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planing a section in maine for 2017

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    • planing a section in maine for 2017

      Hi,
      First timer on this forum. My dog would like to do a section of the AT in the state of Maine, but we're not quite sure where and when to go.
      First, we have a full 7 days of hiking holidays to invest on this, plus 2 extra days of transport (total of 9 days).
      Do you folks have any suggestions for a 7 days section? Our duo is of average speed.
      I'm not sure when to go either... Is there a magical moment without mosquitoes, without snow and without crazy gun blazing hunters?
      See you on the trail!
    • rudecam wrote:

      Hi,
      First timer on this forum. My dog would like to do a section of the AT in the state of Maine, but we're not quite sure where and when to go.
      First, we have a full 7 days of hiking holidays to invest on this, plus 2 extra days of transport (total of 9 days).
      Do you folks have any suggestions for a 7 days section? Our duo is of average speed.
      I'm not sure when to go either... Is there a magical moment without mosquitoes, without snow and without crazy gun blazing hunters?
      See you on the trail!
      August and September
      Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
      Dr. Seuss Cof123
    • First, welcome to the Cafe!
      I will be going NoBo from mid-July to early August, so maybe I will see you out there. June and July I have heard are black fly season. Wish I could push my trip back a few weeks due to that, but I have to make the most of the window of the time I have available to be away from work.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • rudecam, first welcome to the café.
      Now on to the hiking. Ifg you tell us a bit about your hiking experience, and maybe more importantly your dog's hiking experience, we could probably make better suggestions. And what kind of dog is it you'll be hiking with? When my wife and I hike we have a 90 pound shepherd with us. That made it very difficult to go through Mahoosuc Notch, where you have to go over, under, and around rocks the size of a small house. It took us 5 hours to do that 1 mile.

      We've only hiked the AT in Maine from the New Hampshire border to the town of Rangely. So I can only comment on that short section.
      There's a lot of up and down mountains but only a few places where you'll have to scramble on your hands and feet. Also, there was plenty of water along the way. One of the lakes that we passed had a sand beach and we, like almost everyone else, stopped for a refreshing swim.

      For first hand experience about the rest of Maine you'll have to wait for others to chime in.
    • Thank you all for the warm welcome!

      LIhikers wrote:

      rudecam, first welcome to the café.
      Now on to the hiking. Ifg you tell us a bit about your hiking experience, and maybe more importantly your dog's hiking experience, we could probably make better suggestions. And what kind of dog is it you'll be hiking with? When my wife and I hike we have a 90 pound shepherd with us. That made it very difficult to go through Mahoosuc Notch, where you have to go over, under, and around rocks the size of a small house. It took us 5 hours to do that 1 mile.

      We've only hiked the AT in Maine from the New Hampshire border to the town of Rangely. So I can only comment on that short section.
      There's a lot of up and down mountains but only a few places where you'll have to scramble on your hands and feet. Also, there was plenty of water along the way. One of the lakes that we passed had a sand beach and we, like almost everyone else, stopped for a refreshing swim.

      For first hand experience about the rest of Maine you'll have to wait for others to chime in.
      My hiking experience is probably average, I go to parks and climb mountains whenever I can. My last trip was at Pico de Orizaba in Mexico in december. We (includes the dog) drove form Canada and back to climb that beauty. My 85 pound German Shepherd is following and doing anything I do, we don't mind rough trails. As for the living outside part, we can survive a week without restock in the wild.
      I have read about Mahoosuc Notch, it sounds fun! I was also thinking about the 100 wilderness miles, but don't think it's realistic for a short week.
      So I figure late august or september would be a good time to hike in Maine. We only need to figure out which segment.
      Thank you for your feedbacks folks
    • rudecam wrote:

      Thank you all for the warm welcome!

      LIhikers wrote:

      rudecam, first welcome to the café.
      Now on to the hiking. Ifg you tell us a bit about your hiking experience, and maybe more importantly your dog's hiking experience, we could probably make better suggestions. And what kind of dog is it you'll be hiking with? When my wife and I hike we have a 90 pound shepherd with us. That made it very difficult to go through Mahoosuc Notch, where you have to go over, under, and around rocks the size of a small house. It took us 5 hours to do that 1 mile.

      We've only hiked the AT in Maine from the New Hampshire border to the town of Rangely. So I can only comment on that short section.
      There's a lot of up and down mountains but only a few places where you'll have to scramble on your hands and feet. Also, there was plenty of water along the way. One of the lakes that we passed had a sand beach and we, like almost everyone else, stopped for a refreshing swim.

      For first hand experience about the rest of Maine you'll have to wait for others to chime in.
      My hiking experience is probably average, I go to parks and climb mountains whenever I can. My last trip was at Pico de Orizaba in Mexico in december. We (includes the dog) drove form Canada and back to climb that beauty. My 85 pound German Shepherd is following and doing anything I do, we don't mind rough trails. As for the living outside part, we can survive a week without restock in the wild.I have read about Mahoosuc Notch, it sounds fun! I was also thinking about the 100 wilderness miles, but don't think it's realistic for a short week.
      So I figure late august or september would be a good time to hike in Maine. We only need to figure out which segment.
      Thank you for your feedbacks folks
      Our dog didn't have any problems between Grafton Notch and the trail head parking lot at Rangely.
      The guide books say that the section between Rangely north to route 27 is the hardest part of Maine, so maybe you want to avoid that in the interest of making more miles. Beyond that I don't have any useful information as I haven't hiked most of Maine yet.