Hard

Probably rainier with all the mental challenge (rockfall, icefall, etc..) and it is a physcial challenge with the 40-50 pound pack heading to muir, thinner air etc..

Looking back - it was easier than I expected - but still tough due to coming from sea level and basically doing 9K (starting at 5K) in basically 2 days with heavy loads, snow, rock, rope, fighting dehyration all the time, etc...

A prezzie traverse attempt with 30-40 load attempt in june kicked my butt a bit (training for above trip) - it was lousy weather cold rain, my feet got soaked and I got blisters (something that never happened to that extreme before or since) - ended up bailing down the ammo that trip in pouring rain, with bad blisters on both ankles - not fun. Plus I had drank too much beer the night before and was in bad form and simply had a "bad day" - so not sure if it was demanding - or just not my day!

Though it seems half my "hikes" somehow turn into death marchs, i will vote for Traveller loop BSP on a very, very hot summer day (June 30, 2005 maybe?) when it was mid 90s in valleys & after yet another looong night of mis-hydration, coupled w/ a stupid, stupid decision to not bring enough water (or food) & "necessity" of long sleeve/pants due to horrendous blackfly situation. Oh, and did i mention I'm an old broken down outta shape geezer on top of everything else? Just to compound things i took an ill-advised detour/short-cut bushwhack (in a vague circle above Howe Falls) that added a mile or so and another hour or more to the ordeal. Anyhoo, what would probably be a simple 10 mi or so hike for most people morphed into a dehydration death march of about 10-12 hours...

Great avatar BTW - only thing that might top it is if ya could get Buck Turgidson on there. IMO Scott's "doomsday machine gap" is the best line of an epic film...

That's easy: hike up Tripyramid North Slide in December, with just enough loose powder to make it slippery and hide any holds. I was mentally unprepared, expecting a quick daylight hike looping over the three peaks, instead spent three hours wondering if my next step would cause me to slip (with self-arrest likely, but not certain).

Great thread! Two hikes come to mind:

Summiting Adams via the Air Line, which was exhausting enough on a humid, 80-degree summer day, then having the bright idea of "running over" to Madison before heading down. I scraped up my shin pretty severely on the way up, and remember cursing myself for my stubbornness. I was completely wasted as I filled up my car at the Lowe's store for an outrageous $3.30 a gallon - the other notable event of the day.

The other tough hike was Garfield in late October, right after that really bad snowstorm. I completely underestimated the trail and my (lack of) experience of hiking in the snow; the blowdowns were killers at the bottom, and the two feet of snow just wiped me out at the top. With just my Sorels guiding me, I was slipping and sliding all over the place on that last steep stretch to the top.

Walking from the curb to the terminal in Glasgow Airport returning from hiking in the highlands. I tried to turn back several times, but with my wife's encouragement and security not letting me back thru the X-ray, I finally made it.

Toughest hikes last year were the ones I had done with much greater ease 20 years earlier!

My "beginner" snowshoe hike last year at the winter gathering in NH..why on earth would you take a beginner out on a "death march" as a few call it?...All I know is that it was Cabot and i was with HikerBob, Ivy, Skimom and Ivy plus a giant card that said thank you to my wife for letting me do this and a message on the other side for the kids in my school...now I'm packing for Maine!

Great thread, and some awesome stories. Had two memerable hikes this past year (they were all memerable this year). Gotta love the Sewards. This included a trip into the lean-to that encountered more beestings than I can count on two hands. I was puffed up like a boiled owl. Thankfully, Ward gave me his emergency Benedryl (which tasted like ....) only to find out that it expired in 1996. Itch?? Scratch?? So the next day, Ward decides we're going to go up Seymour (all of this is in the pouring rain) and whack across the Oluska pass over to Seward, Donaldson and Emmons. When we hit Seymour, there is NO visibility. I tell Ward, based on his compass skills, and my gps we go back on the same trail we came up on. We head back and head up Seward. Then we left for Donaldson and Emmons. Huge mistake. Got back to the lean-to at 10:30, and adding insult to injury, had to go filter water for dinner.
The second place finisher was Allen, at Spence's Bar B Q on the Saturday. Someone had put alcohol in my cranberry juice Friday night at dinner and I was hurting from step one.

