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pilgrim

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There have been a few threads here at the beginning of the new year looking back and looking forward. Here's another one:

What was your most physically demanding hike (or any other outdoor activity) of 2005?

I bring this question up because mine was a little unusual in that it had zero elevation gain: 14 miles of beach walking in the Fire Island National Seashore, from Smith's Point to Watch Hill and back, on a hot and humid August day. We dragged ourselves home, ordered in pies, drank beers, and asked ourselves "What the hell were we thinking?" My right hamstring didn't stop hurting as a direct result of this walk until around Thanksgiving.
 
This should be an interesting thread. I have two hikes that were equally tough, mostly because of my stupidity.

The first was my trek up Katahdin. I went from roaring brook to Hamlin, over to the knife edge, and then down from Pamola. Normally this would be a tough hike anyway, but my stupidity compounded it. The night before I decided i would head up, kind of out of the blue. I only ate a salad for dinner, a very very light dinner. That night i only slept about 4 hours. The next day turned out to be one of the warmest of the year w/ temps going into the low 90's. So i did the hike w/ little energy in the tank and i ended up almost getting heat stroke. This was my only time climbing katahdin that i considered turning back before i hit the top. Going up Hamlin was absolutely brutal.

The other toughest hike was doing Adams and Madison from Dolly Copp. That turned out to be also one of the hottest days of the year with temps around 90. I ended up getting a real upset stomach on top of Madison and went down as quick as i could to the hut. Maybe it was my breakfast of donuts? The trip up to Adams was very slow and painful. Also coming down was tiring, especially the slight uphill from madison hut to the great gulf trails. I had my hands on my knees for a while on this slight uphill, i was completely wasted. By the time i got back down to the river near the campground i was just about braindead. That's when i took this pic. http://community.webshots.com/photo/451910590/451921890rClIPL
At this point my legs started cramping uncontrollably and in incredible pain. Moral of the stories, don't hike when it is very hot.
 
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Eisenhower and Pierce

In may I took colden over Eisenhower and Pierce. Normally this is probably not such a bad hike, but I had Colden and 25lbs of gear/pack.

Near the summit of Eisenhower, the trail turning into and edging nightmare, and I post-holed from time to time, up to my waist. At the top of Eisenhower, it looked as if clouds were moving in, so I shoved off quickly to Pierce, which was seemingly the easiest way down. At Pierce I finally had my lunch break, my first good food of the day, it was almost 2pm.

On the way down crawford path I was shattered, and had to stop to rest 3 times. This was the first time I have ever had to rest on a descent.

The close second was definitely going over Hamlin with a full pack. Again, the weight was high, because we had 2 more days out, and I was carrying the majority of the food for 4 people. I was toasted when I reached Davis pond. It was a good feeling though.

Its always a good feeling when I completely expend all of my energy. I look forward to it on every trip.

-percious
 
Physically and mentally demanding hikes for 2005

I've had two very demanding hikes in 2005:

Physically: Adirondacks Great Range traverse in one (21h) day.

The trap dike was the most mentally challenging hike. I got back to the campsite at night and was still on an adrenaline high. I'm very afraid of heights hehe.

Fish
 
Going over Columbine Pass in SW Colorado -- 12,800 with 45 lbs. On the descent, I pull a ligament in my right knee, 18 miles and something like 5500 vertical from the car. Two rather painful days. (not to mention the rehab)
 
Franconia to Madison, six days, fifty pounds (last June). The hard parts:

==Falling Waters to Garfield Tents. First day, cramping in the quads before even hitting Lil Haystack. Recovered on the ridge and made it to Garfield Ridge before hitting the wall. Topped out at Garfield summit and stumbled into camp hopeful for a place to sit down.

==Nauman to The Perch. Long, heavy day. By then, lugging all that weight really slowed us down. Jefferson became too much and we limped into the Perch, again praying there'd be a spot.

"Hard"? Not for the Fight Club veterans that haunt these boards, but for my lame ass, it was a workout. On the whole, however, the trip was a highlight of my life.

Funny, to this day, it's Garfield Ridge I want to do again.

--M.
 
That's easy, from the car to my house at the end of the drive home. I usually hobble like an 90 year old.

