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inspectorgene
07-01-2011, 13:43
My son is a thru hiker. He is expecting to finish up around the middle to end of August.

My wife and I were planning on making a big car road trip to pick him up and carry him back home to Georgia, but that ain't gonna work out.

I was thinking about making a trip on Amtrak to Portland, rent a car, pick him up at the end, and then he and I ride the train back to GA.

Looks like a stopover on the train in New York, and one in Boston, with the Boston stop requiring a taxi ride to another station.

FYI...I have never ridden a train or been to New York or Boston...

Any tips, pointers, things to be aware [wary] of.

Thanks in advance for any thoughtful response.

Snowleopard
07-01-2011, 14:12
Public transportation (subway) between the two Boston train stations is good; even walking between them is not bad.
Staying overnight in Boston is expensive.
There is a lot to do in Boston; it really depends on your interests. The downtown area is pretty compact, so you could easily spend a day or part of a day walking and seeing the sights.
You really don't want to drive in Boston.

DavidNH
07-01-2011, 14:13
I have been to Boston many times and been a couple times to NYC. I live in New Hampshire. Your decision to rent a car and drive from Portland, ME to Baxter and back is a good one. One can get a bus up to Medway (near Millinocket, ME) but I don't think it runs very often.

Anyway... From Portland, ME you can catch Amtrack to North Station in Boston. Here you will need to walk, or take bus/subway or cab to South Station. The two stations are probably a couple miles apart. Maybe no that far but it will seem like it.

From South Station in Boston you can take Amtrack clear down to Washington DC. At that point you change trains (still lv from Union Station) to go down to Georgia. My strong advice to you.. ride the train right through NYC. Don't spend any time there. The place is hell and not cheap. Unless you LOVE HUGE cities.

Alternative plan: Once you arrive in Boston.. take cab to Boston Logan Airport and get a plane to Atlanta. This will take two days of travel and sqeeze it down to an afternoon (a few hours). That would be my preference. Depends I guess on how fast you want to get home.

you could also go by plane from Portland, ME to Boston. Change planes (or perhaps there could be a direct flight) to get to Atlanta GA.


Regarding the north end... From Portland, ME you can figure a good 4 hour drive (not counting any stops) to Millinocket, ME. From Millinocket it is another half hour plus to get to the Park where you would meet our son.


Another possibility. Your son calls the folks at AT Lodge in Millinocket and gets a shuttle out of the park or he just hitchikes. In Millinocket he could stay at the AT Lodge (a hostel costing about 25 bucks a night). Then Shuttle or cab to Medway from which there is one bus per day down to Portland.

DavidNH

smoothsailn
07-01-2011, 14:20
I've found the most economical and flexible option is to locate a car rental and drive to the nearest location near your home. Even at $100 a day with a econ car , you can get much further $/mi than on a plane, and it's better than a bus or train. You can pack 4 people in for the price of one. You can stop at rest areas to nap, and eat out of a gas station. ( which is probably better accomodations than you had on the trail ).

paistes5
07-01-2011, 14:53
Take the train and spend a little time roaming around New York. I've been to both Boston and New York and enjoyed New York so much better. The train is kinda fun too.

WILLIAM HAYES
07-01-2011, 19:44
he can get a shuttle to bangor when he finishes and get a flight into atlanta-out of columbia sc the price one way to bangor was 268 - katahdin air also does an air shuttle from near abol bridge to bangor airport -one of the pilots will shuttle from abol to their air landing near abol - tell him to ask linda at the store at abol if she is still there she is very helpful and helped us make arrangements with katahdin air-really a cool flight

inspectorgene
07-01-2011, 22:19
Thanks guys. I appreciate the food for thought.

doheir
07-01-2011, 23:02
I travel from central Maine to NYC twice monthly and almost always use bus segments - either Bolt or Megabus between Boston and NY and Concord Coach in Maine. Nothing against Amtrak, but it's about 4 times more expensive and requires a transfer in Boston rather than staying in South Station. One way from NY to Bangor would be about $50. Good luck.

