Mats Roing
New member
JasonPatrikz and I joined up Friday evening at Profile Motel in Lincoln. Since no one else were up for it, we had some leisure to pick start time.....so we picked 5am. After spotting my car at Jackson TH in Crawford Notch we got a few hours of sleep before the alarm went off at 4am. A look out the window showed the tre branches bending in the wind. Pretty warm though so opted for short sleeves. Arrived at the Flume Gorge Visitor Center parking lot. Decided against parking at the Basin and shortcut to the bend of the Liberty Springs trail.
We started sight at 5:00am and we turned right onto the Flume Slide trail as planned. Shortly afterwards the rain started.....great start
....
FIlled up my water bladder (MSR 4-liter) in one of the last creeks before it gets steep. The rain kept coming down and we resorted to hike up the wooded section mostly since the rocky trail had turned very slick. We managed to reach the ridge and the rain had stopped a little earlier so things started to turn in our favor again. However we were 1/2 hour or so behind schedule. 7:21am we did the 10 pushups on Flume. We hoped to be there in a bit under 2 hours. Took first nibbles from our big inventory of bars and gu/cliffshot packs after descending out of the windy summit. Tasted pretty good with fresh carbs etc.....onto Liberty...
Arriving at Liberty at 7:55am....a young rabbit were waiting for us at the summit.....the rabbit opted not to do pushups though.....trail seemed to be more muddy than previous weekend......sun tried to break break through the clouds with mixed results....Franconia Ridge still in the clouds.....met first hikers at Liberty Springs cut-off. Passed by Haystack and the wind forced us to add on some clothing. Up Lincoln and we felt satisfied with the progress.....although no views from here.....8:58am and onto Lafayette.....met a few more groups of early hikers on the ridge....9:21 for the pushups and then down towards Garfield and out of the wind....shortly before hitting the trees we were able to see Garfield out of the clouds.....it's a beautiful mountain and there is no question where the highest point is on this one
Chugged down more bars and gels before heading up to Garfield. 11:15am we looked into the wooden structure to see if someone had left some beer and pizza for us....a guy was sitting on the structure chewing a good looking sandwhich......I told him he could probably make $20 if he sold it up there.
Re-filling of water by the spring at Garfield campsite.....good timing since I ran out of water on the way up Garfield. Down the steep rocky section just below the spring and onto the numerous PUDs before hitting Galehead Hut. Left backpacks at the hut and tagged Galehead. Back to the hut and it was time to pull out the pepperoni and cheese....ohh soo good ....I decide dto not refill water here since I usually find water on the other side of South Twin....usually.....more bars and gel in prep for South Twin...took a long break here and it was 1:44pm before leaving the comfort of the hut......also loaded up with Kelp, some multivitamins and electrolytes........this is the time where leg cramps can start to set in if not doing pre-emptive strikes.
Energetic Jason jumped up easily while I steam-engined it in a steady slow pace. It was probably 30 people on top! We found a space to do pushups 61-70 though. 2:28 we left South Twin for North Twin.....sun was shining now and visibility was awesome.....no wonder the 30 people were gathered up there....55 minutes later we were back on south Twin. Some of the 30 were still there.....8 peaks done.....onto Twinway to find water.....lots of mud but no water.....oh well....at the Bondcliff trail cut-off we took a break and forced down some more gels and bars......and my water ran out.....had to take a detour down to Guyot campsite to refill.....met lots of interesting people here.....changing of socks and apply a new layer of footpaste was in order......then up the 200 vertical feet or so to the main trail.
Left our backpacks for tagging West Bond......a few people enjoying the views from West Bond as well.......looked over at Bondcliff realizing we have to get there.....then go back up to Bond again and back to Twinway to head down to get Zealand......and Tom, Field and Willey....before the Pressie Traverse.....still felt decent but pace was down a bit....back to get the backpacks again.....onto Bond where Jason made contact with his friends Dave and Matt who were going to meet us on 302 around 2pm.....this was the plan at least......and drank a bunch before leaving the packs and getting down to Bondcliff.....it was 6:32pm when we hit Bondcliff.....sun was getting lower on the western horizon. Very nice temperature for hiking......back up Bond.....out of cheese so pepperonis would do on top of more bars and gel...11 peaks done......7:07pm......would we make it to Zealand Mtn before it gets dark? We met a group of three here and a woman in the group was about to do her 48th on West Bond! Salut, Prost and Skål to her! Got back to Twinway cut-off where we had been taking a break 3.5 hrs earlier.....no break this time......onto Zealand.....those 1.3 miles seems to be a lot longer with all the boulder hopping down to the saddle.....
