Philbrick's Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide, Complete Edition: Georgia to Maine

By J Jeffrey "Snailpace" Philbrick

The Appalachian Trail is the most documented hiking trail on the face of the planet and there are mountainous stacks of information and guides to help anyone hike it. So, why add another guide to that stack?

First of all, Philbrick's Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide is the only comprehensive compilation of public transportation information available between two covers for accessing the Appalachian Trail.

Second, the guide is a practical resource of fresh information and not just a rehash of information found in other standard guides.

Third, the guide is designed with a unique perspective that makes it totally different from other standard guides. Those guides are designed “inside out” from a very narrow perspective of a hiker actually walking on the trail. This guide is uniquely designed “outside in” starting from a broad perspective on the national level and progressively sharpening focus to arrive at specific road access points that place a hiker on the Appalachian Trail. At every level and point of focus the guide provides detailed transit information.

Whether you are a day hiker, section hiker, or long distance thru-hiker Philbrick's Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide is full of the essential and practical information any sort of hiker needs for accessing public transportation to get onto or off the Trail and to help a hiker get around while visiting a town near the Trail. For thru-hikers the guide is especially important for providing the necessary information to get off the Trail in cases of an emergency, to resupply, or to just go home for a while. When planning any sort of AT hiking adventure Philbrick's Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide is an invaluable stand alone resource or companion guide to the more commonly used hiker guides.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J Jeffrey "Snailpace" Philbrick
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311052667

J Jeffrey "Snailpace" Philbrick

J. Jeffrey Philbrick grew up on Cape Cod and currently resides in North Carolina. He has been an avid camper and backpacker for decades. He has also been involved with the Boy Scouts of America for over 30 years. As a young man his first encounter with the Appalachian Trail was at the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine with his fellow Sea Scouts. They also hiked sections of the A.T. in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. As an adult Mr. Philbrick has hiked all of the Trail in Georgia twice, which also included hiking the Approach Trail to the summit of Springer Mountain twice. Mr. Philbrick has section hiked nearly half of the entire A.T through the states of North Carolina (except the Smokys), Tennessee, Virginia (except Shenandoah, NP), Massachusetts and Vermont, and portions of the Trail in West Virginia and Maryland. In the spring of 2013, Mr. Philbrick acquired the trail name “Snailpace” while attempting a thru-hike of the AT. He is currently researching and writing two book to be titled The Old A.T. - a Hiker's Guide to the Lost Appalachian Trail South of the Potomac River and Philbrick's Public Transportation Guide to the Mountain to Sea Trail across North Carolina

Book preview

Dedication

To all the volunteer Boy Scout leaders who invest innumerable hours of their valuable time introducing millions of young people around the world to the awesome wonders of God’s creation. Of those Scout leaders I want to give a special thanks to Mon Cochran, Skipper of Sea Explorer Ship 72, Orleans, Massachusetts, without his leadership and encouragement I never would have made it across the really scary sections of the Knife Edge on Mount Katahdin. Also, a really big thanks to all the dedicated volunteer Appalachian Trail maintainers who labor so many long hours crafting such a fine Trail the rest of us enjoy. Last of all, to my wife for her support of this project and encouragement to get out on the Trail.

Foreword

In early October of 1969 I ventured into the upper reaches of northern Maine to hike to the summit of Mount Katahdin. There I had my first encounter with the Appalachian Trail. I was sixteen at the time and a new Sea Scout recruit on the SES Nauset, Ship 72, Orleans, Mass., on Cape Cod. That adventure was my first backpacking trip to the Great North Woods.

After a long drive to Baxter State Park our crew hiked a few miles into the forest and just before sundown set up camp among the tall pines at Chimney Pond in the shadow of Katahdin. Early the next morning, in full pack, we hit the trail for the summit. By mid morning we passed the tree-line into the open and began scrambling over massive boulders, some the size of a school bus. Then we negotiated the scary heights of the Knife Edge with its 1000-foot drop-off to the right of the trail as fog began rolling in. Eventually, the arduous path led to the fog shrouded, rock strewn, mile-high summit of Katahdin ending at a waist high cairn of rough damp stones. Perched atop that lithic heap was a large weatherbeaten wooden sign. Standing in the misty chill air we gazed upon the sign with it’s carved white lettering on a faded brown face designating that very spot as the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

At the time, I was ignorant that such a long trail even existed, and while pondering the mileage listed on that sign, it dawned on me that a person could start from that damp cold pile of rocks and hike over 2000 miles of mountainous wilderness to the warm heart of Georgia. The spark of that revelation ignited in my young mind, soul and spirit, a deep burning desire to traverse its full length.

