Pans for getting home

[downes911]

So what to people do for arrangements for getting home from Katahdin? Not knowing when they will finish? have friends meet them, rent a car, flights, train. You can't really reserve anything, not sure how to plan for the end.

[Rockhound]

I would do my panning along the way so hopefully, by the time I reach Maine, I will have collected enough gold dust to pay for a shuttle and plane ticket......Oh.....you meant pLan. My bad

[Ox97GaMe]

you can have a tentative plan in place. It will be hard to get plane reservations that far ahead, not knowing the exact day you will fly. But, by the time you get to Maine, you will have a much better idea of your target summit date. There will still be 200 miles of hiking ahead of you and you can make final arrangements by then.

One never knows what opportunities arise on the trail. I had folks offering to take me back to Georgia when I finished, but along the way some trail magic happened for me. My car was waiting for me at Baxter. It will all happen the way it is supposed to. you may be suprised at the number of possibilities that are presented to you as you hike.

have a tentative plan going in, but be prepared to alter that plan along the way.

[Wise Old Owl]

I was wondering why the "pans" wasn't in the Cooking Forum. I can't tell you how many times I started a thread and missed a letter in the title and wanted to fix it myself....

To answer your question... Have your relatives meet you there on the day you finish... A fantastic reward - to see loved ones again.

[FritztheCat]

That's the only unknown of my hike next year. I know I'll be taking an Amtrack from VA to GA but haven't given a whole lot of consideration as to how I'll return to VA from ME. I figure I'll sort things out on the way up there.

[Jester2000]

You'd be surprised how easy it is to get home from such a seemingly remote place. Plenty of time to worry about that later -- around the time you realize you'll finish.

[Spirit Walker]

Don't worry about it now. You don't know when or where you'll end up finishing, so it's wasted energy to spend much time on it now.

If you have family that can meet you great. If not, you may have a hiking partner or friend finishing the trail at the same time as you who can give you a ride to the nearest bus station. Or you can hitch to the nearest bus station. Or you may meet a dayhiker at Baxter who will give you a ride out.

As others have said, on the trail, things have a remarkable way of working out, one way or another.

I had a friend who was homesick and decided to leave the trail in Virginia. We were standing outside a restaurant with our packs when a car pulled up asking if we were thruhiking. My friend said, I was, but now I'm going home to Baltimore. The driver of the car said he had hiked the previous year, but right now he was driving to Baltimore. My friend got a ride - simply by standing outside a restaurant looking like a hiker. It can happen.

[white_russian]

It is very easy. The AT Lodge can do your shuttling from the park to the bus stop. Take the bus from Medway to Portland and voila you are in the system and have all the options. For last minute plans, trains seem to work out to be the best price and have the most flexability.

[Rockhound]

That's the only unknown of my hike next year. I know I'll be taking an Amtrack from VA to GA but haven't given a whole lot of consideration as to how I'll return to VA from ME. I figure I'll sort things out on the way up there.
Shuttle to Bangor. Greyhound to Boston then Amtrak to VA.

[Rockhound]

Cyr bus line also runs from either Medway or Millinocket to Bangor. I think that is only about $20 and bangor to Boston is probably about the same.

[downes911]

Tanks guys oops I mean thanks guys, what great wit, I hope I find such wit on the trail.

[Rockhound]

Keep in Mind a lot can happen between GA and ME. 90% of the people that say they are thru-hiking wind up falling short of Katahdin for any number of reasons. Injury, illness, family or work emergency, out of funds, out of time, boredom, homesickness.....I'd say start making those arrangements once you hit Maine. Until then don't even worry about it.

[singing wind]

There's so many ways to get out of Baxter and Millinocket to points south. Hitching is one, shuttles another ... Concord Trailways, Cyr, and Greyhound buses can help you get to Portland and Boston. Concord Trailways also connects out of Portland to Logan Airport and Amtrak in Boston.

If you need extra time at Baxter State Park there's the option of overflow sites at Katahdin Stream Campground (2 leantos and one picnic shelter - the shelter is suitable for hammock hanging) - so far as I know they are not reserved in advance.

Lots of time between Springer and Maine to figure all this out.

Good luck with your hike! And enjoy... :)

[singing wind]

Oh, p.s. Just in case you head for the bus in Bangor - the Greyhound and Concord Trailways stations are in 2 different places in town. There's a wonderful Shaws grocery store just up the street from the Greyhound station - about 5 minutes walk away.

[peakbagger]

This seems to be one of the major stress issues that thruhikers seem to have as they are on their last leg of the trail. I expect its a surrogate for anxiety in general on what happens after they reach their goal. Last year, I ran into a couple of hikers that were majorly stressed out about getting a ride from Roaring Brook to the gate if they did the "knifes edge" trail after reaching the summit.

There are really no good airline deals out of the Bangor airport so plan on heading down to Portland and either catching Amtrak, an ariline at the Portland airport or a bus to Boston. The airline deals are usually pretty good with two weeks notice so you can always arrange flights when you are in the Stratton area.

