Maine AT Section Hike

[attroll]

This August I am organizing a hike for 2010 thru hikers. So far there are three of us getting together for a three day hike, sort of a shakedown hike. If any other 2010 thru hikers would like to join us, you are more than welcome. The exact location we have not narrowed down yet but it will be on the AT in Maine somewhere. We will meet up Friday 21 August mid morning someplace and head to the finish point and drop off one car. From there we will head to the starting point and begin.

The dates for this hike will be 21 thru 24 August. This will give us three days and three nights. As of right now our plan is to keep the daily mileage to seven or eight miles a day or less. The first day may be a little shorted seeing we are getting a late start.

If there is anyone else interested than post here and we can talk about where we all would like to hike in Maine.

[warraghiyagey]

Crockers and Bigalows would be awesome . . .

[warraghiyagey]

Or you could drive in to the south end of the Mahoosuc Notch and head north. . .

[attroll]

I was going to hold off on some ideas but I will throw out what I have come up with so far.

As I said the plan is to meet Friday mid morning someplace and shuttle one vehicle to where we will finish the hike. Then head to the beginning. We want to be on the road heading home Tuesday morning.

I think it would be nice to stay at shelters but that may be a little hard because in Maine all the shelters are about 10 miles apart from each other. If we were to hike from Shelter to shelter we would have to do 10 mile days in some cases. The plan is for 7 or 8 mile days. I figure we could just wing it though. It will all work out in the long run and we will have a good time, which is number one on the list. Here are some options I have thought out. Please look them over and see if you find any flaws in them or have any other ideas. I would like to come up with some type of game plan by next month.

1.Park at Success Pond road hike up the Carlo Col trail to the AT and then to East B Hill road. Total of about 28 miles.
2.Park at route 4 just south of Rangeley and hike over to route 27 south of Stratton. Total of 32.2 miles.
3.Park at Caribou Valley road and hike to Flagstaff road. Total of 24.5 miles.
4.Park at route 27 south of Stratton and hike to route 201 (Caratunk). Total of about 37 miles.
5.Park at route 201 (Caratunk) and hike to route 15 (Monson). Total of about 37 miles.
6.Park ay route 15 (Monson) and hike to Gulf Hagas parking lot. Total of 30 miles.
7.Park at Gulf Hagas parking lot and hike to J-Mary road. Total of 28 miles.

Option 1: will take us over Goose Eye, thru Mahoosuc Notch, over Old Speck, and Baldpate.
Option 2: will take over Saddleback, The Horn, Saddleback Jr, and Spaulding.
Option 3: will take us over Crocker, and the Bigelows.
Option 4: will take us over the Bigelow, and through some real easy hike to Piece Pond Lean-to and to Caratunk.
Option 5: will take us over Pleasant, Moxie Bald, and some nice walking along the Piscataquis River. This is a nice walk. I have done this three times so far.
Option 6: will through the first 28 mile of the 100 mile wilderness over the Barren Chairback Range. I have never done this.
Option 7: will take us over White Cap.

I like option 1 and 3. It would keep us in the higher elevations and away from most of the bugs, plus the added option of all the views. However option 5 is a really nice and easy hike also with one great view on Moxie Bald overlooking Moxie Lake.

[attroll]

Or you could drive in to the south end of the Mahoosuc Notch and head north. . .

Yes, you are right. We do not have to do anything in a northbound direction.

[warraghiyagey]

Seriously though, for folks gettin their feet wet and a feel for Maine, maybe a section that straddles Gulf Hagas. . .

[Pathfinder]

Goose Eye to Baldpate and Crockers to Bigelows are my favorites. They both hit major peaks that Maine is well known for. Mahoosuc Notch is always fun no matter what.

[paddler]

count me in if there is room

[frmrnyker]

I'm in if theres room too!!!

Im in auburn... could help with the rides/car situation tooo...

[paddler]

is the hike still on

[attroll]

Yes, the hike is still on but we have a full car load right now. That was why I did not reply. We would now need two more people to join in with a car each to take on more people. If anyone else wants to join us with a car please let us know. We are more than willing to have more people come. The problem is we have two cars and four people. We have to shuttle one car to the finish and then all four of us have to ride in the other car to the starting point. That is what I mean by needing more cars.

I am sorry I should have posted that we were full but have room for more if we can get another couple people with cars.

[emerald]

Hike in two groups toward one another and swap keys when you meet to increase participation without increasing vehicles.

[attroll]

That could work if we got enough people interested. The current four want to do a northbound hike. If get some that are interested in a southbound hike then we could work something out.

[Jeff]

Troll,

When is your start date in 2010. Am sure you are counting down the days!!!

[attroll]

Troll,

When is your start date in 2010. Am sure you are counting down the days!!!

I have not narrowed it down yet. I was originally shooting for 15 March. I am thinking of starting a little sooner.

[paddler]

what section are you planning on hiking i may have a ride

[attroll]

We are hiking from Caratunk to Monson. Starting in Caratunk sometime Friday morning and ending in Monson sometime Monday night.

[weary]

Take time to savor the blueberries. Usually at this time the summit berry bushes are loaded. Take the side trail over the ledges for the best picking.

Weary

[Tinker]

Good choice. Taking hopeful thruhikers over the Bigelows might be a little daunting for their first taste of Maine's AT.
Taking anyone to Shaw's in Monson is a good idea of showing them Yankee hospitality (yes, it does exist ).

[paddler]

who is going on the hike @ where do you plan on camping