After all these fast and faster trip reports I thought I'd put one together for the regular humans.
I've wanted to do a Pemi Loop for a while, but have always felt it was out of my reach. But this year I've started running, and trail running, and whipped myself into fairly reasonable shape so I thought I'd give it a try. My plans were to do it earlier in the summer when there was more daylight but things kept interfering. Finally things looked like they would come together on Saturday, even if I was going to end up doing it solo. My original plan would have been to have 2-3 others joining me, but I was fine going it alone. It would be less organization issues and I could travel at my own pace without concern. So I grabbed a hotel room in Lincoln for Fri/Sat nights after checking the weather forecast and ran through what I wanted to pack. Mats decided to do a loop the same day, so he was going to crash there with me and leave later in the morning. I set my alarm for 3:30 AM and tried to get some sleep.
I glanced at my watch which read 4:12 AM - shit, I managed to sleep through my alarm. I quickly got up, dressed, grabbed my food from the fridge, and started eating my breakfast as I got into the car. Very little traffic at 4:20 AM as I drove to Lincoln Woods, stuffing my face with a bagel and drinking water and OJ. I parked, fished out my headlamp, threw on a vest, and checked the thermometer: 48 degrees. At exactly 4:40AM I started across the bridge and started my watch.
I ran the Wilderness Trail to the Bondcliff trail, stopping only to take some Benedryl when I noticed that I'd broken out in hives, and once to pick myself up off the ground after tripping on a railroad tie. The bottom of the Bondcliff trail was rougher than I'd remembered, and I couldn't really run most of it. After meeting up with the stream I could run a bit more, but then the climbing started. The switchbacks up higher were great for keeping up speed, and the first views picked up my spirits. Just after 7:00 I hit the scramble and was on the summit by 7:10. There was a fellow out on the ledge and he asked me to take his photo, meaning I had to backtrack and take a few shots. I said goodbye and took off for Bond, taking a few of my own photos along the way.
Mt Bond 7:55. Guyot 8:25. Along the Twinway I started seeing other hikers mostly headed north. The summit of South Twin was crowed with folks, I only stayed for about 3 minutes before heading for the hut below. I reached the hut at around 10:00 and took my first and only break of the day. I met Gokul and Alex, two AMC friends who were also doing a loop but they started earlier and weren't doing any running so I managed to catch up with them. I ate my first sandwich, drank a liter of Gatorade and a half liter of water, filled up my 2-liter Camelback, and the three of us started out. They were hiking pretty fast so we stayed together until about the Franconia Brook trail junction when two folks sped past us. It turns out it was Dangergirl and Don, also doing a loop and doing it pretty darn fast. I was inspired to start running again and managed to keep up with them during the climb to Garfield, at which point they sped into the woods at supersonic speeds.
Somewhere along here I noticed that it was just over 7 hours into the trip, which is the current record for the loop. Yikes, those folks are complete animals. Lafayette is much higher than it needs to be. The cool breeze at the Skookumchuck trail junction was very welcome, and travel above treeline is always easier on my spirits. Lots more people up here though, ran into a Harvard FOP group, a few more folks doing a loop that Alex and Gokul mentioned were ahead of me, lots of folks headed to Garfield Ridge Shelter. I could see the summit of Lafayette was a zoo so I just plowed past not stopping to eat which had been my original plan. As I continued along the ridge towards Lincoln I ran into Hiker Ed, who mentioned that Mats was ahead of me. How did that happen?! (He didn't stop at Galehead Hut) At the Lincoln Summit I chatted with Ranger Garth and pulled out my second sandwich so I could eat while moving. Then I ran into Bob and Geri and Mike and chatted a bit before moving on. I made it to Little Haystack before taking a photo or two, probably a record for me.
The drop into the woods here was a little disheartening, as the travel above treeline was great. But there are some sections that can be run so that was good. I was pretty conservative about running as my legs were sore and heavy, and I was afraid of tripping. I hit Liberty (and ran into yet another AMC friend) but was in the mood to move. That was the last person I'd see for a while. The trip to Flume was a blur but it seemed to take no time. I hit the top at 3:50 and took a few minutes to reflect on what I'd accomplished. It was a good day, and I felt good about how I felt. But there was a little work left to do. At the Flume Slide trail I did a few quick calculations and realized that was just about 26.2 miles exactly. Who knew? After a small rough section I started running until the ladders, then picked up again once back on the river. I decided to try to break 13 hours even though my feet were starting to hurt. But the trail running felt really good, using different muscles and knowing the distance to my car was closing fast. On the Wilderness trail I saw a hiker in front of me and as I approached I thought it looked like Dave Bear. Sure enough it was. I said I could give him a lift back to his car but wanted to finish out strong so I kept running. Like Dangergirl I had to clear some people off the bridge as I ran across to my start/finish point. The clock read 12:44:33.
Wow, am I sore today. My feet hurt and going down stairs is not a pretty sight. But there's been a smile on my face for a solid 24 hours now. There's probably a lot more I can (and will) write about this, but that will do for now. Thanks to Mats, Dangergirl, Alex, Gokul, Hiker Ed, Bob, Geri, Mike, Garth, and Robert who said "hi" along the way. Thanks to all the others who inspired me to set the goal and then reach for it.