8:26pm we put our headlamps on, after pushups 111-120 on Zealand, but not turning them on yet......it took another 20 minutes or so before the deep woods forced us to turn them on.....Zeacliff Ridge seemed like a few lightyears long as well....finally turning left down the ledges to Zealand Hut. 9:40pm we arrived at Zealand Hut and took a longer break here.....the hutkeeper asked if we wanted hot water......forgot her name but cudos to her Getting down to the hut had taken some energy out of us and we finished the last pepperonis in the dim lights of the hut.....did I say I was getting a bit tired by now? Even fast-paced Jason slowed down a bit getting down to the hut. In general he seemed to be in better shape than I was. Sufferfest had started now.....
AT 9:58pm we left the hut for our next mission: AZ trail up to Mt. Tom......down the rocky trail to the flat valley section.....had to look at the map for the first time to make sure we hadn't missed the AZ cutoff. The urge to jog the flat sections was long gone by now. AZ trail for the first time for both of us.......seemed like it was countless PUDs and an eternity before the uphill started to the ridge.....energy was fading but had no interest in bars and gels anymore.....had to get them down with what intellect was left. My right knee started to bother me raising my leg......we made it to the ridge finally and around 12:20am we stood on top of Mt. Tom with a clear star-filled sky above....pushups 121-130 were a bit harder than doing it on Franconia Ridge......at this point we had discussed alternatives to our original plan extensively.....decided to skip WIlley and Field and go down to my car at Jackson Trail instead of heading to Willey's House where Dave was waiting to bring us to Appalachia. Feet were getting tender going down to Crawford Notch.......another eternity before Avalon Trail and another one before seeing the train station.....it was soooo nice to walk on asphalt for a change! Got into the car and drove to Willey's House.....Dave was waiting there.....
At this point we were beat mentally and physically, although Jason still had energy to try Madison with Dave. I decided to bail instead of risking getting injured on the Pressies.......Jason called a little later saying he was bailing also since he had blisters on both feet.....I had an extra supply of cheese and pepperoni in the car.......oh boy....was that ever good
So 13 peaks is the benchmark for next year's sufferfest.......so there is room for improvement here......we finished at 2:00pm so only utilized 21 hours out of 36.....I have a moonlight 24-hr thing in mind for the winter.....maybe that's more appealing for people.....
Thanks Jason for great comapnionship during this experiment!
Thanks Tim Seaver for offering to take photos of us during the event! Pizza and beer on us next time we see you!
A few lessons learned:
* Take good care of your feet
* Bring more real food!
* Stretch on a regular basis during the hike
* Don't assume there is water at questionable places
* Don't start up Flume Slide Trail if it's raining
Will do it again next year!
Mats
We started sight at 5:00am and we turned right onto the Flume Slide trail as planned. Shortly afterwards the rain started.....great start
....FIlled up my water bladder (MSR 4-liter) in one of the last creeks before it gets steep. The rain kept coming down and we resorted to hike up the wooded section mostly since the rocky trail had turned very slick. We managed to reach the ridge and the rain had stopped a little earlier so things started to turn in our favor again. However we were 1/2 hour or so behind schedule. 7:21am we did the 10 pushups on Flume. We hoped to be there in a bit under 2 hours. Took first nibbles from our big inventory of bars and gu/cliffshot packs after descending out of the windy summit. Tasted pretty good with fresh carbs etc.....onto Liberty...
Arriving at Liberty at 7:55am....a young rabbit were waiting for us at the summit.....the rabbit opted not to do pushups though.....trail seemed to be more muddy than previous weekend......sun tried to break break through the clouds with mixed results....Franconia Ridge still in the clouds.....met first hikers at Liberty Springs cut-off. Passed by Haystack and the wind forced us to add on some clothing. Up Lincoln and we felt satisfied with the progress.....although no views from here.....8:58am and onto Lafayette.....met a few more groups of early hikers on the ridge....9:21 for the pushups and then down towards Garfield and out of the wind....shortly before hitting the trees we were able to see Garfield out of the clouds.....it's a beautiful mountain and there is no question where the highest point is on this one
Chugged down more bars and gels before heading up to Garfield. 11:15am we looked into the wooden structure to see if someone had left some beer and pizza for us....a guy was sitting on the structure chewing a good looking sandwhich......I told him he could probably make $20 if he sold it up there.