For the next two days we did, indeed, hike the Appalachian Trail south towards Georgia and the experience of that pilgrimage changed me. The wonder of hiking a rugged rocky trail carpeted with fallen autumn leaves of vivid golds and russets, dipping a cup into pristine brooks of liquid crystal to quench a thirst, lying semi exposed under a tarp among towering dark pines in the chill autumn evening gazing up at blazing stars in the inky expanse of the heavens, I knew right then I’d be returning to the Trail again and again.

Over the next few years the Nauset crew and I returned to backpack other sections of the Appalachian Trail in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The challenge, independence and adventure of life on the Trail was a great way for a young man to grow up.

But time, circumstance, choices and responsibilities influence the course of our lives. I graduated from high school and went off to college, got a degree, worked at jobs, got married, had kids, started raising a family and twenty years passed without spending any time on the Trail. When our kids had grown to scouting age I remembered my years of fun and adventure as a Scout and encouraged my two boys to join a local troop. I signed on as an assistant scoutmaster and troop backpacking trips took me back onto the Appalachian Trail and rekindled my former connection with that great wilderness path and I rediscovered the old magic was still there.

When my boys aged out and grew past scouting age, my connection with the A.T. didn’t end. On my own I began annually to section hike the Trail by taking several weekends, and sometimes even several days long treks. Those trips required three to five hour drives and the logistics of safely parking a vehicle and arranging an expensive shuttle. When the price of gasoline quadrupled, the expense of getting to and from the Trail took the shine off the apple.

Then, it occurred to me public transportation might be an affordable and convenient alternative to getting to and back from the Trail. There were positives that made that option attractive too; per mile cost of travel is much less, no wear and tear on an aging vehicle, no long tedious and tiring hours behind the wheel, no expensive fees for a shuttled to a distant trailhead, no worries of trailhead parking with its inherent risk of vandalism or theft. I saw the shine returning to the apple.

Online I began researching the possibilities with the initial intention of gathering information for my personal use. I quickly discovered there was only a scant amount of information scattered across the internet and little that was organized and nothing comprehensive. That lack of organized, comprehensive information planted a seed and the realization that such a project would be valuable not only for me, but other A.T. hikers also. I then proceeded for over a year and a half to research, compile and organize information into a comprehensive written form and the final results became Philbrick’s Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide.

That was back in 2014, and since then I’ve put in many more hours of research and the Guide has been updated twice with the most current information. With this new edition the format has also been completely changed to a linear milage system to help anyone identify from a specific road crossing any nearby transportation while actually hiking on the A.T.

My motive for making this guide generally available is to put a useful planning tool into the hands of like-minded hikers and help them find affordable public transportation to access the Trail.

It’s been fifty years since my first encounter with the Appalachian Trail, and memories of that and subsequent adventures remain as fresh, vivid and wonderful now as when first experienced. My greatest reward for undertaking this project would be meeting a user of this guide out on the Trial. If you run into me out there you’ll know me as Snailpace.

J. Jeffrey Philbrick

Design of the Guide

The Appalachian Trail is the most documented hiking trail on the face of the planet and there are mountainous stacks of information and guides to help anyone hike it. So, why add another guide to that stack? First of all, Philbrick’s Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide is the only complete and comprehensive compilation of public transportation information for accessing the Appalachian Trail available anywhere, either in print or on the internet. Second, the guide is a unique stand alone practical resource providing fresh information found in none of the other standard A.T. guides available on the market.

Any hiker familiar with the standard A.T. guides or supplementary services guides knows that data is listed to correspond to linear points and mileages along the path of the Appalachian Trail. These publications are designed inside out from a very narrow perspective of a hiker actually walking along the Trail who occasionally looks out from time to time from a select few of over 500 road crossings along the way. Those guides focus a hiker’s attention on services, such as food and lodging, close to the Trail while taking very little if any notice to details farther than a couple of miles from the Trail. Philbrick’s Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide actually expands a hiker’s view at any pertinent A.T. road crossing to point out public transportation services available within ten miles of the A.T., which is an easy hitch or shuttle ride from the Trail. In fact, there are many places, that with some advance planning, public transportation can be summoned at a road crossing directly on the A.T.!!! That is the kind of practical, useful and important information to a hiker that isn’t even mentioned in other standard guides.

