adktyler
Active member
The_Swede came up with the idea at some point last year to run the Devil’s Path in the Catskills as quickly as possible. It sounded like a great proposal, and an added bonus would be beating the unofficial fastest known time (8hr 12min by Artex, in 2007). After months of planning, and things not working out, we finally had the opportunity to give the trail a shot, and that opportunity was today!
After a night of carbo-loading and a semi-good sleep, we hit the western trailhead with high expectations. I was the noob of the trail, and Eric was on his third traverse, the previous one being quite speedy. Plus, even though I had been running every other day for the past month and a half, I hadn’t been in the mountains since the second week of April. I was a tad bit nervous!
We had a great start, and the sunrise cutting through the trees was quite lovely. However, after running for awhile, Eric began to feel nauseous, sadly enough. This became worse as the run/hike continued, and I felt very bad for him, especially since we had waited so long for this. At the Hunter lean-to, he decided he was going to take it slowly, and encouraged me to keep on going. We had agreed before the hike to continue on individually if one or the other had a problem, but it was still so selfless of him to encourage me, and I really appreciated it.
Off I ran towards the highway, and upon reaching it filled up my hydration bladder for the first time (I did a similar fill 2 more times, bringing my total water consumption to about 7 Nalgenes worth). I was carrying a rather heavy running pack, 15 ponds or so. But I wanted to have plenty of water, and my collection of Snickers bars, and my rain jacket, and my first-aid kit, and so on and so forth. The pack did, however, seem to become heavier as the day progressed.
Once past the highway I hit “the wall” hiking up Plateau. I seriously doubted that I would finish the hike in any sort of good time, and was ready to just hike the rest of the trail at a meandering pace. I tried to push through, though, and eventually made it to the summit (wherever that summit may be). From then on, I felt pretty darn good, and kept up a running pace on the flats and downhills, and a brisk hiking pace on the uphills. And man, were those uphills a beast! That is not an easy trail to run, my friends, as I’m sure many of you know!
At one point along the trail, I ran into a not-so-friendly porcupine. He was very cute, but was terrible at walking fast, and seemed desire to walk along the trail all the way to his undisclosed home. I tried to get him to move along faster, but to no avail. The thought certainly crossed my mind that this prickly little beast was going to spoil my entire speed-hiking efforts.
However, he eventually decided (with some more coaxing from me), and he was ready to head off the trail. What a relief for me. I wish that interesting animal encounters such as that would occur in less time-sensitive situations.
Before I knew it, I was on the summit of Indian Head. I had taken short breaks all along the way to soak in the views, and this was the final one (for the most part) of the day. I had suffered from no cramps whatsoever, and was surprised that I stayed hydrated in the scorching heat (91 degrees back at the car, with almost no breeze while running the eastern section of the trail). In hindsight, it was a great idea to do the easier section of the trail first. The sun was shielded from the mountains on my hike up, and I usually received more breeze on that side of the peaks.
While running down Indian Head I bumped into Eric, who had hitchhiked from the highway back to the car. It was great to see his smiling face again, and I was glad to hear that he was feeling better. After a quick chat, I began the final run back to the car. It turned into a run-for-awhile/walk-for-awhile deal, since I was pretty tired at that point. But finally, at 12:30:00pm exactly, I arrived back in the parking lot, with one small blister, and no other issues.
We left that morning at 5:05am, so that put me at 7 hours, 25 minutes; beating the previous time by 47 minutes! Even though there really wasn’t a competition, I was very pleased with the traverse, and it was nice to know my capabilities. Especially since I had a heavy-ish pack, ran it unsupported, ran it in a hot, hot day, and haven’t trail run in a month and a half. As far as I know, this now stands as the fastest known time for the Devil’s Path (24.2 miles, 8,000-9,000 vertical). If anyone knows of a faster time, please let me know. It’s really not that fast, though, and I know there are plenty of people on here who could crush it easily, but it was still fun to accomplish something.
It was even better to meet and hike with Eric, though! I’m sure that when he’s not having an off day, he’ll be back on the path running it faster than Devil tells a lie! Thanks, Eric!!
