New Hampshire and Maine Section Hike - starting July 1, 2019

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01-23-2019, 13:13
sixwheel

New Hampshire and Maine Section Hike - starting July 1, 2019

I am a 67 year old guy looking for a partner to hike from Hanover NH to Katahdin starting July 1, 2019. This will be my third summer on the AT and it is the last section needed to complete the trail. In the past I have used my motorcycle and small pickup truck to shuttle around so I don't need to hitch-hike or catch rides to resupply, etc. (Hence the trail-name)! I have been averaging 15 miles a day but hope to do about 10 per day in NH and Maine. I know it will be more difficult to park vehicles and shuttle around up there but I have a pretty detailed plan and a lot of experience with the logistics. The starting date is a little flexible but I am hoping to give myself the best chance for decent weather by starting in early July and finishing in mid August. If you have a vehicle and don't mind shuttling it around with me, I will leave my bike at home. It is a great way to see more of the mountains from a different perspective, although you do lose some of the appeal of hiking the AT. I have enjoyed riding my motorcycle on the Blue Ridge Parkway and other wonderful roads in the area surrounding the AT, but what I have enjoyed most is being able to take every step from Georgia to NH on the AT. Please let me know if anyone is interested. Thanks.
01-24-2019, 19:39
QuietStorm

A fellow Marylander! I also just have NH from Hanover to Katahdin to do. I haven’t figured out all of the logistics and can’t take off enough time to do the whole section in one go. I’m tentatively planning starting July 4th and going SOBO from the Rattle River Hostel. I may park in Lot A in Hanover but haven’t definitively decided yet. I would be happy to talk planning. A partner through the Whites is a good idea for safety reasons.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixwheel

I am a 67 year old guy looking for a partner to hike from Hanover NH to Katahdin starting July 1, 2019. This will be my third summer on the AT and it is the last section needed to complete the trail. In the past I have used my motorcycle and small pickup truck to shuttle around so I don't need to hitch-hike or catch rides to resupply, etc. (Hence the trail-name)! I have been averaging 15 miles a day but hope to do about 10 per day in NH and Maine. I know it will be more difficult to park vehicles and shuttle around up there but I have a pretty detailed plan and a lot of experience with the logistics. The starting date is a little flexible but I am hoping to give myself the best chance for decent weather by starting in early July and finishing in mid August. If you have a vehicle and don't mind shuttling it around with me, I will leave my bike at home. It is a great way to see more of the mountains from a different perspective, although you do lose some of the appeal of hiking the AT. I have enjoyed riding my motorcycle on the Blue Ridge Parkway and other wonderful roads in the area surrounding the AT, but what I have enjoyed most is being able to take every step from Georgia to NH on the AT. Please let me know if anyone is interested. Thanks.
01-24-2019, 20:28
peakbagger

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuietStorm

A fellow Marylander! I also just have NH from Hanover to Katahdin to do. I haven’t figured out all of the logistics and can’t take off enough time to do the whole section in one go. I’m tentatively planning starting July 4th and going SOBO from the Rattle River Hostel. I may park in Lot A in Hanover but haven’t definitively decided yet. I would be happy to talk planning. A partner through the Whites is a good idea for safety reasons.

Strong suggestion, start in Hanover and end in Shelburne. Starting at Rattle River tends starts out tough and keeps getting tougher. Heading north out of Hanover starts out far easier and lets you get your trail legs before you hit the whites.
01-24-2019, 20:44
Gambit McCrae

I as well have Hanover to Katahdin left. Ill be doing NH starting august 30th till september 15th
01-24-2019, 20:53
QuietStorm

Thanks for the advice. I’m in good shape with 1,749 miles under my belt. It works out better to go SOBO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by peakbagger

Strong suggestion, start in Hanover and end in Shelburne. Starting at Rattle River tends starts out tough and keeps getting tougher. Heading north out of Hanover starts out far easier and lets you get your trail legs before you hit the whites.
01-25-2019, 01:39
Slo-go'en

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuietStorm

Thanks for the advice. I’m in good shape with 1,749 miles under my belt. It works out better to go SOBO.