As for getting a ride from Millinocket, dont stress on it. 95% of the people who are in the park or in the area on whitewater rafting trips are heading back down the I95 to Portland or beyond. If you are staying in Millinocket, take a shower, make up a nice sign from a cardboard box with your destination and I expect you will have a ride within a couple of minutes. Its a a long boring drive back to "civilization" so most folks appreciate picking up a thruhiker, as many probably have the same goal or at least the aspiration to hike the trail. One trade off is that you will be trapped in the car with people asking you questions, so if you arent in the mood to be social, take the bus in Medway.

[JustaTouron]

There are really no good airline deals out of the Bangor airport so plan on heading down to Portland and either catching Amtrak, an ariline at the Portland airport or a bus to Boston. The airline deals are usually pretty good with two weeks notice so you can always arrange flights when you are in the Stratton area.



When making flight arraingements, also consider the Manchester NH (closer) and Providence RI (an hour south) airports. Both often offer flights considerably cheaper than Logan. Many people drive from Boston to the outlying airports because you can save money.

[Jim Adams]

You can always turn around and walk!...trust me...I'll bet the thought will cross your mind if you get to Katahdin.

geek

[JustaTouron]

You can always turn around and walk!...trust me...I'll bet the thought will cross your mind if you get to Katahdin.

geek

Or head north on the IAT.

[ShelterLeopard]

I'll figure it out in Maine. Worse comes to worst, take a shuttle down to Portland and the train down from there.

[Ladytrekker]

I have never thru hiked so am not a voice of appropriate information. However, I have read several books about the AT (my obcession) and will be sectioning it starting in May 2010. Anyway, I am sure everyone is different but the some of the voices in the past in the books that I have read made statements that they wished they had thought about the ending more than they did.

Some said alot of family was there and piled them into cars and the ride and noise was deafening to them. The billboards, traffic and crowds, etc just totally over stimulated them to quickly after being in the woods for so long. Some said they got car sick for the first time in their lives.

Making comments wished they had a gotten a quiet place for a few days and eased back into the rat race. Most found thru hiking the AT was totally life changing and for most in the positive way.

Do you think that these statements are pretty average in how most feel when getting off the trail and being in nature and perhaps not behind the wheel of a car for 6 months was it overwhelming going home and would you have ended your trip differently in knowing what you now?

[Jester2000]

I would have taken a few days off in Millinocket and chilled.

And I wouldn't have been the one driving down I-95, which scared me. And if I was the one driving, I would have found a road where I didn't have to go faster than 45 MPH, which at the time was the fastest I could drive without freaking myself out.

[GGS2]

I'm not an AT thru, but on other long trips and retreats from the city/hectic world I have either ended up in a remote community for a short time, or taken a quiet bus ride or something similar. When I have jumped right back into the rat race, it has been rather overwhelming. I would plan for a few days of acclimation, if I could. So a day or two getting back from Katahdin would be about right. Small town, back woods Maine would be fast enough for me.

[ShelterLeopard]

I would have taken a few days off in Millinocket and chilled.

And I wouldn't have been the one driving down I-95, which scared me. And if I was the one driving, I would have found a road where I didn't have to go faster than 45 MPH, which at the time was the fastest I could drive without freaking myself out.

Yep- I'm thinking that after months of hiking 3mph, it'll be flipping weird to be actually driving on a highway.

[Spirit Walker]

Making comments wished they had a gotten a quiet place for a few days and eased back into the rat race.

Do you think that these statements are pretty average in how most feel when getting off the trail and being in nature and perhaps not behind the wheel of a car for 6 months was it overwhelming going home and would you have ended your trip differently in knowing what you now?

I didn't have much trouble on the AT, but hiking out west I have had tremendous transition issues. When I finished the JMT I wanted a night to get used to being in 'civilization' but the people who gave me a ride insisted I get on a bus to the city right away. They didn't want to leave me alone in Bakersfield. So I woke up watching sunrise over Whitney and went to sleep in the middle of San Francisco. I spent the next week in shock. Angry and alienated. I wanted to be back on the trail.

When we did the CDT, it was even worse. My brother picked us up at the border and drove us to Phoenix. When we topped a ridge and saw the lights of the city spread out for miles and miles before us, Jim and I both shut down. We went from there to San Jose, then on to Houston (family visits). By the time we got back to Maryland, we had such culture shock we holed up in a single room and barely left all winter. Cities seemed so utterly alien. Consumerism seemed so strange to us I couldn't handle it. Popular culture was something I could not care less about. It took a hike on the PCT before we became even slightly used to being around people again. We always were different. Spending time alone in the wilderness exaggerated our differences.

Driving is still an issue. The aggressiveness of the drivers around here doesn't fit the mental speed at which I move. Going from 2 mph to 70 is scary.