My biggest butt whooping came on my bike this past year. I ride around my northern CT home careful to go down far more hills than up...on the reccommendation of my orthopedist and PT, but by mid-summer my quads are usually strong enough to start hittng them. I decided to bring my bike to our NH hangout and do some riding. On one of these rides, i followed a reccommended(NH BIKE routes MAP) ride. Basically, the ride had it's NH ups & downs only to be on my final leg home, coming out of old Hanover Center up i believe King St onto a 19% grade...oh my god!!! It soon levelled out to only a 9% grade, but this one road took nearly as long as my entire ride!!!

Hiking wise my greatest challenge was the pain-in-the-you-know-what 6 hour drive to Baxter only to be turned away after a valiant attempt(made it to Chimney Pond Cmpgrd) by hellacious rains. Now i get to look forward to the drive AGAIN!!!

ctsparrow

I had three hikes that I wasn’t able to complete last year. One because of the heat, one because of nasty weather, and one that I just ran out of time.
The first was an attempt to dayhike the Devil’s Path in the Catskills. I started off slow; due to the fact I had not hiked in about two months prior, but eventually found my stride. By the time I made it up Plateau, the heat was really getting too me. The long descent down to Notch Lake wore me out more than the climb up, which told me not to continue on toward Westkill.
The next was a Pressie traverse backpack. The first day I started from Saco Lake and hiked to Mount Washington and then descended down to Hermit Lake and camped for the night. Unfortunately I over slept and by the time I made it to Mount Jefferson I was running out of time. I had to hike down off the range in order to make it back to my car by 5pm so I would be home by 10.
The hardest of the three hikes was an attempt at a Great Range traverse with Skylight, Gray, Colden, and the MacIntyer’s thrown in. The planned hike was to include 14 high peaks with about 30 miles of hiking and almost 16,000’ of gain. The hike started at the Roosercomb trailhead. By the time the group I was hiking with made it to Upper Wolfjaw, it was raining. We pushed on to Gothics and the descent down to the Ore bed trail was treacherous on the wet rocks. One of my hiking partners slipped and slid about 30 feet down a rock slab above the cables. We hiked down to the Ore bed lean-to and then out to the Garden the next day. The next day we hiked a loop from South Meadows over Wright, Algonquin, Iroquois, and back out through Avalanche Pass with barely a cloud in the sky. By the end of the trip we ended up hiking about 33 miles with a little over 11,000’ of elevation gain.


I want to try all three trips again.

Great hike, but it was hot, with no breeze. Katahdin in August. Going up the Cathedral Trail, where you have to use your hands so much, and watching with awe as a 20'ish girl with one arm went flying past me. Awesome strength and dexterity. Humbling.

A long day from ADK Loj, over Lake Arnold Pass & then up Redfield, Skylight & Marcy. About 12.5 hours. Original plan was to do Gray, Skylight & Marcy but was ahead of schedule as I approached junction near Redfield. Decided to do all four but by the time I got back from Redfield, I was behind schedule & wanted to at least see Skylight, the highest peak in the NE I had not been too. (Now Dix where I likely will finish the 115 & 46) Gray now is the highest peak I have not been to & not finishing on.

Back to story, dragged myself up Marcy & then after a while got my 2nd or 3rd wind to descend the typical cattle route, I mean the Van H. trail back to the Loj where a nice meal awaited.

Too sore in evening to try Street & Nye so I left before Ironman closed the roads. A mistake as I went back in December to try Strret & Nye but water was too high.

