Maine AT Section Hikes

“Pull on my ankles!”, I shouted to Ken, from under a house-sized rock in Mahoosuc Notch. I’d dropped a water bottle as I scrambled between the giant boulders in what is often referred to as “the hardest mile on the Appalachian Trail” …

Grafton Notch is a magnificent mountain pass in Southwestern Maine, a short drive from Gorham, NH, the last major trail town that Appalachian Trail thru-hikers visit before leaving New Hampshire. Crowned by towering Old Speck Mountain, which has a viewing tower at …

Northbound hikers on the Appalachian Trail reach the Kennebec River at mile 2037.6 (as of 2015.) This is the widest unbridged water crossing on the trail, 70 yards wide, with a swift and powerful current. As a result of upstream damn releases, …

The Maine Appalachian Trail is a tough, tough place to hike. There are lots of mountains and mud and rocks and roots, but the weather is just so unpredictable and nasty! I got a taste of that (again) when I backpacked from …

This past August I hiked Maine’s 100 Mile Wilderness again with my friend Martin Rye, from the UK. He’d read my previous accounts of hiking on this section of the Appalachian Trail and invited me to join him. He published his 100 …

Maine is arguably the hardest part of the Appalachian Trail. It’s 267 miles of hard walking with root choked trails, relentless mountains, and potentially frightening water crossings when it rains, which is often. The northernmost section of the Maine Appalachian Trail is …

In August 2009, I set out to hike the 100 mile wilderness in Maine. This is the last big section that AT thru-hikers have to hike before they arrive at Baxter State Park, home of Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the …

I didn’t intend to climb to the summit of Mt Katadhin this week, it just sort of happened. But that’s ok, I needed to hike to the northern terminus of  the Appalachian Trail eventually and things just worked out. Hike: Mount Katahdin …

I took a 75 mile section hike on the Maine Appalachian Trail last week and it was simply divine. The autumn color was in full glory and I had 50+ mile views for days on end. This hike had everything: drama, magic, …

I started a 9 day trip on the 100 mile Wilderness section of the Appalachian Trail last Saturday, but ended up getting shuttled out after 6 days and 74 miles due to a knee/quadriceps overuse injury. Staying out for 6 days on …

Shaw’s Lodging in Monson, Maine has had over 50,000 hikers as guests, mostly Appalachian Trail thru-hikers or section hikers. I’ve always heard great things about it from other hikers and I wasn’t disappointed when I started my 100 mile wilderness section hike there …

I just got back from the hardest hiking I’ve done in the past year, hiking southbound on the notorious Mahoosuc trail section of the Appalachian Trail, from Grafton Notch in Maine to Gentian Pond in New Hampshire. This section ranks right up there …