View Full Version : How Long will Maine take me?
Larry Boy
10-04-2013, 22:11
Did Springer to Andover (the northern road crossing) this year, and had to get off trail for employment reasons. Planning to head back and finish up the last 240 miles-ish. Wondering how long I should expect it to take me (work schedules and whatnot) on no trail legs. A bit about me:
Not a fast hiker. On trail legs, I pretty consistently pull 21 or 22 mile days, but I'm not the guy who takes a three hour siesta/lunch and still does those miles.
I will NOT be on trail legs
Did the southern 1940 miles in 4 months and a week.
I don't take many zeros.
How long should I expect Andover-Katadhin to take?
Slo-go'en
10-04-2013, 22:58
Plan a full month. In most places 10 miles is a big day so your looking at about 25 to 27 hiking days minimum. Oh, from Andover maybe 21 days. But heck, Gorham, NH is easier to get to from away so why not go for the whole experiance and do the Mahoosics again?
MamaBear
10-05-2013, 08:13
Larry Boy! I don't have the answer to your question, but just wanted to say "HI!". I (well, we, my 12 yr. old son and I) remember you from staying at the shelter at Little Rock Pond in Vermont. We were there along with that group of three trail newbies - the ones with all the cookware, plates, etc. and who left their TP just sitting out overnight, much to the delight of some mouse. I never did see them again. We did finish the LT in Aug., and wondered how far you got in Maine, and thought you might have even finished if you were still pulling the big mile days. Good to hear you're going to finish it up.
I agree and would go with Slo's advice. You might find the old trail legs come back quicker than you think, as you're still young.
not sure how indicative of the rest of maine this will be, but i just got up fresh off my couch last weekend and did grafton notch to rangeley in basically 3 days (2pm thursday to 1pm sunday). it was infinitely easier than the mahoosucs. if it were me planning the trip i'd put my money on about 18 days.
Zippy Morocco
10-05-2013, 13:02
Hey Larry Boy. How's the job? We finished up July 22 and several others that you were pacing with finished about that time. That should give you an idea of the approximate pace you were on. Maybe adjust from there. Thank you for leaving the trail magic. I'll look forward to that Katahdin picture.
hikerboy57
10-05-2013, 14:14
[QUOTE=tdoczi;1532968]not sure how indicative of the rest of maine this will be, but i just got up fresh off my couch last weekend and did grafton notch to rangeley in basically 3 days (2pm thursday to 1pm sunday). it was infinitely easier than the mahoosucs. if it were me planning the trip i'd put my money on about 18 days.[/QUOTEgraftron to rangely is one of the easiest,flattest? stretches of maine before monson. rangely to monson is a bit tougher, much more ups and downs and scrambles.10-12 mpd is good through this stretch, id figure around 20 days from grafton notch
It took me 27 days with no zeros. My daily milage was half of what it was before NH.
In my opinion ME is tougher than NH but its the best part of the trail!
Kerosene
10-06-2013, 11:24
I have to cover from Rangeley to Katahdin to complete my "life long" section hike of the AT, so I've been planning for Maine for a long time.
It's about 2 days to go from South Arm Road (the road crossing north of Andover) to Piazza Rock Shelter just north of ME-4/Rangeley. My conservative itinerary (I almost always beat my plans) calls for 19 additional hiking days to get to Katahdin and back down. So, 21 days with no zeros gives you daily mileages of between 10-15 miles.
Of course, weather, overflowing streams, or short hiking days could slow you down. In my case, I'd like to wait for a Class 1 day to summit Katahdin, so I'm adding another 3 days to my plans just in case the weather doesn't cooperate. Based on how you describe yourself, I'd plan for 3-4 weeks.
I also noticed that the trail was distinctly easier north of Grafton Notch than it had been through most of the Whites and Mahoosucs.
id figure around 20 days from grafton notch
lol or about 19 days from the point where the OP is talking about and where I was referencing with my 18 day estimate. you want to arm wrestle over the difference of 1 day? : )
hikerboy57
10-06-2013, 13:27
lol or about 19 days from the point where the OP is talking about and where I was referencing with my 18 day estimate. you want to arm wrestle over the difference of 1 day? : )
yeah, i wasnt really looking to split hairs, i did want to point out though that grafton notch to rangeley is pretty tame,from piazza rock to stratton was very much like the mahoosucs.doesnt really get easier till after you hit gulf hagas.i love maine.
It took me 27 days with no zeros. My daily milage was half of what it was before NH.
In my opinion ME is tougher than NH but its the best part of the trail!
My count was from the NH/ME state line. Looks like it took me 20 days from from ME 17.