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I am setting out for the 100 Mile Wilderness on the 24th and am looking for any helpful advice. I'm getting the hang of my equipment and training whenever possible with long-ish day hikes. My partner did it 10 years ago so any fresh memories of what would be useful this time of year are greatly appreciated!
Bring good rain gear and warm clothes. It could be winter up there soon.
Are bucket drops still available? Is Whitehouse Landing open?
Go sobo. It's easier. All the elevation is at the Southern end.
Don't try to ford the rivers until the water levels drop. They drop fairly quickly after it stops raining, within several hours.
Take your time. It's a beautiful area.
The southern 35 miles are pretty tough. Slow going. After that there are still a few random mountains left, but it continues to get easier.
Great stuff. I've done it twice. If you camp at west Chairback lake you have the use of free canoes (at least a few years ago).
Go slow and enjoy it.
Whitehouse until Oct. 15th (I stayed on 14th last year) but the weather this early this year is making me realize how lucky I was to summit on Oct. 19th last year.
It was peak foliage and absolutely amazing as I went through the 100 mile early Oct, very lucky indeed. With the colder temps you may get peak foliage earlier.
Ditto (again) the advice about the southern half. I was a little worried about my food supply heading north for the first couple of days, then things got more reasonable and much more fun.
Drops are. $50 a pop plus the price of the food though. Considering WHL but haven't made any calls yet.
We are planning to go NOBO so we can enjoy seeing all the other hikers finish the AT. I would say its a "save the best for last" kind of mentality but here we are doing the 100MW first! ;)
Shaw's Boarding House in Monson! Wonderful help, supplies, shuttles, information, etc for me and partner in 2017.
You have 3 options for food drops that I know of (I'm sure there's probably more), which are White House Landing, Shaw's and 100 Mile Wilderness Adventures. I can only personally comment on 2 of those 3 but have heard good things about all of them. I used 100 Mile Wilderness Adventures for the shuttle and drop, and the owner (3 time thru hiker Phil Pepin) caters primarily to section and day hikers. He has a great setup that is designed to look like an old sportsman camp. I had him drop food for me at Jo Mary Road, and then he picked me up in Baxter SP as I went all the way to Katahdin. I also stayed at WHL during the trip and that was a great stay. I used the private cabin (breakfast is included), and ate supper there. Plan to spend some money if you stay there, but it was a fun stay with great food. I can't comment on Shaw's other than to say I have heard good things about them, and almost used them for the resupply and shuttle.
This is what I did on my thru. I sent a resupply package to White House Landing. If you stay at least one night they will do it for free. White house landing is a nice stop. It's a little pricey but you have to consider they have more costs because of the remote location. When I stayed there they did not except credit cards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanashi
last year White House landing did accept credit cards! (I payed with mine)
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If your thinking White House sounds pricey then consider the free resupply drop compared to paying over $50 for anybody else to bring it to you in the 100 mile. You get a nice boat ride back and fourth and I'm pretty sure you can use their kayaks/canoes for free with your stay... it was too cold to consider/ask about it when I was there but it was mentioned in AWOL guide or somewhere..
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They are only for overnighters now though, they don't offer any lunch/resupply or anything without staying a night, but they have very good reason for that. They were actually considering shutting down years ago but decided to stay open for overnights. Real good/nice people and amazing food for the middle of nowhere (and if the food sounds like too much just remember that free drop ; )
The failure rate I saw through there for section hikers or new SOBOs was high. Train well. Quite a few people were surprised by the difficulty. The better your trail legs when you start the better you will enjoy it.
My boss who wrote the book on climbing in the white mountains and has done a lot of hiking in his years gave me a 30% chance of success. Decent. No matter what I know I'm going to get a lot out of it. I may end up doing this solo. Wish me luck!Quote:
Originally Posted by FreeGoldRush
Yes, parts of the trail are a horrible mess of rocks and roots (and maybe deep mud), for miles. However in good weather you can do big miles. And the rock steps on White Cap Mtn are an incredible help.