My toughest was Seward in April. It had been too damn warm and the snow didn't hold us very well. Between the postholing and spruce traps we took 14 hours to get that sucker!

First runner-up: Donaldson in February. 2 feet of unbroken snow, when we lost the "trail" we were up to our chests in snow. 15 hours car to car.
 
pilgrim said:
What was your most physically demanding hike (or any other outdoor activity) of 2005?
I followed in the footsteps and paddlestrokes of my namesake... and then some.

Last July during the height of 90+ degree heat and deer fly heaven, I traversed the Adirondacks solo entirely by foot and paddle, from west of Boonville to Lake Champlain beyond Plattsburgh's Cumberland Bay. 185 miles in 7 days, Hornbeck boat under butt and overhead. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Well, maybe lots of heartbeats.
 
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A Three 4k Marathon

Tom, Field and Willey might not be the most physically demanding hikes in the Whites, but I went up Willey (fun ladders) and then traversed the rest of the range back in September. It was an absolutely beautiful day. It would have been one thing to head down the AZ to Crawford Notch, but we only had one car parked at Ethan Pd trailhead, so we took the long way around, down the AZ trail to Zealand Hut and then out Ethan Pond trail. It was the perfect day for a long, demanding and beautiful hike, but I hadnt completed anything more than 10 miles all year, and suddenly I jumped up to a 18 mile trip. Thankfully the foliage was coming out and that kept me from thinking about my cramped up legs, but that all ended within the last 4/10 of a mile when both legs cramped up and I nearly passed out from the pain (or maybe dehydration, or something). It was all worth it...views were fantastic and the AZ trail between Tom and the Zealand Trail is gorgeous.

grouseking
 
Mansfield on the solstice

See trail conditions, 12/21. This expected 6 hour late afternoon/early evening hike ended up being a 10.5 hour nighttime adventure for 6 of us. Fun, and quite successful for all, but definitely an adrenaline festival. Learned a lot, as they say.
 
Allen ... pant .. pant .. pant ... was ... pant ... the toughest ... for me!

Physically, and mentally too...

20 miles, ...

90 degrees!

Flies...

Mosquitos...

Hornets! :eek:

Can't ... type ... any ... more ... [insert picture of hiker passed out on the trail here]
 
Hardest hike... I think my 9 day in Wrangell St Elias was hard, not physically but mentally as I knew I had to be on the ball with navigation, since it was all bushwacking and also a fly-in, which means we weren't likely to see another hiker if we had a problem with anything. Since my hiking friend was not a big bushwacker, I knew I was going to be the primary navigator with map and compass. I did back that up with GPS (used once to confirm my location), it wasn't going to be pretty if I got us lost.

Physically, I'd add Mt Rainier to that, but that is more climbing/mountaineering than hiking.

Jay
 
Hardest last year was the jaunt over Eisenhower in February. The conditions weren't so bad (Oo? wind areound 25-30?) We lagged behind the group a bit because one of the hikers needed assistance,so we had to play catch up,and it gave us little time on the summit.Apparently the rest of the group was moving at a pretty quick pace,as some were getting cold,so we never did catch up.
Between the mental stress of trying to catch up with the group,and the 9.5 miles on snowshoes and crampons,it was a tiring day.
Bob K. what did you think of the trip?
 
Pilgrim - great avatar! :cool:

Mine was a Marcy-Four Corners-Panther Gorge-Haystack-Marcy loop in late June, which was (I believe) a shade under 20 miles and roughly 6300' of vertical ascent. The VanHo descent between Indian Falls and the Phelps brook bridge nearly did me in, but it was fun (looking back) to identify and challenge my physical limits.
 
A solo dayhike of the Presidential Range traverse including Jackson and Isolation in early August. A little over 30 miles, 10,000 ft of elevation gain and nine 4000 footers. I started about 45 minutes before sunrise and finished up ten minutes after sunset.

JohnL
 
Tough hikes

General Ripper, Sir -

A few come to mind...

Attempted Presi Traverse on a very hot, humid day - when Tuco and I started at 2:30am on the Valley Way it was over 80 degrees. By the time we got to the Jewell Trail we were in a thunderstorm and on our way down.

Heat got me on Isolation - learned my lesson...started drinking diluted Gatorade when it iw warmer. I was fine until about three miles from the end.

I am constantly learning out there...
 
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