While planning any sort of Appalachian Trail hiking adventure Philbrick’s Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide is an invaluable resource, either on or off the A.T. and useful on its own or as a companion guide to round out information ignored in other standard guides most commonly used by A.T. hikers.

As a stand alone resource Philbrick’s Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide is full of the essential and practical information any hiker needs for accessing public transportation to get onto or off the Trail and even provides useful information to get around town when a hiker leaves the A.T. to resupply or take a zero day in a nearby trail-town or city. For Thru-hikers the guide is especially useful for providing the necessary information to get off the Trail in cases of an emergency or just go home for a while.

Structure of the Guide

The guide is divided into three parts:

Part One - Road Crossing List to access public transportation

From Georgia to Main the Appalachian Trail crosses over five hundred roads. This guide only lists roads the A.T. crosses that lead to public transportation within ten miles or less from the Trail. There are a few cases where there are many miles between road crossing that access nearby public transportation, for example in central Virginia near the towns of Bland and Pearisburg, in Shenandoah National Park, and especially in Maine. In those cases available public transportation more than 10 miles from the A.T. is also listed.

The majority of thru-hikers go northbound starting from Springer Mountain in Georgia and the Road Crossing List also begins at Springer and proceeds north.

Before each named road crossing are two sets of numbers indicating milage:

First set of numbers are miles from Mt. Katahdin.

Second set of numbers, in parentheses, are miles from Springer.

Milage numbers are from the 2019 northbound edition of The A.T. Guide; a Handbook for Hiking the Appalachian Trail, by David Awol Miller, published by Antigravity Gear. The Appalachian Trail Distance Calculator online at: http://www.atdist.com, and the 2019 edition of the Appalachian Trail Data Book, by Daniel D. Chazin, published by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The milages numbers may be slightly off in subsequent years due to trail relocations.

All roads in bold lettering access public transportation.

Any listing not in bold do not access public transportation and listed as reference points only. Important rivers the A.T. crosses are also listed as reference points. Several road crossings listed access public transportation more than 10 miles from the A.T., in these cases the road is not in bold lettering.

A triple asterisks (***) before a road indicates public transportation is available directly on the A.T. at that specific road crossing. In those cases public transportation either stops at, can be flag stopped at, or can be summoned to that specific road crossing and the text will indicate which option.

Below each listed road crossing is stated the type of stop at or near the road crossing followed by the town or city where the public transportation is located. Before that is a milage and abbreviated direction from the A.T. to the nearest stop, station, terminal, etc. where the transportation can be accessed. After that is a brief notation of the type of transportation service available. Where ever possible an address or GPS waypoint is given and hikers with a smartphone or GPS can use that information to direct them from the Trail to the transportation source. In a few cases for clarity walking or driving directions are given.

Flag stops, in most cases, are along a fixed route with regular scheduled bus service. In those cases the bus only stops if the driver is signaled to stop, and only stops if it is safe to do so. An exception is a Dial-A-Ride (DAR) flag stop where the bus only services a stop on-call by appointment ahead of time.

Listed flag stops are always underlined so they stand out from regular stops on a route. The general rule, as in hitch-hiking, when flagging down a bus stand at a location with good visibility and long sight-views, and also where there is a large enough stretch of unobstructed pavement or firm ground in front of or behind you where it is convenient and safe for a bus or vehicle to slow down and pull onto the roadside out of traffic.

The key to Philbrick’s Appalachian Trail Public Transportation Guide that makes it a unique tool and utilizing it to your full advantage is understanding the concept and importance of a Hub City. The United States is linked together by a national intercity transportation web of commercial scheduled train, bus and airplane services. Within that national web any city or town close to the Appalachian Trail with national public transportation is designated a Hub City. Such cities are strategically important for accessing the Trail because traveling to any Hub City brings a hiker from anywhere in the nation, or the world for that matter, to a region close to the Appalachian Trail. It is also important to note that by using Hub Cities a hiker can jump or hop scotch to different regions either up or down the A.T. For quick reference the Appendix has a Hub City List which also includes the type of national public transportation available at each listed Hub City.

More importantly, many Hub Cities are directly linked to local public transportation services that form regional networks to other nearby cities, towns or locations close to or in many instances directly on the Appalachian Trail. The Road Crossing List reflects this by showing connecting local transit routes or services to a specific Hub City or several of them within a local network. Hub Cities with links to national public transportation are shown in capital letters.

