Maine questions

[Papa Bear]

I will be doing sections of the AT in Maine the week after July 4th. I'll be doing the one section I missed last year from South Arm Rd (near Andover) to Route 17 (Old Blue, Elephant, Bemis) and then the whole section from Route 4 (near Stratton) up to Monson.

Two questions:

1) What might I expect at the stream crossings; I see 3 fords, Bemis Stream before I get to Route 17 and the two branches of the Piscataquis. Should I worry about these or has the water level dropped since earlier?

2) When I get to Monson I expect to stay overnight at Shaw's. The next day (July 15) I will need to get a shuttle to Bangor (or Waterville?) for a bus down to Boston. Any suggestions for shuttles? I figured I'd start by asking the Shaw's, but with the older Shaw recently having heart problems, they may be a little short.


Thanks
Pb

[TJ aka Teej]

Hi Pb,
I sent you an email, but I'll post here too in case anyone's interested:
The first ford of the Piscataquis, just south of Monson, is just a wide brook. I went across last week with the water at a slow flow and barely got my knees wet. In August, it's just a rock hop in dry boots. The other fords were knee deep and slow in August '01, at the end of a dry season. In June of '00 both Bemis and the West Branch were thigh high torrents in a wet season. All the streams and rivers are going down, Walking Man told me he didn't 'swim' the Kennebec, he waded across and only got armpit deep after the sand bar. Maine's getting over two year of drought, so all this rain is going into the ground, it's the snow melt that makes the fords wicked. You won't have any fords as bad as Big Wilson, the one north of Monson. I bet you'll have safe fords and plenty of drinking water - a good combo!
Old Keith is doing OK, as long he keeps off the stairs. Young Keith is running the hikers around, at $12 (I think) an hour, so you'll be OK for shuttles to Bangor or Waterville. The bus that goes to Bangor stops in Waterville, about an hour away. The Pie Lady seems to do mostly hiking shuttles, taking folks in and out of the 100 mile all the time, but I know she's taken folks to Bangor too.
have a great time!