Has anyone hiked the AT in Maine (some or all) during January, February or March? Can you find the trail in the snow? Has anyone continued on South during those months? Has anyone started during those months and made it on to Georgia? What would it take to do a SOBO starting in January or February? Being able to climb Mt Katahdin during that time is covered. Thanks.
gardenville
The only places in Maine that see more than a few hikers durning the middle of winter would be the 4000 foot peaks: Katahdin, The Bigelows, The Crockers, Sugarloaf, Saddleback, Old Speck and perhaps some other peaks with good views and good road access to trailheads like The Baldpates from Grafton Notch. Most of the AT in Maine is under deep, untracked snow and won’t be blazed or brushed for winter travel. The only person I’ve met who hiked the AT in winter months was Dan Allen from NH and the author of “Don’t Die on The Mountain”. Unfortunetly his book isn’t about his ten year, winter section hike of the AT (his intention was to always hike in the heart of winter so he did a section hike). I saw his slide show at the ATC’s biennial meeting last year in NH. In Maine I believe he would hike short one or two week sections a few times a winter. For his first attempt at the 100 mile wilderness he was joined by Guy Waterman a noted author on hiking and rock climbing in the Northeast and they pulled 100lb sleds south from Abol Bridge. The sleds proved too cumbersome even for this low lake country. Dan described carrying their gear over Mt Nesuntabunt in multiple trips because the sleds wouldn’t be pulled over the short mountain. They bailed early that trip and Waterman wouldn’t join him again because of the heavy, 70lb loads, that Dan would carry throughout New England.
You’ll find the same conditions in NH, VT and even fewer tracks in southern New England. Winter hiking in NH is popular but even though many of the peaks on the AT are climbed in winter, the AT is usually not the best route for winter hiking. The untracked trails aren’t impossible to follow but breaking trail is very slow, more so with small groups and often the blazing blends into the background or is buried completely. An unblazed, untracked trail covered with snow requires great care to follow.
Celt
Grizz will be your man. Check out his journal from 2003 as he started sobo in October. Not exactly the dead of winter, but cold nonetheless. My favorite entry was when he slid down Baldpate Mountain–scary stuff.
Cap’n
Thanks for the lead. I did a search using “Winter SOBO AT Hike” and part of a Journal for a trail name “Mr Clean” came up, He left Abol Bridge on 1 January 2000 going South. Seems he was alone and got to Monsoon on the 15th, Caratunk on the 21, etc, but was off the trail some of the time, back on and off as he made his way South. I am still reading the Journal. The Journal was written by a 3rd person so it doesn’t have a lot of detail. I looked for his trail name but haven’t found anything more yet. I think I have seen a reference to the trail name “Mr Clean” but it could have been another person. Maybe he will see this and respond.
I will look for information on Dan Allen and Guy Waterman.
I made a light sled that is also an external pack frame for something like this. You can carry it as a pack when you can’t pull it. The sled/pack weighs 3 pounds and carries great in the external pack frame mode.
Really good map and compass skills and a good GPS should make something like this do-able. I have been through the Mt Washington, White Mt’s area 2 times during the winter and through the same area in the summer. It is like a different world with a lot of snow on the trails. It can be slow and risky at times if you aren’t careful.
gardenville
I southbounded last year and ended up in TN in Dec with snow. Post-holing is very tiring (and not fun as far as I’m concerned) It is also very time consumming trying to keep on the trail. My trekking poles came in handy, as I would knock them against trees looking for blazes. Winter hiking is not something I would willingly look forward to doing again, but I wish you the best of luck.
Goosebump the snow princess
The AT is blazed for 3 season hiking, Spring, Summer and Fall. It is not blazed for Winter hiking because the blazes are white and are too far apart. Some sections of the AT are well maintained and well blazed, some are not. If the snow is real deep, it could easily cover the blazes. Also hard to see white blazes against a white background. Also snow and ice clinging to trees sometimes covers them up.