Yea, but how many miles will you have under your belt just before you head up here? Probably none. Although I guess it really doesn't matter which way you go, you get beat up quick enough either way.
01-25-2019, 05:32
QuietStorm

Doing winter training hikes every other week. But you’re right—either way isn’t easy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slo-go'en

Yea, but how many miles will you have under your belt just before you head up here? Probably none. Although I guess it really doesn't matter which way you go, you get beat up quick enough either way.
01-25-2019, 07:53
joefryfry

If you take a motorcycle and truck, drop one off at where you will end up and drop the other at the start, then walk to the other and go back and get the other vehicle, that's self sufficiency at its best. Love it.
01-27-2019, 09:55
sixwheel

QuietStorm: Thanks for your reply. I am happy to know we might be able to meet up to hike the White Mountains together. Even with all the miles under my belt I am still apprehensive about the difficulties of hiking the NH and Maine sections. I plan to re-do the Maryland Section in late March or early April and then to do a 212 mile section heading north from Damascus, Virginia in early June. I want to leave about 5 days between the Southern Virginia hike and heading up to start NH. I can easily adjust the dates to match your July 4 starting date. Please send an email to [email protected] and we can decide if this is a good match and start planning.
01-27-2019, 10:05
sixwheel

Quote:

Originally Posted by joefryfry

If you take a motorcycle and truck, drop one off at where you will end up and drop the other at the start, then walk to the other and go back and get the other vehicle, that's self sufficiency at its best. Love it.

Thanks for the kind words! I usually park the vehicles about 3 hiking days apart and the logistics get pretty complicated sometimes. I spend more time than I like worrying about and trying to find the trail head parking areas (I use guthook and the GPS locations). I have had to ride the bike through some pretty bad rains storms but all-in-all it has worked out well. I did two long sections last year and about 10 short sections in Maryland, Virginia and PA. Only having to carry 3 days worth or food at a time has been great. I am pretty slow but very persistent and I truly believe its the only way I have been able to get this far.
01-27-2019, 11:40
peakbagger

Parking and places to park arent a big issue in NH. As you move over to Maine, some of the roads are decidedly remote and getting there can be half the fun ;). Its rare that you will not be able to find a place to park quite near the road crossing. A very helpful resource for Maine is a Delorme Gazetteer. You can probably get away without one in NH (although still handy) although figuring out Success Pond Road is a challenge even with a good map. It shows the AT and is real handy for planning how to get to road crossings. The AT maps just dont show a large enough area. Realize you will on occasion need to drive long distances on dirt roads unless you really want to drive a whole lot more miles.

Although parking at rural road crossings is fairly safe from theft, it does happen. Mostly crimes of opportunity unless a local decides to start working a parking lot, they usually get busted but it may take awhile. The usual caveats apply, valuables out of sight locked in trunk. Wallet and ID in the pack.

There are some roads that you should research in advance. Success Pond Road in NH is probably one as it allows breaking the Mahoosucs In NH into two pieces (Shelburne to the Notch trail, Notch trail to to East B Hill Road or Grafton Notch if you want to carry a light pack through the Notch). Caribou Valley Road in the Sugarloaf Area (cuts the long hike from Rangeley to Eustis by a day). The Carriage Road in Kingfield (Saves a whole lot of miles getting from Eustis to Long Falls Dam road). The Kokadjo Road ( a private logging road that runs parallel to 100 Mile Wilderness to the north or RT 11 to the south). One road that usually doesnt save time is the logging road running from Eustis to Long Falls Dam road north of Flagstaff lake. Orbeton Stream Road from Barnjam is another one that is best avoided. Road junctions are poorly marked or totally not marked out in the woods so its best to pre-program GPS coordinates so you dont miss a turn. GPS car Nav databases are notoriously inaccurate on the private logging road networks especially near BSP. Some roads may no longer be passable. The Delorme Gazateer may be few years out of date but does show private gates and if bridges are out.

Once you get in Maine you will want to up your inventory of backpacking food as there are few supermarkets right near the trail. There are usually small variety/general stores for snacks sandwiches and pizza nearby but not a lot of selection for food for backpacking unless you want to drive an hour or so south. Resupply towns with reasonably sized grocery stores are Rumford, Farmington, Skowhegan, and Millinocket (all quite bit of a drive off the AT). Places to supplement or replace gear are also rare, selection is poor and quality is not going to be great. Farmington is the best option. There are several tourists towns like Rangeley, Monson, Eustis, Greenville but they tend to have far smaller grocery/general stores with less selection.
01-27-2019, 19:37
sixwheel

Peakbagger: Thanks for all that great info. I am retired so I will have plenty of time next week to check out the resources you sent. I also like to find and follow the roads on google earth. Below is a list of trailhead parking areas in Maine I might use, based on my preliminary research. Let me know if you (or anyone else reading this entry) think any of them would be too difficult to access. Thanks again for all the time you put in to send this much appreciated info.