As usual, my pictures came out lame and crappy. But here is a small sampling, if only to prove that we were there:
After a night of carbo-loading and a semi-good sleep, we hit the western trailhead with high expectations. I was the noob of the trail, and Eric was on his third traverse, the previous one being quite speedy. Plus, even though I had been running every other day for the past month and a half, I hadn’t been in the mountains since the second week of April. I was a tad bit nervous!
We had a great start, and the sunrise cutting through the trees was quite lovely. However, after running for awhile, Eric began to feel nauseous, sadly enough. This became worse as the run/hike continued, and I felt very bad for him, especially since we had waited so long for this. At the Hunter lean-to, he decided he was going to take it slowly, and encouraged me to keep on going. We had agreed before the hike to continue on individually if one or the other had a problem, but it was still so selfless of him to encourage me, and I really appreciated it.
Off I ran towards the highway, and upon reaching it filled up my hydration bladder for the first time (I did a similar fill 2 more times, bringing my total water consumption to about 7 Nalgenes worth). I was carrying a rather heavy running pack, 15 ponds or so. But I wanted to have plenty of water, and my collection of Snickers bars, and my rain jacket, and my first-aid kit, and so on and so forth. The pack did, however, seem to become heavier as the day progressed.
Once past the highway I hit “the wall” hiking up Plateau. I seriously doubted that I would finish the hike in any sort of good time, and was ready to just hike the rest of the trail at a meandering pace. I tried to push through, though, and eventually made it to the summit (wherever that summit may be). From then on, I felt pretty darn good, and kept up a running pace on the flats and downhills, and a brisk hiking pace on the uphills. And man, were those uphills a beast! That is not an easy trail to run, my friends, as I’m sure many of you know!
At one point along the trail, I ran into a not-so-friendly porcupine. He was very cute, but was terrible at walking fast, and seemed desire to walk along the trail all the way to his undisclosed home. I tried to get him to move along faster, but to no avail. The thought certainly crossed my mind that this prickly little beast was going to spoil my entire speed-hiking efforts.
However, he eventually decided (with some more coaxing from me), and he was ready to head off the trail. What a relief for me. I wish that interesting animal encounters such as that would occur in less time-sensitive situations.
Before I knew it, I was on the summit of Indian Head. I had taken short breaks all along the way to soak in the views, and this was the final one (for the most part) of the day. I had suffered from no cramps whatsoever, and was surprised that I stayed hydrated in the scorching heat (91 degrees back at the car, with almost no breeze while running the eastern section of the trail). In hindsight, it was a great idea to do the easier section of the trail first. The sun was shielded from the mountains on my hike up, and I usually received more breeze on that side of the peaks.
While running down Indian Head I bumped into Eric, who had hitchhiked from the highway back to the car. It was great to see his smiling face again, and I was glad to hear that he was feeling better. After a quick chat, I began the final run back to the car. It turned into a run-for-awhile/walk-for-awhile deal, since I was pretty tired at that point. But finally, at 12:30:00pm exactly, I arrived back in the parking lot, with one small blister, and no other issues.
We left that morning at 5:05am, so that put me at 7 hours, 25 minutes; beating the previous time by 47 minutes! Even though there really wasn’t a competition, I was very pleased with the traverse, and it was nice to know my capabilities. Especially since I had a heavy-ish pack, ran it unsupported, ran it in a hot, hot day, and haven’t trail run in a month and a half. As far as I know, this now stands as the fastest known time for the Devil’s Path (24.2 miles, 8,000-9,000 vertical). If anyone knows of a faster time, please let me know. It’s really not that fast, though, and I know there are plenty of people on here who could crush it easily, but it was still fun to accomplish something.
It was even better to meet and hike with Eric, though! I’m sure that when he’s not having an off day, he’ll be back on the path running it faster than Devil tells a lie! Thanks, Eric!!
As usual, my pictures came out lame and crappy. But here is a small sampling, if only to prove that we were there:
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