineeng.doc)
IAT Map - Maine (http://www.internationalat.org/Info/SIAIAT_PDF/mainemap.jpg)

TJ aka Teej
08-20-2004, 20:34
Just finished my southbound IAT hike from Cape Gaspe to Mount Katahdin.
Congrats, Poor Knobby! How did you enter Baxter State Park, and what route did you take to Baxter Peak?

TJ
SAI-someday

PKH
08-21-2004, 07:24
Thanks. I entered Baxter from the south, and went up and down Katahden by via the Hunt trail. The weather was bad, bordering on vile. Hiking through the park from the north would have been preferable of course, but as a southbounder I didn't like to pin myself down with reservation dates.

Cheers,

PKH

PKH
08-21-2004, 08:11
Tramper Al,

I pretty well stuck to the route indicated in the guide. As you probably know, IAT hikers have a choice of walking south through Baxter or entering the park at the south gate. Travelling through the park is obviously the more desirable route but it poses difficulties for a southbounder who is reluctant to be restricted by reservation dates 6 to 8 weeks in advance. So my Maine hike was mostly road walking except for a section of rail trail just south of Mars Hill. I understand there is a quite attractive stretch of rail trail (about a day's walk) beginning south of Monticello. I have seen this described in at least one unofficial guide. You could contact IAT Maine for info on this.

As for your suggestion that you explore rail grades and logging roads as an alternate - why not? Let's face it: at this time the IAT is a work in progress and is having many difficulties with right of way. I would expect changes to the route as years pass. While for the most part the country roads hike through Maine is very pleasant countryside, it is still roadwalking and you will find that this can hurt you physically and psychologically more than the roughest backcountry trails. As you seem to considering the IAT in Maine for completion sake, I would also suggest you bypass the messy section of border walk north of Mars Hill. This is unpleasant, and unless you are a trail purist doing the entire hike, it is simply a badly routed section of trail.

The trail in Maine is adequately marked for a roadwalk. Certainly with the guide you will experience no difficulties.

I don't want to give the impression that IAT Maine was all pain and drudgery. That's not the case at all as I met many fine, kind people and passed through attractive country. But it will be different sort of walk than the AT.

IAT New Brunswick is about 50% roads and 50% rail trail. Blazes are few and far between, but hell, you couldn't get lost if you tried. The section between Perth Andover and Plaster Rock along the Tobique river is particularly pleasant. The official guide now suggests canoeing down the Restigouche river from Kedgwick to Matapedia Quebec as an alternative to a two day rail trail march. It seems that most northbounders do this and enjoy it very much.

IAT Quebec (SIA in French) is an entirely different hike. They had more money, seemingly more organization, fewer problems with right of way, and most importantly some seriously wild country to play with. Don't kid yourself, there are long sections of trail in Quebec that will challenge the most experienced long distance hiker. This can be a lonely trail with many days between hikers. With only the odd blip the trail is very well blazed and signed. At this point however, trail maintenance is not up to AT standards. Give them time and money I guess.

If I was to recommend the IAT/SIA to anyone, I would say do Quebec first. It is a wild and spectacular trail and it will be years before the good people in Maine and New Brunswick can solve their trail routing issues.

Hope this has helped a bit. I kept a rough journal of course but havn't really started a more polished and readable version. I will eventually and if you're still interested I can send you a copy.

Cheers,

PKH (Poor Knobby)

Frosty
08-21-2004, 13:07
Just an informative note - no big dea. Just finished my southbound IAT hike from Cape Gaspe to Mount Katahden. Commenced 1 July and completed 12 Aug - 40 hiking days. A different sort of hike - lonely from a thru hiker's perspective.

I'd be happy to answer any questions about this trail.

Cheers,

PKH (Poor Knobby)How did you re-supply? Any specific problem areas? Ones that might be problems for north-bounders?

Papa Bear
08-21-2004, 14:46
...
The official guide now suggests canoeing down the Restigouche river from Kedgwick to Matapedia Quebec as an alternative to a two day rail trail march. It seems that most northbounders do this and enjoy it very much.
...
Cheers,

PKH (Poor Knobby) Congratulations, well done.

For a few years now I've had the idea of hiking north through Baxter State Park, then connecting up with the Allagash Waterway at Webster Lake and going down that to the St. John River in Allagash Maine.

Is there any reasonable water route to then hook up with that section from Kedgwick to Matapedia you mentioned? I would have no purist scruples about bypassing New Brunswick altogether. I certainly would not want to run the St. John all the way down to the Andover area, but I guess you could. For an IAT NOBO that would seem like going backwards. But for an IAT SOBO now ...

Tramper Al: have you thought about the Allagash as an IAT aquablaze alternative?

Thanks
Pb

PKH
08-22-2004, 09:36
Well I took the simplest supply route possible. I had to drive north to the trail head anyway, so I dropped off supplies along the way. That is: through New Brunswick and Quebec. I staggered my supply drops in New Brunswick just two or three days apart to keep my load down and tried to do this as much as possible in Quebec. You can off course go the general delivery route (Poste restante in Canada) but you must ask permission of the post office in advance. I believe they will hold for 10 days. But this shouldn't be necessary. There are private and government run campgrounds as well as friends of the trail that will happily keep your supplies for you. Surely they would accept your package my mail if forewarned and the package is properly labelled. I just prefered to deliver my precious supplies by hand and look 'em in the eye. I would be happy to provide you with a list of these people and places if you are getting into the planning stages. There are so few thru hikers on this trail and road that I can guarantee the friends of the trail will be delighted to hear from you, meet you, and help you all they can. I have not met or heard of an IAT hiker who has said otherwise.

