Southbound Start Date

Our plans continue to change as we adapt and try to finalize southbound plans to hike the Appalachian Trail. Our goal was to start our hike mid-June, but we’re now aiming to be on trail by July 4. We currently live on the northeastern portion of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, and we have quite a few miles to travel before we make it to the trail in Baxter State Park.

WA – NE – IN – ME

We are going to hit the road from Washington around June 10 and head directly to Nebraska to visit my husband’s family for three to four days. We are the type that likes to go with the flow and take the more scenic route on our road trips, but for this journey, we want to get to our main destinations as quickly as possible. From there, we’ll head to Indiana to drop off our dog and spend about a week and a half to two weeks with my family. We are planning on flying from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Bangor, Maine, on July 1.

Food Drop Boxes

Since we currently live in a very tiny van, we will not be buying our trail food or packing the flat rate boxes until we get to Indiana. We have a very strong idea of the food items that we already want to purchase, and I do not see waiting to do this as a last-minute chore becoming an issue for us.

We haven’t decided how many food drops we are planning on doing, but right now it seems like we are going to go with about 50% mail drop boxes and 50% spontaneous off-trail shopping. Food drops will be saved for more remote towns with fewer grocery options and general accommodations.

This tactic will allow us to have a wider variety of trail foods and will help us not get sick of eating the same things over and over. I am really excited to explore the trail towns along the AT, and I love the idea of supporting local grocery stores as well as outfitter posts.

Arriving in Maine

We plan on taking the Cyr Bus from Bangor International Airport to the Medway bus station. From there we plan to take advantage of the Sobo Special offered by the Appalachian Trail Lodge. This will provide us with food, a night of sleeping accommodations, and a shuttle to Baxter State Park. Public transportation is limited in the area, and this seems like a great deal! Shout-out to the AWOL Guide for this info.

How Exciting

We are almost done purchasing our gear, and we are getting very close to buying a one-way plane ticket to Maine! We need to save some more cash, but I feel that we still have plenty of time to make this all work. Things are moving in a solid direction, and I cannot believe that this is all happening. This has been a big dream of mine, and I don’t know if it’ll sink in that it is all actually happening until we step foot on the summit of Mount Katahdin.

Peace, love, and happy hiking!

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Comments 1

  • Doe cook : Nov 30th

    One way to Bangor is probable crazy expensive. I live 20 miles from Bangor . We always fly In and out of Boston. With a cheap bus fare to Bangor. Our last flight was 800.00 to Chicago from Bangor. 99 dollars from Boston to Chicago. It’s worth checking out!

    Reply

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