LOL- the rock that got me was between Sterling Pond and Spruce peak heading southbound. Would have been a climb for you NOBO's but much like the section Big Cranky mentions.
I love the Long Trail. Congrats to all who set foot on it, even if said foot comes home a bit damaged, it's worth it.
Hey Josh- best of luck on your attempt!
If it' not too late- my speed hike attempt from last year can be found here- Link to PDF too if you want to download and read it on your way out.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...ke-trip-report
Decent read for anyone if you'd like- report on the first post.
For you specifically- I would say the biggest surprise for me was how much things changed mentally once I called it a "record attempt". Those two words nearly ruined the trip. Thankfully the trail was kind enough to clean it up by the end for me.
Thanks Bill! Great report, somehow I missed it when looking for posts about LT speed hikes. I hear you about putting labels on the hike. I'm not really thinking of this as a Speed record attempt. I'm simply going out and hiking the trail as fast as I can. I've put in 100+ mile weeks and 40+ mile days for the past couple months and I'm in pretty good shape and you can bet I'm starting with 7 days of food and an itinerary that would bring me in under Travis's record if I get an incredible streak of good luck, but I don't think i'm quite in 40 mile per day shape right now and I'm not going to push it to the point of long term injury for a chance at getting the record. This is really just a test for me to see where I am physically and learn some new things about long distance fastpacking so I am ready to go after the unsupported AT record next summer. This hike will be an invaluable learning experience in that regard and will give me confidence to allow me to train hard all winter and spring and feel ready when I'm standing on top of big K next summer.
Taken my share of spills on the LT. What baffles me is that the Long Trail has been done as a winter thru by more than one person. How they manage that is behond me.
Yep. Remember that slippery rock near Sterling Pond. My son slipped on one, fell hard and I thought for sure he'd broken his elbow or arm and our hike was over. I was trying to figure out how to get us off trail when he announced he was fine and would keep on hiking. Whew!
I agree with the others, the section between Johnson and Canada was much easier than the section between Waitsfield and Johnson. It seemed to get easier as soon as we descended Whiteface, going NOBO.
Puffer Shelter, does indeed have a great view. We had the shelter to ourselves and the sunset was really nice. The rain the next morning, well, it was the LT, and you do what you have to.
LT 2013, AT NOBO 2015, MSGT 2016, PCT 2017/2018
I agree with MamaBear about at least giving a few warm fuzzies out for the LT. I finished a Sobo e2e 8/27 and had a better time out there than dealing with all the crap like car and computer repairs that awaited me at home. The hike was absolutely the most challenging walking I have ever done, nothing I hadn't seen before but just the sheer weight of mile after mile of muck, slippery rock, etc. Some great views, some that I missed due to thick fog or driving rain, lovely hail, more falls or near misses than I can count, interesting company. Devils Gulch was a bit perplexing, Camel's Hump wind blew me backwards at times, but fun, Mansfield crowds were weird after spending so much time alone or with just a couple of other people around, some of the blazing in other places called for getting one's head in the mind of the trail builders rather than depending on blazes. It was just what I needed to shake off nearly 40 years of accumulated crud since my last hike of more than 10 days. To me the secret for hiking the Long Trail is to keep the humor dry, all the rest will work itself out.
Cheers to all who hike it this year. A pint of Ben and Jerry's and a pint of Vermont's finest beer to all. Here's to doing it again but from the other direction!