Z D.
Yelp
The only way to review our experience fairly is in segments. My wife and I had decided to hike south on the AT. We found Phil, the owner of "100 Mile Wilderness" outfitters, while searching for resupply options in Maine's 100 Mile Wilderness.
BANGOR PICK UP & DROP OFF AT KATAHDIN:
After a few conversations and a $100 deposit, Phil picked us up in Bangor and took us to his cabins for the night. He arrived punctually and helped us load our gear. In the morning, he drove us to Baxter State Park and recommended a nice route for our climb up Katahdin. He did not mention that Baxter is carry-in carry-out while he invited us to pick up Gatorades for the hike, and we ended up with a bit more trash to lug around than we would've liked. Other than that, Phil is chatty and likes to talk about all the people who quit, his competitors, his three thru-hikes, and noticing women without bras on the trail.
MID 100 MILE WILDERNESS RESUPPLY:
The resupply bag that we prepared was waiting for us in Phil's cache box before we got there on Day 4 of our trip. That said, the box itself was a mess. In the driving rain with cold fingers, it was tough to get the double latches of the box open as the metal was pretty badly bent on one hinge. Inside the box, there were too many other resupplies to make heads or tails of the system Phil had described (resupply on left, trash center, hiker grab bag right). Phil's in need of a new system that can handle his user load.
EXTRACTION:
This is where the experience really fell apart. Phil had told us from the outset that he'd "rescue" us at the nearest access point in the 100 Mile Wilderness with a "double confirmation" anytime on our trip. The double confirmation process is (1) we make a request for extraction day and time (2) Phil offers location (3) we confirm location and time (4) Phil double confirms. It makes sense, since cell reception is so spotty. We did the double confirmation on a mountain top where we briefly found reception, and once it was confirmed moved down below tree level where, like in the vast majority of the 100 Mile Wilderness, we again lost reception.
We went ahead and made a plan for a 10:00am extraction on a side trail at AT mile 99 following the confirmation system. The next morning we hustled 5 miles through the rain to arrive early. At 9:50am, another hiker showed up who had scheduled a 10:45am extraction with Shaw's Hiker Hostel (also in Monson). We figured she could ride with us when Phil came and not have to wait in the rain. At 10:00am, though, Phil was a no-show. At 10:45am exactly, the Shaw's driver showed up and generously allowed us to hop a ride. On the 20 minute ride back to Monson, we saw Phil driving toward the pick up point and stopped to talk. He was visibly pissed off that we were in his competitor's vehicle and not still waiting for him in the rain. When we pulled up to Shaw's, Phil stopped behind us, rolled down his window and said we had an 11am pick up and we owed him $50 for taking the time out of his schedule etc, etc. I told him it was 10am--here are the messages--, and if he had wanted to change it, then that change would have needed the same double confirmation. (He had sent a text the previous evening saying 11 was more convenient for him...which we only saw the following day hours after this all went down, driving through an area where our cell reception picked up like it had on the mountain.) I handed him $60 and he said something to the effect of -- so what, I owe you $10? -- When I told him to keep the change he rolled up his window and sped off. All this happened with other hikers and Shaw's employees standing around stunned. Shaw's could see that we were pretty worn out and treated us wonderfully. They offered us a soda and a shower and a chance to wash and dry our stuff and dry town clothes in the meantime and didn't even charge us for the pick up! (We ended up buying a couple Shaw's T-shirts to say thank you.)
TLDR:
Phil will pick you and leave you a cache in the 100 mile wilderness. As you can see from this and other reviews, don't expect him to win you over on customer service and there's a chance that you'll find yourself waiting in the rain if he changes his mind about extraction time.