POLL: Your longest day?

[SpencerVT]

POLL: What is the longest day you've ever had hiking?

I've never broken 16 hours.
16 was the longest marathon hike I've ever endured when I climbed Marcy, Gray, Skylight, Haystack, Basin and Saddleback in the ADKs.

The Catskill Bushwhack range took me 15 1/2 hours: Wittenburg, Cornell, Friday, Balsam Cap, Rocky, Lone, Table, Peekamoose.

After a climb completely goes around the clock (more than 12 hours), it just gets increasingly insane from there!

 

[peakbagger]

About 17 hours not by choice on a winter hike over the Weeks Range that went south. We weren't that many minutes away from having to do a forced bivy on cold night.

My slowpoke presi traverses are usually 15 hours.

 

[JoshandBaron]

17 hours for Twins/Bonds/Zealand.

 

[peakbagger]

The interesting thing with me is how daylight related my motivation is. I can start out in the dark in the AM and run all day but once the sun sets and its dark my energy level just dives. Not so bad in June but kind of annoying in late December early January

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

26 hours, no bivy, floundering in deep snow on bushwhack descent from West Bond

 

[Salty]

About 17 hours not by choice on a winter hike over the Weeks Range that went south. We weren't that many minutes away from having to do a forced bivy on cold night. .

Apparently the Weeks are infamous for horrid winter outings. Besides your outing (presuming it's not one of the following), it reminded me of a group that ended up out after dark, lost the trail somewhere in the Weeks summit area during a snowstorm and IIRC were finally forced to bushwhack down towards the hatchery. I also seem to remember it came close to a really bad situation. I swear it was posted here years ago, but can't find it. I did manage to come across Jazzbo's frigid tale with Oncoman and Dr. D (blast from the past there).

Of course, with the blazing being what it is(n't) in that area, shouldn't come as a surprise.

 

[TJsName]

About 18 hours on day 2 of an overnight. From near the top of the Isolation West trail over Washington, around Clay and Jefferson, over Adams and Madison, down the DW Scout trail. First hike of the year (before I winter hiked) and lots of overweight gear. Feet got torn to shreds. Should have bailed down VW in hindsight! It was my 48 finish, and the sunset from the summit of Madison was beautiful!

Planned longer days now max out around 12 hours, but sometimes run over.

 

[peakbagger]

Apparently the Weeks are infamous for horrid winter outings. Besides your outing (presuming it's not one of the following), it reminded me of a group that ended up out after dark, lost the trail somewhere in the Weeks summit area during a snowstorm and IIRC were finally forced to bushwhack down towards the hatchery. I also seem to remember it came close to a really bad situation. I swear it was posted here years ago, but can't find it. I did manage to come across Jazzbo's frigid tale with Oncoman and Dr. D (blast from the past there).

Of course, with the blazing being what it is(n't) in that area, shouldn't come as a surprise.

I was with them !

 

[DayTrip]

14h 51m. Started at Great Gulf lot, went up to Chandler Brook, followed Winter snocat route over to Wamsutta and Nelson Crag to Washington. Worked out to an 8 mile summit. Weather was so nice I decided to hit Gulfside and wound up doing Clay, Jefferson, Adams and Madison and coming back down Osgood to finish the loop. Was a pretty awesome day except for the bruise I got under my kneecap smashing it on a rock hidden in scrub coming up Chandler Brook. Didn't notice it until I was descending Jefferson and it had swollen to the point it affected how I extended my leg because it was swelling under the knee cap. At that point I was committed though. Fortunately it never became a real liability.

I have about a dozen hikes in my notes over 12 hours. I like to torture myself once or twice a year with a thorough beat down hike, usually in late June or early July when sunlight is maximum length.

 

[jniehof]

R2R2R was 16. My notes have a presi traverse as about 17.5 (4:30a to 10p, IIRC; this was starting from Webster Cliff and doing all summits.)

 

[Grey J]

I'm just on the JV team compared to most of you but I do have a couple of 12 hour ventures in the Whites. The Bonds out and back from Zealand Rd included a lot of photography on a gorgeous September day and having company somehow made that one seem easier. I did a solo out and back to Owls Head (on trail/no bushwhacks) in August 2015 and picked one of the hottest days of the summer to do it with temps around 85-86F. I probably set a personal record for water consumption on that one.


PS At what point does a long hike become a death march? Is it determined by time, i.e. >12 hours? Or by time and circumstances?

 

[briarpatch]

17.5 hours on the Cross Rivendell Trail. Hiked in late July to take advantage of the long daylight hours. We started at Flag Pole Hill in Vershire, VT at sunrise and wanted to finish on Mount Cube in Orford, NH at sunset. We missed the official sunset time by around 30 minutes. Coming back down Cube in the dark after that day was tough. Worst was the drive to shuttle friends back to their cars at the start and then the 45-minute drive home.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Strava to the rescue! 20 longest hikes by distance, descending.