Having said all that, I have seen quite a few hardy hikers hike SOBO the AT in Winter. With high quality down bags and jackets and good Winter gear, it could be easily down with pack weights of 50 pounds or less. Rocket hiked NOBO last year starting early January and his pack weight was around 20 pounds or so, he is a go light hiker. He and the Flying Scotsman went thru lots of snow and cold temps. Read the Flying Scotsman’s jounal.
Having said all that, they are a few people that freeze to death every year or so on the AT. Last year, a ranger froze to death in the White Mountains—temps were minus 70 degrees or so. So expect cold temps on top of those mountains and if it starts getting to minus 30 degrees or lower than that, then get the heck off the trail and wait until it warms up a bit.
See you out there even in Winter. :cheers
Maintain
The only winter sobo I know of is someone in the 2 Volume set Hiking The Appalachian Trail, edited by James Hare. He did it during winter, but started in late Sept, I think.
He nearly died of hypothermia in Pennsylvania during January.
Moral of the story: if the Whites don’t kill you . . . .
Kineo Kid
I don’t want to dwell on the negative side of winter hiking in the mountains of northern New England but learning from others mistakes can help so check out the full story of the Ranger from Mount Monadnock State Park who died on the AT in NH last year on what was one of the coldest nights in NH’s recorded weather history:
I don’t want to dwell on the negative side of winter hiking in the mountains of northern New England but learning from others mistakes can help so check out the full story of the Ranger from Mount Monadnock State Park who died on the AT in NH last year on what was one of the coldest nights in NH’s recorded weather history:
http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Newsroom/News_2004/News_2004_Q1/Hiker_Holmes_IDed_011604.htm
Celt
Jim Shattuck in v.1 of Hiking the AT begins by describing his worst day on the trail. It was March 1, 1967, on Sinking Creek Mt. in VA. Ther was an unoffical reading of 27 below zero at Mountain Lake. I wonder what the readings were N of VA?
He passed through the N part of the AT in Fall, I believe. It is a good read.
Groucho
Mr Clean, Jamie, is a caretaker at the Cabin in Andover, ME. A super cool dude and would be happy to talk to anyone as long as you want about his winter SOBO. Also remember that “winter” in the south is a “bad spring” in the north. At least that was my take of GA/NC/TN in Feb.
Officer Taco
Hi “OC” glad to see you made it to the top. Looking forward to seeing your pictures when you get them posted. Thanks for the lead on “Mr Clean” I did find a Mr Clean, but not the same one.
I have read his “trail journal” for his 2000 winter SOBO. It was written by another person but the hike stopped because of Lyme Disease.
I have read the 2003 trail journals for the early starters going North and several from past years. From Springer north I have hiked a lot of the same area in snow up to the North end of the GSMNP. It was slow at times but not to bad. You just have to have the right gear.
I lived in Dahlonega, GA for 11 years and hiked somewhere every month. Snow on the AT in GA was a lot easier to deal with than I know snow in Maine would be. In Georgia the only way you get above tree line is in a plane or on top of a tall building.
I may try and hike most of Maine in the summer/fall. I have an old set of trail maps for Maine. I might get a new set and with my compass and a good GPS have a look at it without snow and then decide if it makes any sence to try it in the winter. I am good with a map and compass and have hiked in the White Mountains in the winter when there was up to 50" of snow on some trails. If You have never stepped through the snow into the boughs of a pine tree you have missed a real treat.
gardenville
Climbing Katahdin in winter would actually be the easy part. Here in New England, I think most of us winter hikers would consider a lengthy winter hike of the AT in ME/NH/VT to be an ideal team effort.
I’ve hiked our NH 4K’s in winter, and you cannot underestimate the benefit of a consolidated trail base. Even on hikes where we had 2+ feet of new snow, we benefited from having a trail base that had seen some traffic over the course of the winter. This will not be so for many of the trail miles, particularly away from 4K’s and 100 Highest peaks, as others have said.
