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Thread: SoBo advice

  1. #21
    Registered User egilbe's Avatar
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    BSP considers anyone hiking the HMW a through hiker. You can stay at the Birches for $10. You can register in Monson at the ATC center there. No fee for walking into the park. There is a fee for driving into the park with out of state plates.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by egilbe View Post
    BSP considers anyone hiking the HMW a through hiker. You can stay at the Birches for $10. You can register in Monson at the ATC center there. No fee for walking into the park. There is a fee for driving into the park with out of state plates.
    Thanks egilbe.

  3. #23

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    You can't register/sign up in Monson for Baxter, frankk. You can use their laptop to make a rez, but that's it.
    You sign up for one of 12 spots at the Birches at the info kiosk 1/2 mile inside Baxter.
    All AT hikers must register with the Katahdin Stream Campground Ranger.
    egilbe's correct about no fee for walking in.
    How early are you getting to Baxter? The Birches is a swamp until late June.
    Teej

    "[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.

  4. #24

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    You can't register/sign up in Monson for Baxter, frankk. You can use their laptop to make a rez, but that's it.
    You sign up for one of 12 spots at the Birches at the info kiosk 1/2 mile inside Baxter.
    All AT hikers must register with the Katahdin Stream Campground Ranger.
    egilbe's correct about no fee for walking in.
    How early are you getting to Baxter? The Birches is a swamp until late June.
    Teej

    "[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.

  5. #25
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    We won't get there until early, or mid July. It will depend on when we start. The earliest start from Monson would be the last week of June. We are going to try and time it for a mid-week hike up Katahdin.

  6. #26

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    You'll be hiking with early nobos! Have fun, Frank.
    Teej

    "[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.

  7. #27
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    Thanks! I'm actually a lady, but no worries, I don't really consider myself much of a lady anyways. And VW are my initials, nothing to do with cars. About the weather, if your used to cold camping, then you should be fine. I had never winter camped before the trail, and I am not from the south so I wasn't really sure what to expect weather wise either. I only really "hiked" in the snow on two occasions. I got lucky being in town missing some cold nights. Snow once in Virginia, when a cold front came through. My water bottles froze while hiking and my tramily and I decided to sleep at 4000 ft... so that was a cold night. It was maybe and inch of snow, but the next day I sun bathed in a cow pasture and everything thawed out. The second time was in Georgia. Woke up at Neels gap to a blizzard of sorts going on and headed up Blood Mountain in the midst of it. Finished the trail in a good bit of snow (about a ft). October and early November, which would put me at the end of Virginian and in TN/NC, was really random. Cold then warm, then cold again. One of the coldest nights was in Virginia and was a confirmed 15 degrees in the morning. Towards the end, a majority of the days were probably around the 30s to 40s, but factoring in wind and elevation and my body constantly low on calories after months on the trail, I was cold a lot even hiking. Zero fat on me. Nights towards the end were always below freezing. Caution to keep your water filter in your bag at night and pocket during the day. I stopped filtering my water in the Smokies and the last few days because it was too cold and I figured I could deal with diarrhea when I got home. I am NOT telling anyone to do this, but that's what I did (I did not get the G!). The hardest part I think was dealing with the loss of daylight. I actually found that I love night hiking, but I had to everyday pretty much the last month, and the temp dropped super fast once the sun set. That was a bit of a moral thing I think, and I didn't like doing camp chores when it was dark and cold. But I did get to hike by the full moon a few times, so that was cool. For a reference, I thought I could hold out on my cold weather gear till the Smokies, but I ended up having it sent to me in Pearisburg, Va when it started getting cold more consistently. I was there a week before Halloween if I remember correctly. But basically a positive attitude, other hikers, making a lot of hot coffee and eating a butt ton more food basically got me thru the cold. Hope this helps ya and good luck this year!

  8. #28

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    If I had my choice I would hike south from Katahdin to Monson. It just makes the logistics easier. You can book a site at BSP and not have to worry about getting one of the 12 slots at the birches or getting a backup reservation for a regular campsite and then worry about being there on an exact day. Most people borrow a day pack to hike the moutain so you get to haul the heavy pack full of food over fairly easy territory until you hit White Cap. By then your food weight is not as much for the "interesting part" of the 100MW. You also could arrange a resupply at KIW(many folks do) and carry even less.

