My story
Start: 3/10/10, 5:23 a.m., Appalachia
End: 3/18/10, 10:25 a.m., Lincoln Woods Trailhead
Total time: 8 days, 4 hours, 2 minutes (one-hour time change during course of attempt)
Total mileage: ~217 miles, over 80% in snowshoes
Players: Humble gratitude to Farmer (47 peaks), Ferrisjrf (20 peaks), Mats, Juniper, Frodo, Cruddytoes, and Garbonzo McFuddlebaum. Without the help of these kind and giving souls, a new women’s W48 record would not have been possible. Thanks so much you guys!
Background: In the early winter of 2003-04 Frodo and I completed the first W48 record. Since this particular form of lunacy had never before been accomplished, we played it a bit conservatively some days. I was confident (delusional?) of cutting 2-3 days off our previous time of 10d22h given good weather/trail conditions and good health. Although I moved to Southern California 3 years ago, a fast W48 was still on my radar, but it wasn’t until this winter that I finally got my act together and with encouragement from Mats especially, connected with a couple of other crazies; let‘s call them Farmer (Ryan) and Ferrisjrf (Jason). Farmer and I had hiked together once last fall, but I’d never met Jason. In contrast to the ‘04 record which was carried out in the shortest and darkest days of winter, this time I opted for mid March due to the longer daylight and, hopefully, warmer weather.
Training: None specific to this attempt--definitely could’ve been a bit more cognizant in this regard, but I’m basically kinda lazy. In fact, I’d been on snowshoes only once in the past year and hadn‘t carried more than a very light running pack since a backpacking trip last summer. OTOH, I am always in pretty good condition, trail running ultra-length distances, doing yoga, etc.
Okay then, for the day-by-day account.
3/10 Presi Traverse & Tom/Field/Willey - ~32 miles
I fly from LA to Manchester late on 3/8, planning to start on 3/11; however, with a stellar above-treeline forecast, I hurriedly purchase supplies, get my stuff together, and am ready to go on the 10th. Farmer and I meet at the Highland Center to spot a car at 0’dark thirty, then proceed to Altopia in Randolph, where Chef Ferris has prepared yummy scrambled egg wraps. The 3 of us start up Valley Way at 5:23 a.m. in snowshoes, which remain on our feet almost the entire traverse (!) until the last couple of miles of the Jackson descent. Not only have I been on snowshoes just once in the past year; it‘s exactly the first time I‘ve ever worn my new Salomon Snowtrips. They work out just fine; in fact, I love them and suffer zero foot problems. The climb feels easy. We leave our packs at Madison Hut to climb our first of 11 peaks of the day. The rest of the traverse is spectacular, with bright sun, a deep blue sky, light wind, and SNOW. I’ve never seen this much white up there! I tell the guys--and mean it--that even if the attempt is unsuccessful, I’ll be happy to have been able to do a winter Presi Traverse in such incredible conditions. We meet many other hikers this day, including a HikerEd group climbing Jefferson. Reaching Pierce by 1:30 p.m. and feeling pretty cocky, it takes us another 2 hours to negotiate the mess to Jackson, even with the aid of Jason‘s GPS. Since it is still daylight when we arrive at Crawford Notch, Farmer and I decide to do the “easy” Tom/Field/Willey trio. Tom is easy; Field and Willey are not. In fact, we end up basically bushwhacking over to Willey. (Since when did this peak and Jackson get so difficult?!) We are loathe to retrace our steps so call Jason from the summit and ask him to pick us up at the Ethan Pond/AT crossing instead of back at the Highland Center. Our hiking day finally ends at 10 p.m. Chef Ferris has prepared a scrumptious veggie pasta dish which we wolf down on the drive back to Altopia.