That is, you cannot underestimate the time and energy required to track through unconsolidated snow, alone, mile after mile.
Trail finding can sometimes be difficult, as the blazes are white, and often they are buried. I have not found GPS to be as helpful as you might think in these situations. Any trail points you pick off a map may be off by 50 to 100 feet, much too far to actually relocate a trail by GPS alone.
I don’t think there are too many tougher NE winter hikers out there than Guy Waterman and Dan Allen.
It can be done, but I think it would be much more feasilble (and enjoyable) as a team effort. Count me in for a section or two.
If you haven’t come across it yet, here is a recent trip report from the Maine AT:
http://home.gwi.net/amcmaine/reports/report96.htm
Tramper Al
I use a Terraplane pack,-30 sleeping bag, plastic boots, skis or snowshoes. But I have mastered the skis to the point I laugh at anybody that don’t think its as easy as driving a car. You get to those ice cliffs trails and I got my crampons in my 60 pound pack of gear to.
I seen alot of dead people everyday that don’t listen over the years. Most just lay there and go to sleep like nothings wrong. OR get lost with no showshoes.At least I can cover big miles with my gear I carry.
So here’s my point. What am I to do if you want to carry a 20 pound pack in the winter with no snowshoes, crampons or skis on it and your lips are blue your feet are frozen wet cause you " don’t like gaitors" and you don’t want to warm up in my tent or drink my hot coffee?
I want you to know now, there is alot of people out here in the winter, and they gracefully go a easy 15 miles or more a day as long as some hiker without snowshoes or skis don’t mess up our trails with those big frozen trenches to catch our ski tips wrecking our trails.
No sweat, No bugs and everyone is back to school. Just tell the ranger what your doing before you go or what I said to about staying on your cookie cutter side of the trail to. Friend, when I put my cookie cutters on , I got to go to that side of the trail to. But your still going to still have to get out of my way, cause here I come with my crampons now on the ice trail.:cheers :cheers :cheers :bawling
Greg
The dangers of hiking in Winter when Blazes are obscure is evident to anyone that has been on the trail after snow has obliterated the directional and identifiable markings of the trail. Is there a possibility of using other methods to stay on the trail? Is there an accurate chart (map) that gives coordinates so that a GPS or a Map & Compass will enable hikers to accurately follow the trail? Has anyone published a Winter Hiking Guide? I wonder if this could be done or if it would be discouraged because it might attract the unprepared to the trail at a time of greater danger? Would there be enough of a hiker population to purchase this sort of guide to make it financially feasible?
Besides the Map & Compass or GPS information this kind of guide might include services that are available in “the off season.”
What do you think?
Skylander
Sure, there are several books out there focusing on winter gear, techniques and travel. “Freedom of the Hills” is an excellent book on mountaineering that has quite of bit of useful information on less glamorous winter pursuits. There are many others.
With regard to GPS use, I would say that the only way you could so closely follow an otherwise unrecognizable trail by GPS alone, would as a minimum require you to have collected your waypoint track on the trail itself (in summer). And I have done that, but no experienced New England winter hiker that I know would advise such dependence on GPS alone. That said, I do use GPS on occasion as part of my many tooled navigation kit in winter.
There is abolutely no substitute for getting out there with experienced winter hikers that you can learn from. Both the Boston and New Hampshire chapters of the AMC run multiday winter hiking workshops at a ridiculously low cost every year. Many workshops focus on map and compass, if that’s what you are looking for. Or join a (very qualified) volunteer-led winter hike with any of the chapter, always free of charge. Start out with an less demanding hike, and work your way up. You’ll learn so much. You don’t even have to be a member! If you have a ‘AMC is evil’ mindset that you cannot overcome, then try the GMC in Vermont. Same deal.
The key to winter hiking, when you might lose the trail, is having the knowledge, experience, and support to adapt and survive the hike anyway.
Tramper Al