Part Two - Directory of Towns and Cities with Public Transportation

The Directory is a listing of towns and cities with public transportation that appear in the Road Crossing List, as well as several other important Hub Cities. To eliminate redundancy and reduce the size of the guide, the Road Crossing List mainly gives a town or city name with brief general public transportation available. The Directory should be consulted for more specific detailed information on a public transportation carrier in a specific town or Hub City shown in the Road Crossing List.

The Directory listings are categorized by state with towns and cities listed in alphabetical order to facilitate quick reference between the towns and cities at a specific listing on the Road Crossing List and a Directory entry. Each individual town or city listing in the Directory provides specific details on type of public transportation available, station addresses, phone numbers, email, websites, etc. The transportation provider website should be consulted for specific scheduling details and other information. It is highly recommended to contact transportation providers to verify routes, schedules, etc.

Part Three - Appendix

The Appendix is a compilation of general information of use to an A.T. hiker beginning with a section that includes several quick reference lists. The first list, by state, are Hub Cities with available national public transportation in each city. The second list, by state, are Amtrak train stations with the train routes from that station. The third list, by state, are airports with scheduled commercial service.

The lists are followed by a section listing several websites with general but useful information on the A.T., followed by a section with useful information on public transportation that includes several discount bus ticketing websites, and private shuttle service contact info. Finally, there is a full listing of public transportation providers by category that operate along the Appalachian Trail.

Dial-A-Ride Services

County and regional Dial-A-Ride services are the most important public transportation providers to access the A.T. from a Hub City. The guide uses the abbreviation DAR for Dial-A-Ride. In many cases a DAR service operate in areas not serviced by larger commercial scheduled service carriers, but are connected to cities and towns served by them. Using a DAR service require advance planning because of the nature and structure of the service provided.

As the name implies a Dial-A-Ride service operates on call only by phone or email to provide a ride. The vast majority of DARs do not operate as an on-call taxi service to provide an immediate ride, nor do most provide scheduled fixed route service as do municipal or commercial bus services, though there are a few exceptions. The town of Marion, Va comes to mind where several fixed routes require calling ahead and making an appointment to ride the route at a fixed hour. With luck, same-day service may be available if there is spare seating, so it’s almost always worth a call or email to find out.

Typically, DARs are government subsidized county or municipal systems operating as a shared ride, demand response/flex route within an established territory. If there is a fixed route within a territory, with advance notice, they will deviate off the route usually up to a quarter mile to pick up or drop off passengers. Sometimes a deviation request on boarding may be honored. In some cases a DAR bus can be flag stoped on a route if there is room on the bus and it is safe to make the stop.

Almost all DAR services operate exclusively on weekdays only, during daylight hours, and are closed on weekends and major holidays. On the plus side for section hikers weekday only service is perfect for a long weekend hike on the A.T. with Friday drop-off and Monday pick-up.

Typically, passengers must notify the providers by phone or email and make an appointment for a ride 24 hours or one business day in advance before 2:00 or 3:00 pm, and some providers may require more advanced notice. An appointment for a Monday ride must be made by the prior Friday. Out of area appointments may require a reservation from 24 hrs to one week in advance.

Generally, rides are scheduled in one hour blocks and passengers are expected to be ready for boarding one half hour to an hour on either side of an appointed ride time. When making a ride appointment ask about this policy. Fares are cash payment only in exact change when boarding.

Beside providing flex route service within a fixed territory some providers also operate fixed routes in or out of area that may also require reserving a seat in advance. Sometimes fixed routes require a quota of a certain number of riders to make the run and are cancelled if the quota is not met, especially on out of area routes. Find out the quota and up the chances of a ride by recruiting fellow hikers to take the trip.

Dial-A-Ride services tend to adhere to the following policies:

Drivers will not make change, take gratuities or tips, help passengers board or exit or assist with packages and baggage. Drivers also hold the discretion and authority to refuse service or expel passengers. Be well groomed and clean before boarding as drivers can refuse service to anyone with poor hygiene or offensive odor. Passengers are not allowed to smoke, eat or drink in the vehicle. Be on your best behavior at all times, as violators will be removed from the vehicles for not wearing a seat belt, using abusive language, swearing, disruptive behavior, harassing the driver or other passengers. Expulsion from a vehicle usually involves the driver contacting the local police to remove a violator which may lead to other penalties of a legal nature that are best avoided.

For information, rules or routes check the service provider website or call the agency before using any of these services.

Commuter Services

Commuter bus