Re-filling of water by the spring at Garfield campsite.....good timing since I ran out of water on the way up Garfield. Down the steep rocky section just below the spring and onto the numerous PUDs before hitting Galehead Hut. Left backpacks at the hut and tagged Galehead. Back to the hut and it was time to pull out the pepperoni and cheese....ohh soo good
....I decide dto not refill water here since I usually find water on the other side of South Twin....usually.....more bars and gel in prep for South Twin...took a long break here and it was 1:44pm before leaving the comfort of the hut......also loaded up with Kelp, some multivitamins and electrolytes........this is the time where leg cramps can start to set in if not doing pre-emptive strikes. Energetic Jason jumped up easily while I steam-engined it in a steady slow pace. It was probably 30 people on top! We found a space to do pushups 61-70 though. 2:28 we left South Twin for North Twin.....sun was shining now and visibility was awesome.....no wonder the 30 people were gathered up there....55 minutes later we were back on south Twin. Some of the 30 were still there.....8 peaks done.....onto Twinway to find water.....lots of mud but no water.....oh well....at the Bondcliff trail cut-off we took a break and forced down some more gels and bars......and my water ran out.....had to take a detour down to Guyot campsite to refill.....met lots of interesting people here.....changing of socks and apply a new layer of footpaste was in order......then up the 200 vertical feet or so to the main trail.
Left our backpacks for tagging West Bond......a few people enjoying the views from West Bond as well.......looked over at Bondcliff realizing we have to get there.....then go back up to Bond again and back to Twinway to head down to get Zealand......and Tom, Field and Willey....before the Pressie Traverse.....still felt decent but pace was down a bit....back to get the backpacks again.....onto Bond where Jason made contact with his friends Dave and Matt who were going to meet us on 302 around 2pm.....this was the plan at least......and drank a bunch before leaving the packs and getting down to Bondcliff.....it was 6:32pm when we hit Bondcliff.....sun was getting lower on the western horizon. Very nice temperature for hiking......back up Bond.....out of cheese so pepperonis would do on top of more bars and gel...11 peaks done......7:07pm......would we make it to Zealand Mtn before it gets dark? We met a group of three here and a woman in the group was about to do her 48th on West Bond! Salut, Prost and Skål to her!
Got back to Twinway cut-off where we had been taking a break 3.5 hrs earlier.....no break this time......onto Zealand.....those 1.3 miles seems to be a lot longer with all the boulder hopping down to the saddle.....8:26pm we put our headlamps on, after pushups 111-120 on Zealand, but not turning them on yet......it took another 20 minutes or so before the deep woods forced us to turn them on.....Zeacliff Ridge seemed like a few lightyears long as well....finally turning left down the ledges to Zealand Hut. 9:40pm we arrived at Zealand Hut and took a longer break here.....the hutkeeper asked if we wanted hot water......forgot her name but cudos to her
Getting down to the hut had taken some energy out of us and we finished the last pepperonis in the dim lights of the hut.....did I say I was getting a bit tired by now? Even fast-paced Jason slowed down a bit getting down to the hut. In general he seemed to be in better shape than I was. Sufferfest had started now.....AT 9:58pm we left the hut for our next mission: AZ trail up to Mt. Tom......down the rocky trail to the flat valley section.....had to look at the map for the first time to make sure we hadn't missed the AZ cutoff. The urge to jog the flat sections was long gone by now. AZ trail for the first time for both of us.......seemed like it was countless PUDs and an eternity before the uphill started to the ridge.....energy was fading but had no interest in bars and gels anymore.....had to get them down with what intellect was left. My right knee started to bother me raising my leg......we made it to the ridge finally and around 12:20am we stood on top of Mt. Tom with a clear star-filled sky above....pushups 121-130 were a bit harder than doing it on Franconia Ridge......at this point we had discussed alternatives to our original plan extensively.....decided to skip WIlley and Field and go down to my car at Jackson Trail instead of heading to Willey's House where Dave was waiting to bring us to Appalachia. Feet were getting tender going down to Crawford Notch.......another eternity before Avalon Trail and another one before seeing the train station.....it was soooo nice to walk on asphalt for a change! Got into the car and drove to Willey's House.....Dave was waiting there.....
At this point we were beat mentally and physically, although Jason still had energy to try Madison with Dave. I decided to bail instead of risking getting injured on the Pressies.......Jason called a little later saying he was bailing also since he had blisters on both feet.....I had an extra supply of cheese and pepperoni in the car.......oh boy....was that ever good
So 13 peaks is the benchmark for next year's sufferfest.......so there is room for improvement here......we finished at 2:00pm so only utilized 21 hours out of 36.....I have a moonlight 24-hr thing in mind for the winter.....maybe that's more appealing for people.....
Thanks Jason for great comapnionship during this experiment!
Thanks Tim Seaver for offering to take photos of us during the event! Pizza and beer on us next time we see you!
A few lessons learned:
* Take good care of your feet
* Bring more real food!
* Stretch on a regular basis during the hike
* Don't assume there is water at questionable places
* Don't start up Flume Slide Trail if it's raining
Will do it again next year!
Mats
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