I've wanted to do a Pemi Loop for a while, but have always felt it was out of my reach. But this year I've started running, and trail running, and whipped myself into fairly reasonable shape so I thought I'd give it a try. My plans were to do it earlier in the summer when there was more daylight but things kept interfering. Finally things looked like they would come together on Saturday, even if I was going to end up doing it solo. My original plan would have been to have 2-3 others joining me, but I was fine going it alone. It would be less organization issues and I could travel at my own pace without concern. So I grabbed a hotel room in Lincoln for Fri/Sat nights after checking the weather forecast and ran through what I wanted to pack. Mats decided to do a loop the same day, so he was going to crash there with me and leave later in the morning. I set my alarm for 3:30 AM and tried to get some sleep.
I glanced at my watch which read 4:12 AM - shit, I managed to sleep through my alarm. I quickly got up, dressed, grabbed my food from the fridge, and started eating my breakfast as I got into the car. Very little traffic at 4:20 AM as I drove to Lincoln Woods, stuffing my face with a bagel and drinking water and OJ. I parked, fished out my headlamp, threw on a vest, and checked the thermometer: 48 degrees. At exactly 4:40AM I started across the bridge and started my watch.
I ran the Wilderness Trail to the Bondcliff trail, stopping only to take some Benedryl when I noticed that I'd broken out in hives, and once to pick myself up off the ground after tripping on a railroad tie. The bottom of the Bondcliff trail was rougher than I'd remembered, and I couldn't really run most of it. After meeting up with the stream I could run a bit more, but then the climbing started. The switchbacks up higher were great for keeping up speed, and the first views picked up my spirits. Just after 7:00 I hit the scramble and was on the summit by 7:10. There was a fellow out on the ledge and he asked me to take his photo, meaning I had to backtrack and take a few shots. I said goodbye and took off for Bond, taking a few of my own photos along the way.
Mt Bond 7:55. Guyot 8:25. Along the Twinway I started seeing other hikers mostly headed north. The summit of South Twin was crowed with folks, I only stayed for about 3 minutes before heading for the hut below. I reached the hut at around 10:00 and took my first and only break of the day. I met Gokul and Alex, two AMC friends who were also doing a loop but they started earlier and weren't doing any running so I managed to catch up with them. I ate my first sandwich, drank a liter of Gatorade and a half liter of water, filled up my 2-liter Camelback, and the three of us started out. They were hiking pretty fast so we stayed together until about the Franconia Brook trail junction when two folks sped past us. It turns out it was Dangergirl and Don, also doing a loop and doing it pretty darn fast. I was inspired to start running again and managed to keep up with them during the climb to Garfield, at which point they sped into the woods at supersonic speeds.
Somewhere along here I noticed that it was just over 7 hours into the trip, which is the current record for the loop. Yikes, those folks are complete animals. Lafayette is much higher than it needs to be. The cool breeze at the Skookumchuck trail junction was very welcome, and travel above treeline is always easier on my spirits. Lots more people up here though, ran into a Harvard FOP group, a few more folks doing a loop that Alex and Gokul mentioned were ahead of me, lots of folks headed to Garfield Ridge Shelter. I could see the summit of Lafayette was a zoo so I just plowed past not stopping to eat which had been my original plan. As I continued along the ridge towards Lincoln I ran into Hiker Ed, who mentioned that Mats was ahead of me. How did that happen?! (He didn't stop at Galehead Hut) At the Lincoln Summit I chatted with Ranger Garth and pulled out my second sandwich so I could eat while moving. Then I ran into Bob and Geri and Mike and chatted a bit before moving on. I made it to Little Haystack before taking a photo or two, probably a record for me.
The drop into the woods here was a little disheartening, as the travel above treeline was great. But there are some sections that can be run so that was good. I was pretty conservative about running as my legs were sore and heavy, and I was afraid of tripping. I hit Liberty (and ran into yet another AMC friend) but was in the mood to move. That was the last person I'd see for a while. The trip to Flume was a blur but it seemed to take no time. I hit the top at 3:50 and took a few minutes to reflect on what I'd accomplished. It was a good day, and I felt good about how I felt. But there was a little work left to do. At the Flume Slide trail I did a few quick calculations and realized that was just about 26.2 miles exactly. Who knew? After a small rough section I started running until the ladders, then picked up again once back on the river. I decided to try to break 13 hours even though my feet were starting to hurt. But the trail running felt really good, using different muscles and knowing the distance to my car was closing fast. On the Wilderness trail I saw a hiker in front of me and as I approached I thought it looked like Dave Bear. Sure enough it was. I said I could give him a lift back to his car but wanted to finish out strong so I kept running. Like Dangergirl I had to clear some people off the bridge as I ran across to my start/finish point. The clock read 12:44:33.
Wow, am I sore today. My feet hurt and going down stairs is not a pretty sight. But there's been a smile on my face for a solid 24 hours now. There's probably a lot more I can (and will) write about this, but that will do for now. Thanks to Mats, Dangergirl, Alex, Gokul, Hiker Ed, Bob, Geri, Mike, Garth, and Robert who said "hi" along the way. Thanks to all the others who inspired me to set the goal and then reach for it.