US 2 - Shelburne, NH
Andover Rd - Newry, ME
S Arm Rd - Roxbury, ME
ME 4 - Rangeley, ME
ME 16, Kingfield, ME
E Flagstaff Rd - New Portland, ME
Main Street - Caratunk, ME
Greenville Rd - Monson, ME
Katahdin Iron Works Rd - Monson, ME
Golden Rd (Abol Bridge Campground) - Millinocket, ME
01-27-2019, 21:41
peakbagger

They are all easy to access but some of them are possibly 4 day hikes with some very long car spots.

The US 2 stretch to the east B Hill in Andover is a long haul over the Mahoosucs. I would suggest either cutting it in half using the Notch Trail off Success Pond road or stopping at Rt 26 in Grafton Notch. Then skip East B Hill road and go to South Arm Road. East Flagstaff Road is just off Long Falls Dam Road. Its a very long drive over paved roads from Eustis as you need to drive all the way down to New Portland Maine and then drive back north. This is where the Carriage Road figures in. It is private logging road owned by one of the native American tribes that typically is open to through traffic in the summer. It starts in downtown Kingfield and runs east. Its dirt but generally maintained for passenger cars (unless there is active logging). It saves 45 minutes compared to the drive to New Portland. Its a similar long haul to get to Caratunk with no shortcut. One resource you may not be aware of is Maine Huts and Trails has a "Hut" on Flagstaff lake a couple of miles north of the AT crossing of Long Falls Dam road (the 2000 mile marker on the pavement). The "hut" is a wilderness lodge on the shore of Flagstaff Lake. It has two meals a day and has showers for guests. The former CEO of LL Beans paid for a big chunk of it and made sure it was done right. Nice place to take a break one night. They have canoes for guests. They unfortunately do not have laundry.

If you use the Caribou Valley road off of RT 16 in place of Rt 16 in Kingfield you cut out one day off a very long stretch over from Rangeley. IIt adds a day to the next stretch over to East Flagstaff. The trade off is most thru hikers hit the hostel or hotel in Eustis for zero.

You can cut out paying the road fee for Katahdin Iron Works by parking at the White Cap Mountain trailhead. https://quincykoetz.com/2014/06/hiki...n-in-100-mile/. It actually splits up the 100 mile wilderness better. It reduces the distance for the car spot to Abol Bridge by using the Kokadjo road and from Monson to White Cap. AMC has wilderness "hut" that you will drive by heading to the White Cap trailhead. Its is similar to Maine Huts and Trails "huts" in case you want another break (Flagstaff Hut is hard to beat).
01-30-2019, 13:44
sixwheel

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuietStorm

A fellow Marylander! I also just have NH from Hanover to Katahdin to do. I haven’t figured out all of the logistics and can’t take off enough time to do the whole section in one go. I’m tentatively planning starting July 4th and going SOBO from the Rattle River Hostel. I may park in Lot A in Hanover but haven’t definitively decided yet. I would be happy to talk planning. A partner through the Whites is a good idea for safety reasons.

I'm sorry it doesn't seem to be working out for a section hike through the Whites but I'm happy we may be able to do some training hikes together in Maryland. Just want the other readers to know I am still looking for a hiking/shuttle partner for NH and Maine starting in early July.
01-31-2019, 13:46
QuietStorm

No problem. Your email seemed to be more optimistic for a section hike and less so for training hikes but I totally understand. Good luck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixwheel

I'm sorry it doesn't seem to be working out for a section hike through the Whites but I'm happy we may be able to do some training hikes together in Maryland. Just want the other readers to know I am still looking for a hiking/shuttle partner for NH and Maine starting in early July.
07-11-2019, 18:39
joefryfry

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixwheel

Thanks for the kind words! I usually park the vehicles about 3 hiking days apart and the logistics get pretty complicated sometimes. I spend more time than I like worrying about and trying to find the trail head parking areas (I use guthook and the GPS locations). I have had to ride the bike through some pretty bad rains storms but all-in-all it has worked out well. I did two long sections last year and about 10 short sections in Maryland, Virginia and PA. Only having to carry 3 days worth or food at a time has been great. I am pretty slow but very persistent and I truly believe its the only way I have been able to get this far.

It was so nice to hike with you for a little while coming down off Old Speck! What an odd coincidence. I had many wacky things happen on my section outing.
07-12-2019, 06:46
QuietStorm

Hope you're doing well Rich. Send a text and let me know how it's going. I'll be back on trail August 31 starting from Pinkham Notch and ending two weeks later at ME 27.
07-12-2019, 10:22
ednotmilkman

Phase2 and I are starting July13 from Gorham, NH, if we happen to meet 6wheel or abyone else. We will stop at Monson, ME.