How am I getting to Maine, let alone Mount Katahdin? 

How do I coordinate a flight, a bus, AND a camping reservation??

The 100-Mile Wilderness sounds intimidating…what’s it like?

Will I need a GPS device?

Will I meet people?

What about cell service?

These were my initial questions when I started to plan my southbound hike. It took a few calls, hours of research, breaking down the first few pages of the southbound AWOL guide and I still found myself confused. My path to Mount Katahdin included a flight from Newark, New jersey to Bangor, Maine, a regional bus, a shuttle to the hostel, and then a day later, a shuttle into Baxter State Park.

Here is a culmination of my research and personal experience blended into Highlight’s SOBO Starter Guide. This guide will streamline the beginning of your hike and leave room for spontaneity. Your new SOBO mantra - go with the flow.

Please feel free to share this guide with any concerned parents, friends, and anyone that gave you a crooked face when you told them your plan to thru-hike southbound. It will help them to know you’re safely on your way to the best experience of your life.

The journey to Day 1 is an adventure in itself! Get excited!

Congratulations!!!

You decided to thru-hike the AT southbound! Now what? First of all, you’re already off to a great start. We SOBOs are unique. We have our honeymoon phase in the best terrain of the whole Appalachian Trail (Maine and New Hampshire). We make close bonds with our fellow SOBOs. We’re in it for the journey, not the destination.

Not to mention, we have the BEST FIRST DAY OF ANY THRU-HIKE EVER, hello, Mount Katahdin! We’re not afraid of getting out of our comfort zone and we generally walk the path less traveled. But how do we get to the path?

I’ll divide this guide into three parts:

1. Baxter State Park

2. Mount Katahdin

3. The 100-Mile Wilderness

Take a good look at this topographic map and find Mt Katahdin, Bangor International Airport, the hostels in Millinocket and Monson, and get a feel for the beautiful line of the Appalachian Trail.

Save these waypoints in Google maps. Compare with Guthook. Make highlights in your AWOL guidebook. Try to grasp the idea that you will walk a continuous footpath from Maine to Georgia. All 2,190 miles of it.

It’s terrifying, stomach-curdling exciting, and all-around tingly feeling. Hold on to these feelings as long as you can and store it in your mental bank for when you have a rough trail day and you’ll remember the privilege of thru-hiking.

Most importantly, recall these initial feelings to remind yourself that you can totally do this.