WPSKIER
07-02-2011, 01:19
Hey Inspectorgene -

Just an idea to consider....

Amtrak from Portland ME to Atlanta GA on Tuesday Aug 30th is $170 per person & takes 29 hours of travel time. (That is if all goes well -- With Amtrak it almost never goes well! In the travel industry we call them "DAMM-TRAK" or "AM-CRASH" because of all the problems and delays!!) Just my opinion....

You can fly non-stop from Portland ME to Atlanta GA on Tuesday Aug 30th for $125 per person & the travel time is only 3 hours! Just something to think about....

My suggestion would be for you to fly up to Portland ME - Rent a car and drive the 4 hours up to Baxter to pick your son up after he completes his Thru-Hike. Then hang around all the cool parts of Maine with your son for a few days (the mountains, the coast, etc) and then drive back to Portland & fly home to Atlanta! This will give you guys a few days to hangout together and for him the opportunity to tell you all about his hike! Awesome!!

Another thought.... After your son has been on the AT for 2175 miles (several months) and then going directly into a big city like Boston or NYC for a few days might be to much stimulation to quickly! I know several thru hikers who have had trouble even sleeping indoors for several weeks after they finish the AT. It takes some time to settle back into the fast pace of the "REAL" world! Here is a great article posted here on Whiteblaze about POST THRU HIKE stuff --
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POST- Thru Hike -- God you are not going to believe the changes that will have occurred to you if you complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Physical, mental, spiritual changes!

This is something you might want to take into account prior to starting your thru-hike -- like, don't plan to start work the very next day after you finish your thru-hike! It would be best to plan to take a month off between finishing your thru-hike and your first day of work if possible. That'll give you some time to come back to the reality of society and get accustomed to what everyone else thinks is 'daily living'.

Also, be aware that people who know you well prior to you starting your thru-hike may find a different person returning from the Trail. Here are a few changes that I experienced right after my thru-hike -- I think most of these are pretty common changes experienced by thru-hikers:

a) You are considerably skinnier! Ha. Your facial appearance may have changed substantially, you may have grown a beard, your hair may be 6 months longer and it may be difficult for some to recognize you without having to stare for a moment or two at you. The first thing people say to you who weren't aware you went on a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail is, "How did you get so skinny!" The next thing they might say is, "Why are you always hobbling like you're in pain?"

b) You eat like a horse and don't have any table manners left. Yeah, little pinkies up didn't seem to be all that important to you over the course of the last six months. You'll probably come around to fitting back into table-manner society though.

c) You see clean water running from a sink spigot that doesn't have to be treated with iodine as the most amazing and enjoyable invention of man. For the first few days back from your thru-hike, you may find you still drink from your water bottles and fill them up from that amazing colossal sink spigot.

d) Taking a shower and being clean all the time -- woo boy this whole side of life is such a joy! And people get to do this shower thing every day?? With hot water?? Ha, wait until someone tells you they think it might be a good idea for you to start considering under-arm deoderant. Big ol' pitch of the head to the side as if you heard a high-pitched noise.

e) Cologne and Perfume. You are probably not going to be able to stand the smell of perfume and cologne. Even today, three years after my AT thru-hike, it still gags me. Right off the Trail your sense of smell will likely have become so acute that even the smallest amount of perfume is magnified many times over. But your own natural skanky body odor... yeah, that smell somehow gets filtered out by your brain.

f) You are going to find out just how noisy life back in civilization can be -- the noise level that most people live with every day of their life (and actually think of as being "quiet"!) is annoying to you when you first return from your thru-hike.

g) You may find yourself scared to death riding in a car doing 70mph down the freeway while the driver has their head turned talking to you rather than watching the road ahead. Just keep pumping that imaginary brake pedal and grabbing the dashboard...

h) You may constantly wonder where your backpack is located. You've carried the thing for over 2000 miles and it's become a part of you. Knowing where your backpack is located while your on the Trail had become very important to you and being without it after your thru-hike is going to feel so odd.