  9. #29
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    Sorry about the "man", it was meant as an expression, not a gender reference. Thanks for the update on the southern weather. That is not what I would have expected. We were probably around the same temps here in Oct and Nov. I have been doing day hikes in the Whites and Western Maine almost every weekend since November, and it has been relatively warm except for one cold snap in early January. But, it is easy to stay warm when you get to go home at the end of the day. Your advice will be helpful for gear planning and when to consider making changes. Thanks, and I may pick your brain some more as I get closer to the trip.

  10. #30
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    Default SoBo advice

    I think the weather I got was uncommon, well I know the foot of snow in Gergia was, but a hostel owner also told me it was usually colder in Tennessee so I don't really know. I'd love to help ya out, feel free to message me, as I don't check here too often.

  11. #31
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    Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge. I'm planning to thru-hike SoBo ~ 30 May this year, so any experience you post of significance would be appreciated.

  12. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by oneservant View Post
    Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge. I'm planning to thru-hike SoBo ~ 30 May this year, so any experience you post of significance would be appreciated.
    Think first week of June instead.
    This may help a bit: The 2018 Sobo's Guide to Baxter and Katahdin.
    Teej

    "[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.

  13. #33
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    Good morning,
    I finished my warm up walk of the 100 MW and Katahdin about a week ago. One of my daughters did the hike with me so that made it extra awesome! We went north for this trip.
    It was a great learning experience. The biggest lesson learned was I did not need as much food as everyone says. My daughter and I made a list of what we thought we would eat for the 10 days. It was about 1/2 of what others recommended. We decided to split the difference and brought 26 lbs of food for the two of us. We initially calculated about 15 lbs. In the end, we came home with 8lbs and gave away around 3 lbs. Next time I think I will follow my instinct. We were not eating a lot of extra food. Had we been finishing a thru hike, the situation may have been different.
    I did not find the terrain shockingly difficult. I thought south of White Cap was similar to the Whites. The only notable difference was the slate early on. North of White Cap was relatively flat with occasional ups and downs. We have had a fairly dry spring so all the fords were manageable. It did rain a few times during the trip, so there was some mud to contend with.
    The temperature was higher than average and it was quite humid. We do get weather like that in Maine, but typically 1 or 2 weeks a year. It just happened to be on our hike week. I slept on top of my sleeping bag almost every night. It rained on our third night and all day on the fourth day. It was really hard to get dry after that. It was so humid nothing would dry. But, we learned to walk wet.
    Some people complained of the bugs. I wore a head net for 20 miles or so. This was primarily in the low, wet, boggy areas. I found the bugs to be consistent with Maine woods and tolerable. Others may disagree.
    Water! There was plenty of water available with the exception of the Barren Ledges. I brought enough, but had to share. We ended up getting additional water from a rain pool. I normally do not drink a lot of water. I could not get enough during this hike and was drinking well over a gallon a day. I was constantly thirsty. The best water was at (if I remember correctly) Potaywadjo Spring. I think I drank 2 or 3 liters before filling up and moving on.
    Katahdin was awesome and probably the most enjoyable day on the hike. The views were incredible! Definitely one of my favorites.
    We met a lot of SOBOs during our hike. I hope you all make it to Georgia!

  14. #34

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    Water! There was plenty of water available with the exception of the Barren Ledges. I brought enough, but had to share. We ended up getting additional water from a rain pool. I normally do not drink a lot of water. I could not get enough during this hike and was drinking well over a gallon a day. I was constantly thirsty.

    FYI during hot weather many people sweat out electrolytes and one of the many responses to electrolyte depletion is increased thirst and fluid intake, the problem is this does not add electrolytes into the loop and actually tends to pull even more out of the body. I am many others use electrolyte supplements while hiking which takes care of the root cause.

    I was listening to a radio interview with the director of the Boston marathon medical effort, he said that they treated far more runners for electrolyte depletion than for dehydration. They actually came up with handheld electrolyte tester for the field teams.

    Symptoms for many are a "tight" neck where the neck muscles feel tense and head aches. Whenever someone asks me for aspirin while on long hikes I usually get them to down a bottle of electrolyte mix. I use NUUN tablets but there are other electrolyte supplements out there

    Glad you had fun and learned a lot. The food situation may be transitory. Many people don't have much appetite in warm weather and during the beginning of a long hike. Eventually in a couple of weeks the thru hiker hunger kicks in after the body's metabolism kicks in.

  15. #35
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    I agree about the electrolytes. I had a little bit of powdered mix, but not enough. The first thing we did when we got to Abol was to fill up on Gatorade.

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