3/11 Carrigain & Isolation - ~27 miles
A crazy Swede reports super awesome conditions on Isolation, so we opt for Carrigain and Isolation today while said crazy Swede and Jason track out the tangled jungle between Zeta Pass and Middle Carter. Carrigain is so easy that we wish we’d carried only water and worn trail runners. Isolation is a bit more work: quads are a tiny bit sore and lethargic, but this is the only day I feel any kind of soreness at all and am happy to be able to complete the whole shebang entirely drug free. The bushwhack is gorgeous and takes us through lovely birch glades. About 3 miles from the summit, we meet a couple of guys who tell us it will take another 3 hours to reach the top. We smile. A barred owl cracks us up with her “Who cooks for youuu? Who cooks for youuu-aaaaall?” hoot a mile or so before the parking lot. We opt for the 8-piece original, extra greasy, extra salty, extra disgusting KFC for dinner, but it tastes wonderful.
3/12 Wildcats/Carters & Moriah - 25.2 miles
Jason reports tough route finding on the Carters and suggests we descend North Carter to the highway, then reclimb Moriah separately. I think “Is he insane?! No freaking way! How difficult can it be to follow the Appalachian Trail?” We confidently leave a car at the Carter-Moriah trailhead, proceed to Wildcat ski area and start up the hill, not the Polecat this time since it takes too long, but rather one of the more direct trails, not an issue since the ski area is not yet open. We top out in about an hour and continue relatively speedily over the Wildcats, down to the notch, up Carter Dome and across South and Middle Carter, where we eat leftover KFC. Yum-O! The trail is unbroken from here on, and we have some difficulty picking our way over to North Carter. We forge ahead, but with such deep snow, low hanging branches, and buried (white, AT!) paint blazes, the trail is impossible to follow. After about a half hour of searching, along with a couple of hundred feet of descent, I finally have to admit that Jason was right. We retreat down the North Carter and Imp Trails, quickly hitch a ride back to Farmer’s car at Wildcat, and drive down to the C-M Trail to do Moriah. What’s a few more miles and vertical feet anyway? Fortunately we were able to Microspike the entire way. Another 10 p.m. finish…
3/13 Waumbek, Cabot & Hale - 25.4 miles
Winds pick up today, a foreboding of the yucky weather ahead. Farmer and I are up and down Waumbek in short order and continue on to Mt. Cabot via the Mt. Cabot Trail, with in-between stops at the Country Store in Jefferson for soup, pizza, and coffee. Juniper joins us for Mt. Hale, which we do as an out and back via the Hale Brook Trail, and we meet Pat, Audrey, and Leo on Zealand Road. (Also meet an old running friend on Waumbek as well as Seema and Brian on Cabot!) Tonight we check into the timeshare in Lincoln, and Juniper makes us a yummy pasta dinner. Also, Garbonzo McFuddlebaum arrives from California, so from this point on we are spoiled with breakfasts and dinners cooked for us!
We lose an hour of much needed sleep tonight due to daylight savings.
3/14 Hancocks & Osceolas - 17.4 miles
The weather turns to crap so we readjust our plans for the next 3 days. (The ‘A’ plan was to try to do the Kinsmans/Cannon, Hancocks and Osceolas in one day, with Moosilauke, Tecumseh, Tris, Whiteface and Passaconaway the next, just like Farmer and Jason did in their record-setting W48 earlier this year. I tell Farmer his record is safe for now. And BTW, Farmer definitely could‘ve broken his own record had I not been slowing him down.) Frodo joins us for the Hancocks. We are happy to see that rain in Lincoln transitions to wet snow at the trailhead. Coincidentally, I use an umbrella on this hike just as in ‘04. We follow tracks leading to Arrow Slide and head up it a ways. Without an axe, I chicken out when the angle steepens beyond my comfort level, so we retreat into the trees. The wind is howling, snow is falling, and we concentrate to stay on the untracked trail before speedily butt sliding down South Hancock. We bid adieu to Frodo and are envious as he drives off in warm, dry clothes. It is on East Osceola that Farmer reveals his penchant for trail breaking. The wind is really howling on Osceola, and we notice that our tracks are already drifting in on our return to East Peak. Another fun butt slide down the steeps, and soon we were driving back to the condo and Garbonzo, joking about being losers for doing such low mileage--for us--today.
Continued...