It would either have to be doing the Great Range Traverse in 90 degree heat with at least 80% humidity in 12hrs or the 50k Wakely Dam Run (I know it's a race/run but it was on a trail)

Toughest hike I did was in either late July or early August with BPSchroeder and LittleSister. I had very little hiking experience (not that I am a veteran now), with only doing six mountains before this hike. We did the Wildcat-Carter-Moriah traverse, starting at Glenn Ellis Falls and ending in Gorham. It was my first hike with Rachel (who would go on to do half of my 48 with me) and fourth with Brian (Washington, Owl's Head, and the Tripyramids). Everything was fine until we made it to the base of Carter Dome. With Brian in the lead, and Rachel on his tail, I anchored a climb at what felt like an incredible pace. Not wanting to fall behind, I just kept going, cursing to myself the whole time that this would be the last hike I ever do. After eating a sub on the top of Carter Dome, I felt so much better. No pouting that day, but the combination of the strong pace, the long traverse, the vertical gains, and the fact I was so much weaker then, and didn't know what I could and could not do made this my toughest hike in 2005. On the plus side, I hiked with two great people who helped to motivate me!

arm said:

toughest challenge in 2005 was climbing Ebright Azimuth, Delaware's high point

i hate to brag, but i could have just driven to the "summit", but decided to tackle the technical route by parking an entire block away, then whacked my way along grueling dozens of inches of vertical gain on a sidewalk until i peaked out at 442' above sea level ... slackpacking without supplemental oxygen, without a cell phone (for safety), and without hiring a guide to lead me there

livin' on the edge ... curious if anyone has ever reached this peak in Winter ?

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Arm -

I was afraid to open this post to see what you would find to be a hard hike!!
After my successes of last week I would be willing to attempt Ebright in winter - can you bring the rope?

Gannett Peak, WY

Took my first crack at Gannett Peak in late August. First day was ~16 miles with full pack in unseasonably warm weather for the Wind Rivers. Second day we were tentbound while hail piled up around the tent and 50mph gusts threatened to blow it down (severely bent one of my 9-mm poles!). Summit day started at 2 AM with us climbing 3000 feet over a pass, and 1500 feet down the other side before we ever started climbing the mountain proper. Made a truly boneheaded route error that put is into some seriously dicey mixed terrain with wicked exposure to the glacier below. Climbing rock with crampons on is extremely unsettling for me. Finally managed to get back on route by chopping steps for a lateral traverse across a (semi-)frozen waterfall. We were so mentally and physically spent by then that we knew summiting was out of the question. Turned around 300 feet below the summit just after noon. The climb back over the pass was brutal as the weather deteriorated and strong headwinds scoured us with ice pellets from the glacier. Really thought at one point there was no one I had enough gas to get back to camp, but knew there was no other option. The last two miles I was so tired that I was starting to hallucinate. I've never been that wiped out before or since. Still can't believe I found the energy to hike out 16 miles the next day. Brutal trip. Can't wait to go back.

September 4 - Presidential Traverse

June 4 - Devil's Path Dayhike

Both because of the mileage, elevation gain/loss and simply just challenging overall. Good times! I enjoy those sort of hikes the most.

Artex said:

September 4 - Presidential Traverse

June 4 - Devil's Path Dayhike

Both because of the mileage, elevation gain/loss and simply just challenging overall. Good times! I enjoy those sort of hikes the most.

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I've done a Presidential Traverse and parts of Devil's Path but not the whole thing. To me, Devil's Path seems like it would be harder. There's some nasty ups and downs on that one. What do you think as a veteren of both, my dear?

-Dr. Wu

dr_wu002 said:

I've done a Presidential Traverse and parts of Devil's Path but not the whole thing. To me, Devil's Path seems like it would be harder. There's some nasty ups and downs on that one. What do you think as a veteren of both, my dear?

-Dr. Wu

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My dear?! Watch it, Skippy. I'd go with the Devil's Path also. Like you said, nasty up and downs, and almost non-stop. Lot of fun though. I'm going to run it this summer. It'll be fun to see how fast I can do it, and I'll guarantee myself a good night's sleep.

Artex said:

I'm going to run it this summer. It'll be fun to see how fast I can do it...

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It you're interested, there is also a competitive race along the Escarpment Trail in the Catskills. It's about 30 Km, with about 10K of elevation gain (yeah, I know, mixed units, but it's the way their web page quotes it). Last year's winner did it in just under 3 hours. You have to be able to run a regular marathon in under 4 hours to qualify.

See http://escarpmenttrail.com/ for more details.