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How to get home after Katahdin?

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    • How to get home after Katahdin?

      Who here has hiked up Katahdin?
      How did you get back to your car? Which trail did you take? Where did you park?
      For those of you LASHERs, how did you get yourself home? Looking for info for a new blog post. :)
      www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.

      Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.

    • I had a friend meet me & summited with me. I kept rushing ahead & having to wait for him. Finally he told me to wait for him at the plateau. Adreniline & months of hiking rocketed me upwards. When my friend joined me he was chuckling. He told me he came upon another hiker who was just watching me "Bounce up the boulders". He turned to my friend & said," I thought I was doing pretty good untill that guy passed me!" ^^

    • i don't think my experience will be helpful as a planning tool -- except maybe as a reminder that ya don't don't have to have everything "planned" before you leave home to go hiking.

      i had no idea how i was going to get home. i was going to figure it out when i got there. (the philosophers guide had suggestions).

      a day from katahdin i caught up to a friend i had been hiking off and on with since gorham (but i hadn't seen since monson). he told me his girl friend was going to pick him up. after we finished we all drove into bangor and went to walmart where i bought underwear, jeans, and a shirt. we spent the nite in a hotel and the next day they dropped me off at the amtrak station in boston where i took the train home the next day. i wandered around the city, getting back to the station before midnite when they locked the station closed. kinda slept on one of the wooden benches.

      edit to add totally useless info: i did katahdin as a dayhiker in 1990. don't remember where i parked, don't remember what trail i took to the top (my guess would be the AT) did knifes edge, and took a trail down that was definetly not the AT -- it was like a controlled slide much of the way down. it was a nice day and there were a lot of people on katahdin.
      2,000 miler

      The post was edited 4 times, last by max.patch ().

    • Yes, an extreme lack of information out there about getting home from Katahdin. I"m going to do some research and try to write an article with options. I know how I did it as one way. I walked down the Saddle Trail which drops you right where the Hunt Trail (the A.T.) puts you if you simply walk back down the way you came. That's where my ride was. A friend's dad was shuttling us the last few days after the Hundred Mile Wilderness. When we parted ways, the AT Lodge shuttled me to the bus station. The bus took me to the Bangor airport where I rented a car with some friends and enjoyed an awesome road trip down to Harpers Ferry!
      Others did the Knife's Edge which apparently takes you to another parking lot in the park.
      Some hitch from Katahdin to Millinocket. Others arrange rides...I'll start investigating. :)
      www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.

      Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.

    • twistwrist wrote:

      Yes, an extreme lack of information out there about getting home from Katahdin. I"m going to do some research and try to write an article with options. I know how I did it as one way. I walked down the Saddle Trail which drops you right where the Hunt Trail (the A.T.) puts you if you simply walk back down the way you came. That's where my ride was. A friend's dad was shuttling us the last few days after the Hundred Mile Wilderness. When we parted ways, the AT Lodge shuttled me to the bus station. The bus took me to the Bangor airport where I rented a car with some friends and enjoyed an awesome road trip down to Harpers Ferry!
      Others did the Knife's Edge which apparently takes you to another parking lot in the park.
      Some hitch from Katahdin to Millinocket. Others arrange rides...I'll start investigating. :)
      That would be valuable info, the hardest part of hiking for me is the logistics of getting to and from the trail...after that it's like Wolf says....it's just walking.
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.

    • Mountain-Mike wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      going up the AT and then down via another trail is one of the compaints of the BSP rangers.
      I think what they were complaining about was hikers asking them to arrange shuttles for them when they came down the Knife's Edge.
      Not only that, but insisting that the shuttle HAD to be arranged because they hadn't reserved a campsite anywhere and hadn't exited the park by nightfall.
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.

    • max.patch wrote:

      going up the AT and then down via another trail is one of the compaints of the BSP rangers.
      I think it makes more sense because traffic is more dispersed by taking separate trails.

      Astro wrote:

      Once I make it up there I will be glad to go back down the AT, unless someone can convince me another way is significantly easier. :)
      the Saddle Trail was much easier than the AT. And it was beautiful!
      Images

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      www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.

      Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.

    • AnotherKevin wrote:

      Mountain-Mike wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      going up the AT and then down via another trail is one of the compaints of the BSP rangers.
      I think what they were complaining about was hikers asking them to arrange shuttles for them when they came down the Knife's Edge.
      Not only that, but insisting that the shuttle HAD to be arranged because they hadn't reserved a campsite anywhere and hadn't exited the park by nightfall.
      That would aggrevate me to. Park Rangers are not the mommy.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.