Name	Date	Distance	Moving Time	Elapsed Time	Elevation
Pemi Loop with West Bond	2018-06-22	31.9	13:19:42	14:41:15	9684
Pemi Loop	2013-09-19	29.33	12:30:32	15:38:57	9009
Pemi Loop	2017-10-01	28.51	11:00:27	13:12:00	8829
Owl's Head Garfield and Galehead	2015-06-07	23.46	10:34:27	13:26:57	7059
Wapack Traverse - S -> N	2017-04-16	22.51	8:41:33	9:28:05	4691
Zealand - Bonds	2015-01-24	22.49	8:35:13	11:12:12	4483
Bonds-Zealand-Hale	2014-03-10	21.72	8:41:52	10:39:33	5849
Brothers Fort Coe	2017-03-06	21.01	10:19:08	18:26:47	5053
PT Madison -> Pierce	2015-08-08	19.05	9:28:04	11:26:22	8611
Owl's Head	2017-09-02	18.8	5:02:24	7:27:28	3027
Presidential Traverse	2016-01-08	18.7	8:33:51	11:11:04	8383
Owl's Head	2017-10-14	18.44	5:19:28	7:44:32	3058
Southwest Twin	2015-10-11	17.59	7:19:37	11:37:37	3251
Hale Zealand Twins	2015-08-02	17.41	7:44:14	10:10:29	5617
Tripyramids-Whiteface-Passaconaway	2017-04-30	16.58	5:29:04	11:45:36	4963
Owl's Head	2016-07-01	16.49	5:24:07	7:09:46	2986
Crawford Stairs Resolution Parker Langdon Pickering Stanton Whites Ledge	2017-08-27	16.38	4:54:56	8:01:04	5130
Owl's Head	2016-12-04	16.16	6:30:00	7:29:18	3081
Owl's Head	2014-08-30	16.13	6:27:18	8:08:46	3060
Owl's Head	2014-03-03	15.99	5:36:46	7:23:34	3074

Tim

 

[OldEric]

Not exactly hiking but I've had a couple of alpine days in the Tetons - Cathedral Traverse, N Ridge of the Grand - that have approached 24 hours C2C. The first time I tried the NIAD (Nose in a Day) in Yosemite it was much longer then IAD

 

[Jazzbo]

I was with them !

I think we're due for a reunion. Anyone care to try that route again? See if we can better our time?

 

[sierra]

About 18 hours. Broke my ankle at 14k on the other side of an out and back twofer. Took a long time to re-climb the first peak. As far as a non injury related hike, around 11 hours in CO.

 

[DayTrip]

I'm just on the JV team compared to most of you but I do have a couple of 12 hour ventures in the Whites. The Bonds out and back from Zealand Rd included a lot of photography on a gorgeous September day and having company somehow made that one seem easier. I did a solo out and back to Owls Head (on trail/no bushwhacks) in August 2015 and picked one of the hottest days of the summer to do it with temps around 85-86F. I probably set a personal record for water consumption on that one.


PS At what point does a long hike become a death march? Is it determined by time, i.e. >12 hours? Or by time and circumstances?

I would say circumstances. I did a 29 mile hike of the "other Pemi loop" (Signal Ridge>Carrigain Notch>Shoal Pond>Thoreau Falls>Wilderness and back) that duration-wise was not my longest hike (although it was up there) but mental capacity wise it definitely was. I wasn't in tip top shape when I did it. I basically wanted to see exactly how far was my limit at the time, and came pretty close to finding it. Lot of fairly uninteresting miles on that loop, lots of mud and many step over blow downs. Was a mental thing and is still one of the first hikes that comes to mind when I think of "longest".

 

[TJsName]

Strava to the rescue! 20 longest hikes by distance, descending.

Name	Date	Distance	Moving Time	Elapsed Time	Elevation
Pemi Loop with West Bond	2018-06-22	31.9	13:19:42	14:41:15	9684
Pemi Loop	2013-09-19	29.33	12:30:32	15:38:57	9009
Pemi Loop	2017-10-01	28.51	11:00:27	13:12:00	8829
Owl's Head Garfield and Galehead	2015-06-07	23.46	10:34:27	13:26:57	7059
Wapack Traverse - S -> N	2017-04-16	22.51	8:41:33	9:28:05	4691
Zealand - Bonds	2015-01-24	22.49	8:35:13	11:12:12	4483
Bonds-Zealand-Hale	2014-03-10	21.72	8:41:52	10:39:33	5849
Brothers Fort Coe	2017-03-06	21.01	10:19:08	18:26:47	5053
PT Madison -> Pierce	2015-08-08	19.05	9:28:04	11:26:22	8611
Owl's Head	2017-09-02	18.8	5:02:24	7:27:28	3027
Presidential Traverse	2016-01-08	18.7	8:33:51	11:11:04	8383
Owl's Head	2017-10-14	18.44	5:19:28	7:44:32	3058
Southwest Twin	2015-10-11	17.59	7:19:37	11:37:37	3251
Hale Zealand Twins	2015-08-02	17.41	7:44:14	10:10:29	5617
Tripyramids-Whiteface-Passaconaway	2017-04-30	16.58	5:29:04	11:45:36	4963
Owl's Head	2016-07-01	16.49	5:24:07	7:09:46	2986
Crawford Stairs Resolution Parker Langdon Pickering Stanton Whites Ledge	2017-08-27	16.38	4:54:56	8:01:04	5130
Owl's Head	2016-12-04	16.16	6:30:00	7:29:18	3081
Owl's Head	2014-08-30	16.13	6:27:18	8:08:46	3060
Owl's Head	2014-03-03	15.99	5:36:46	7:23:34	3074

Tim

8 hours of not moving on the Brothers/Fort/Coe hike? Was it the slow going?

 

[weatherman]

26 hours, no bivy, floundering in deep snow on bushwhack descent from West Bond

I remember that trip report! Learned a lot from your collective experience.
Not sure what number to say for mine. Couple around 14 hours, but one that included an unplanned night out after getting lost was 17 hrs of hiking plus about 6.5 makeshift-camping, in the Sierras.

 

[dailey7779]

23 hours and 13 minutes, a Hut to Hut Traverse with Owl's Head and Isolation added in. Caught sunrise from the Lincoln Slide dropping into the Pemi Wilderness and sunset from Osgood Ridge. Loved being in the heart of the White Mountains for almost 24 hours, it puts a smile on my face whenever I think back on it.