fkt's are news worthy, im curious what the lkt record is?
Longest known time on trail within one calendar year. This is a record I think I could make a run at.Anyone know what the current record is?
365 1/4 days?Originally Posted by Uncle Pecos
I'm not lost. I'm exploring.
Probably pretty darn close to that, given all the triple-crown in a year folks out there. I do wonder what the actual number is...
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Presumably they'd need at least 2 zeros for transferring between trail heads.
If attempting this, pick a leap year and stick to one path with tolerable winter conditions. I believe that's what the OP was referring to (one path, that is), since doing a calendar triple crown (etc) is anything but slow.
I would like to do a looong epic thru one year, maybe even flip to make it longer. Take a lot of zeroes, do a lot of trail magic. Check out all the cool side stuff. Gettysburg etc. Would need a lot more money for a hike like this than the 5-6 month hike I'm planning next year.
By definition, a thru hike (of most trails) is doing the whole trail in a calendar year. Thus, the longest thru hike is almost undoubtedly exactly 1 year.
I have actually given some thought to this. I have been fantasizing about going after this record someday myself. I have been keeping these thoughts on the down low, but since the subject has been broached, we might has well use this thread to define a 'LKT' record attempt.
John Upton, I respectfully disagree with you on the 'calendar year' thing. The closest we have to an authority is the Appalachian Trail Conference. This is what they have to saw on the subject...
"How does the ATC define thru-hiking? We define a thru-hike as a hike of the entire A.T. in 12 months or less. "
In my mind that means it can be a year starting on any date (does not have to start on January 1st). Many SOBO's finish their thru-hikes after January 1st. I am sure they feel they actually completed a thru-hike, and this seems to fit with the ATC definition.
So as suggested, I think you want to start in any 12 month period that includes a Leap Year' (February 29th). That would seem to put the upper limit on the record at 366 days exactly. If the hiker is lucky, they might pick a leap year that also has a 'Leap Second.' These are usually announced about 6 months in advance. That would put the maximum bound of the record at 366 days and one second. There was a year (1972) that had two leap seconds, but I doubt that this will ever happen again.
The link posted above by Kaptain Kritz is the longest time I have actually seen posted (although there may be others). This appears to be a record that is ready to be broken.
Of course documentation of 'LKT's is important. I suggest that you would at least want the start and end times at each terminus witnessed and timed with an accurate source tied to official NIST time.
I think there needs to be some discussion about what constitutes a fair LKT attempt. It seems to me that taking a 6 month layover along the way would not be in the spirit of a true thru-hike. I would love to hear the thoughts of others on this.
Also, I suppose this could be split up into NOBO/SOBO and supported/unsupported categories.
OK, lets call this my official announcement. I intend to go for the Longest Known Time in the year 2044 (a leap year). I have not picked an exact starting date yet. Why 2044? Well, I might as well let the cat completely out of the bag. I intend to go for two records at once. In 2044 I will be 84 years old. I also hope to top the great Lee 'The Easy One' Barry, the oldest known thru-hiker.
Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it
Last edited by imscotty; 11-28-2016 at 20:24.
When I say one "calendar year", I mean exactly what you mean. I knew a couple who started November 2015. I met them in the White Mountains in July 2016. They would've still been a thru hike had they finished in the next couple months (unfortunately, they had to get evacuated in the 100 mile wilderness due to a medical emergency and weren't able to finish this year). I've heard "calendar year" coined to create a greater distinction between that and section hikes (Many section hikers finish their section hike in fewer than 1 year spent on trail). But, i suppose that term causes a different confusion.
I would also love to go for a full year thru. Even if it meant yo-yoing. Can't imagine a better way to spend an entire year.
Happy Trails!
Scuba Nobo2016
A yo-yo is hiking the trail twice, nobo then sobo (or vise versa). A flip flop is skipping around. I have heard of "alternative" hikes which I think are all nobo or sobo flip-flops, but I do not think the term is well defined or well known.
Many have timed their hikes to be a full year. I did 364 days so a flat tire, etc would not turn my 2005 thru hike into a section hike. If you want to create a competitive record, I don't think you should count zeros. Why are three 2-month gaps more continuous than one 6 month gap. How can you judge the quality of zeros? Is being in the hospital better than just off the trail for Lyme disease (like the above link)?
Hikers seem to fixate on unusual features of their hikes and argue that that makes them special. Both ways: 12 bears is good experience that few see, one bear eating all of their food makes them tougher because of the long hike out.
The worst "record" that I have heard is (the friend of) a hiker who thru hiked in 4.5 months with a month of zeros. My favorite "zero record" is a hiker who did 4 (short?) weeks of trail work on his thru.
Good Luck
A Rambler, are you saying you thru-hiked in 364 days? If so, that would be the longest I have heard of. I would love to hear the details, do you have a blog?
Yes, the zero thing is a problem and I think some bounds would need to be specified to keep things in the spirit of a true thru-hike. I suppose the ultimate Slowest Known Time record would be one with no zeros, or at least no zeros in town.
Last edited by imscotty; 11-29-2016 at 16:27.
I flip flopped, mostly 3 week sections with lots of breaks. Although there was pretty good weather in Dec., I saved the last 2 days for spring, and just made sure I finished in the 12 month window. The year before, Stumpknocker did it in 365 days, so I knew I would need to get down to hours to set a record, not that I thought about that.
I think it would be easy to just subtract zero's, and probably need some minimum distance for a nearo. Hiking 1/2 mile into town and 1/2 mile out of town the next day should not count as two hiking days.
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