i) You are going to be way more relaxed than most non-thru-hiker people you meet right after your thru-hike. You'll find that most non-thru-hikers don't think anything about carrying on two, three or four activities at the same time. It's become the norm to them to maximize the use of time. They're talking on cell phones while they're typing on a laptop while their eating. Woo boy is that gonna seem so strange to see!

j) Sleeping indoors. I know if you're sitting at home right now contemplating your upcoming thru-hike next year, this idea of not getting used to sleeping indoors is gonna seem strange to you. How could you not wanna sleep in a soft bed with warm covers inside a building? For some thru-hikers returning after their thru-hike where they tented all the way the length of the AT, a bed may seem to be too soft and uncomfortable when compared to sleeping in a tent with a sleeping bag. After a few days or weeks most thru-hikers will come around and get used to the idea of sleeping indoors in a regular bed. However, I have heard of past thru-hikers who, 30 days after their hike, continued to sleep outdoors in their sleeping bag on their front porch at night.

k) Sunrise. You may find that once the sun comes up, you can't sleep anymore even if you try to go back to sleep. And all those birds at home that start chirping at sunrise that you'd never heard before...yeah, you're probably going to hear them every morning for say, the first month back in civilization.

l) Fears and worries. Right off the Trail you're probably not going to have too many worries and you're probably not going to have fear of much of anything beyond the speed of cars on the freeway. Fears are things you'll re-acquire to some extent once your back into civilization on a full-time basis.

m) Confidence. Ha, right off the Trail you are probably going to be the most quietly confident person you've ever met. Nothing of importance is going to seem too big a challenge. It'll take a while for society to beat a little of that confidence out of you but in the end, it'll still be a huge net gain of confidence after society is through melding and molding you into the way you end up becoming after your thru-hike.

n) Clothes. Why in the world do people have so many clothes?? Well see, it's this way. People always want to look their best because looking good helps them feel better about themselves and others will remember that you just wore such-and-such sweater two days ago and...

o) Animals. After my thru-hike I found animals had a great attraction to me. I can't explain it much except maybe it was due to animals not sensing fear in me. Or maybe they were attracted like flies to the smell! Ha.

p) Reflexes. If you used hiking poles during your thru-hike you're going to find that your hand reflexes are on the extreme side of fast. Much of that is probably due to constantly having to guide hiking poles with a fine touch without having to think much about the placement of poles while you hiked.

q) Television. If you were a TV hound before your thru-hike you may have a great desire to catch up with all the TV shows you missed while you were on your thru-hike. Then again, you may end up deciding that television is simply a means where Corporate America can sell products interspersed with a little entertainment now and then. In any case, there will likely be an amazement of some kind about the power and/or waste of television.

r) Music. I listened to music almost every day of my AT thru-hike. I'd made it a point to purposely listen to music that I hadn't really encountered much prior to my thru-hike. Particularly country music and classical music. When it rained in Georgia I listened to Chopin because his music sounded much like rain to me. When I passed through Tennessee I listened to country music because, well that's all there was on the radio! Ha. For someone who didn't like country music at all prior to my thru-hike it's become the preferred music I listen to on the radio in the car.

s) Trail Talk. Right after you return to civilization all you are going to talk about, think about and dream about is life on the Appalachian Trail. Your co-workers, your spouse, your kids, your parents are probably not going to want to talk about the Trail *NEAR* as much as you are gonna want to talk about the Trail. Eventually you'll get some additional interests and start talking about other subjects after having been back in society for a while. But talking about the Appalachian Trail will not likely ever leave you completely. --Datto
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Just something to take into consideration as you make your plans to pick up your son after his thru hike....

Cheers -
Chris

WingedMonkey
07-02-2011, 01:56
When I finished my 95 thru, I went city backpacking. It was like being on acid.
Stopped and stayed at the hostels and played tourist in Boston, and then New York and then Washington DC on the way home by train. But then again I didn't run to town three times a week during my six months on the AT, so I think I was ready to see into the population zoo and not be in it. Figuring out how to get around the cities by subway, bus, or boat seeming more entertaining than ever. And then there was that big grin on my face of "you fools have no idea what I have been through"

:sun