There are no sections of the trail that pose any more difficulties for north bounders than south but the two most spectacular sections in Quebec can be problematic. For the Nobo these would be the Matane wildlife reserve and the Gaspe Park (Le Parc de le Gaspesie) in that order. This is a 10 to 12 day stretch of challenging trail (the reserve in particular). There is a shuttle service that will ferry supplies from Cap Chat to Mount Logan (about the half way point in this section). As I was walking south I picked up 7 days worth of food at Lake Cascapedia - (large campground in Gaspe Park). The point is there are supply options and if and when you are seriously considering this walk detailed info is available, both from me and official sources. Except for that one remote section, 4 to 5 days of provisions is the most you'll need to carry. You really need the maps to make much sense of it all of course. I must say the maps of the Quebec sections of the trail are excellent and vital for your peace of mind. For Maine and New Brunwick road maps will do just fine.

More than you needed I suspect.

Cheers,

PKH (Poor Knobby)

PKH
08-22-2004, 09:50
Well thank you PB,

I am not a canoe person or a kayaker but I couldn't help noticing that the Tobique river had canoes and kayaks all over it from just north of Perth Andover. Note there are dams near that village, but apart from that this is a canoeing river all the way to Nictau. Mind you, you'd be going upstream but this is a peaceful river and anything beats roadwalking. I can certainly vouch for the beauty of this stream. Here are the e-mail address and phone number of Bill Miller (friend of the trail, third generation canoe builder, and unofficial mayor of Nictau). He can provide you all the info in the world about the Tobique river.

506-356-2409

[email protected]

Cheers,

PKH

Tramper Al
08-23-2004, 08:08
PKH,
Thanks so much for those details. Yes, I guess I am a trail completist, and have enjoyed some long trails in Southern New England that include a fair amount of country road walking. I enjoy that too, as a different kind of trail.

Pb,
Well, I have always really liked your idea of paddling out of the north end of BSP and then down the Allagash. I think that's a whole other trip compared to the Maine IAT and very different of course. Often my goal isn't so much to get from A to B but to walk a specific (trail) route. For some 'in progress' trails like the Northern Forest Canoe Trail and perhaps the ME IAT, the route allows some creativity without my feeling like I'm 'missing blazes', as they say.

So nice to hear about IAT and related adventures.

SavageLlama
08-27-2004, 12:51
Congrats on your hike of the IAT. Here's an article I just saw on the trail..


Hikers' paradise celebrates 10th: Appalachian trail's extension means people can walk from georgia to newfoundland and labrador

August 21, 2004
Montreal Gazette (http://javascript<b></b>:NewWindow(%20'FIISrcDetails','?from=article&ids=mtlg');void(0);)

BANGOR, Maine

What's a hiker to do after completing the Appalachian Trail, which meanders more than 4,500 kilometres from Georgia to Maine?

The answer: Keep walking - to the 2,100-kilometre International Appalachian Trail, which picks up at the AT's northern terminus on Mount Katahdin in Maine and winds up in Newfoundland and Labrador.

"It's a natural next step," said Fred Kirch, who splits his time between Delaware and Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula and has hiked the Appalachian Trail.

"You get finished (with the AT) and say, 'What am I going to do now? Oh, keep on going,' " said Kirch, who plans to hike the IAT next.

The idea of extending the Appalachian Trail was dismissed by some as a political gimmick when it was proposed in 1994 by former two-term Maine Governor Joseph Brennan during his unsuccessful campaign for another term.

But the proposal caught on, and last month about 30 people from both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border hiked the trail up Mount Carleton in New Brunswick, the highest peak in the Maritime provinces, to celebrate the IAT's first decade.

"The idea was to get people to think north ... to think about being in this corner of the Earth with the Appalachians going through, and not about boundaries," said Richard Anderson of Freeport, the trail's chief promoter and a former conservation commissioner for Maine.

The trail includes about 150 kilometres in Maine before riding the international border for 18 kilometres and opening up to 270 kilometres in New Brunswick, 670 kilometres in Quebec, and nearly 1,000 kilometres in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Eleven people have hiked the full Appalachian Trail and IAT.

The Canadian provinces have spent millions of dollars on the trail, weaving portions into sections of their park trails. In Maine, the all-volunteer effort has met challenges getting landowners' permission to allow trails on their properties.

Some segments of the trail follow country roads, but efforts continue to improve routes by putting the trail along abandoned railway lines and over Daicey Pond in Baxter State Park, where Katahdin is located.

Volunteers in Newfoundland and Labrador are getting started on a trail that will traverse cobble beaches and bogs.

On the Net: International Appalachian Trail: www.internationalat.org/SIAIAT (http://www.internationalat.org/SIAIAT)

MedicineMan
08-27-2004, 23:45
Please consider writing an article for the documents section here at WB and a list like Baltimore Jack's resupply for future IAT hikers.
As a hiker and paddler I was peaked by the kayaks you saw on the river....too much trail too much water too little time!
Again congratulations and thanks for the question/answer session.