Her name comes up mostly as a writer with hiking/outdoor experience. I read a couple of her articles and she writes well. But nothing out there on her regarding LD hiking, speed hiking, ultrarunning, etc.
Her name comes up mostly as a writer with hiking/outdoor experience. I read a couple of her articles and she writes well. But nothing out there on her regarding LD hiking, speed hiking, ultrarunning, etc.
Fair enough... Should be some more serious fun later this year I reckon.
Yar- not to hard to sit there with a calculator and start running some numbers... 4mph for 10 hours a day looks like a low bar to limbo your eddie bauer pack under... but that's where the fun of it is for all of us.
Best of luck to her and happy trails. You never know until you try.
I believe that they usually are strongly worded requests. But they could legally close the trail (s) as USFS did following hurricane Irene. I'd also suggest that locally any ranger, police, or park authority could order you off under their far reaching duty and authority to protect the trail. It becomes a judgment call by them at that point, and you'll never win that one in court.
It is state law for trails on state land, mostly for the Mt Mansfield and Camels Hump area. Apparently the AT does cross some state land which might be subject to the mud season law. That point I'm not clear on. The GMC does very strongly request people stay off all trails during mud season, even if they are not subject to state law.
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If Wildcard Ninja can do it, so can she! You just have to balance out your cigarette breaks.
Looks like she started from Springer today. According to her Instagram.
I wish her luck. I watched Annish very closely. This doesn't have the same feel. The hammock alone is a hint to me that she's in for a wee little wake-up call on the trail. I can't see an FKTer stringing up a hammock every night, nor lugging the extra weight.
The invite for people to "join along" in her post on the FKT board is another clue that she may not know what she's getting into. Annish was purposely vague about her location to avoid any friendly drags.
Furthermore, her Instagram post says she intends to live blog from the trail. When? On breaks? Or in the dark from a shelter after hiking 44 miles? C'mon.
I do my own little mini FKTs fairly frequently -- 60 miles in two days, stuff like that. I can tell you that I don't want to talk to anybody and I can't imagine hanging a hammock. It's more like collapse on the ground for a few hours. I'm usually hiking dark-to-dark, (like Kirk, JPD, and Annish did). I do this for 3-4-5 days at a time. A sub-60 thru hike is tantamount to a no-oxygen Everest summit, in my opinion. JPD, Kirk, and Annish are awe inspiring.
I sincerely wish this gal good luck! I'm rooting for you! Prove me wrong!
I can't imagine packing a tent like Anish did... to each their own. Relatively speaking her gear style isn't very spartan ultrarunner; more of an efficient LD hiker. So hard to say what's ideal other than to use the gear that makes you most comfortable.
Oddly... playing with some FKT minded Hammock kits...there is some potential in such a system but I agree you still need a pad for throw down convenience. But getting up outta the mud and catching a reliably solid nights sleep has some very tangible benefits too. If you're going to waste time sleeping; might as well make the most of it. With some practice it doesn't take much more, if any more, time to string up the hammock compared to looking for a clean spot or clearing a spot so you don't pop your pad on a pinecone.
Joey Camps had a pretty smooth system for updates... he spent some time getting his voice to text stuff to work on his fancy phone... so wasn't much more work that pressing send when he had a signal at a gas station stop or during a break. He kinda enjoyed the little mental break of it I believe. Not saying that's this gal's plan though.
But yar- best of luck indeed.
Is it just me or does she just need to start hiking already?! I'm ready to watch her fly by and it seems to be taking forever!!! Best of luck, does she have a Trail name?
She fell 10 miles short of her goal day one. She hiked 39.
Eddie Valiant: "That lame-brain freeway idea could only be cooked up by a toon."
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Maybe if you're out there doing a personal best or something, but not if you have corporate sponsors and declare an FKT attempt. That invites scrutiny. Looks like day one was a little bit of a wake-up call.
Did you get the mileage update from her Instagram feed or somewhere else?
39 miles is about 31 miles farther than the average starter, methinks. When we ended last week at Woody Gap (sobo section from NC), the guy driving the shuttle from the Hiker Hostel saw a northbound hiker and was amazed that she had made it to Woody from Springer in two days - a total of 20 miles. Told her she was making really great time, compared to all the other hikers he has seen. I think the vast majority of starting hikers are going to Hawk Mtn on the first day.
It is really hard for me to understand why world record hopefuls don't run a realistic test of their purely theoretical mileage plans. I would think the fact that the most experienced, most athletic hikers in history have never been that fast would be the first clue that it takes good genetics, experience, and very tough training to break established records like this.
I think part of the problem is many people are convinced that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to, and that simply isn't true.
The AT will crush one's ego very quickly; that is for sure.