Rhody Seth
Member
Here's a southern New England trip report for ya.
I'm competing in a trail running winter challenge along the CT/RI border - 18 courses to complete over calendar winter. You upload your times and get ranked/scored accordingly. It's a fun competition that provides motivation to keep running over winter. The longest course, a 25 mile loop on the Pachaug Nehantic trails, is the sole trail where your time doesn't matter. Everyone who completes it gets the same amount of points. With that in mind, I opted to backpack this loop rather than run it. I had three goals:
-Complete the longest Border Patrol course
-Have a "clean hammock hang" free of mistakes
-Make a decent video
All three were accomplished. It was a fun hike and I had a good night sleeping out in the woods. No issues with my hammock this time and I had several good chunks of sleep. But the weather was certainly not winter. Temps were in the mid-50s on day 1 with light rain falling early and then late. Temps were still 50° at 6 PM but would drop to 33° by early morning. I had to deal with bugs in my tarp that had been roused by the warm temps. They were attracted to my headlamp and phone screen which were annoying as I didn't have my bug net since, you know, winter and all.
By morning it was cold and the bugs were gone. I got packed up early and hiked in the dark for about 1.5 hours. It was spitting for much of Day 2 but I was moving at a fast clip and never got chilly. This hike featured a lot of woods and a bit of road walking. While not the winter conditions I had hoped for, all the recent rain made for lively streams and there were a couple tricky crossings, something you usually don't have to deal with on this trail. The most impressive part of the trail, imposing rock boulders along Beach Pond, was unfortunately closed due to a fire last year. The course rerouted us on old dirt roads. Probably just as well as my legs were very tired by the end of Day 2 and would not have liked those slippery rocks.
I'm competing in a trail running winter challenge along the CT/RI border - 18 courses to complete over calendar winter. You upload your times and get ranked/scored accordingly. It's a fun competition that provides motivation to keep running over winter. The longest course, a 25 mile loop on the Pachaug Nehantic trails, is the sole trail where your time doesn't matter. Everyone who completes it gets the same amount of points. With that in mind, I opted to backpack this loop rather than run it. I had three goals:
-Complete the longest Border Patrol course
-Have a "clean hammock hang" free of mistakes
-Make a decent video
All three were accomplished. It was a fun hike and I had a good night sleeping out in the woods. No issues with my hammock this time and I had several good chunks of sleep. But the weather was certainly not winter. Temps were in the mid-50s on day 1 with light rain falling early and then late. Temps were still 50° at 6 PM but would drop to 33° by early morning. I had to deal with bugs in my tarp that had been roused by the warm temps. They were attracted to my headlamp and phone screen which were annoying as I didn't have my bug net since, you know, winter and all.
By morning it was cold and the bugs were gone. I got packed up early and hiked in the dark for about 1.5 hours. It was spitting for much of Day 2 but I was moving at a fast clip and never got chilly. This hike featured a lot of woods and a bit of road walking. While not the winter conditions I had hoped for, all the recent rain made for lively streams and there were a couple tricky crossings, something you usually don't have to deal with on this trail. The most impressive part of the trail, imposing rock boulders along Beach Pond, was unfortunately closed due to a fire last year. The course rerouted us on old dirt roads. Probably just as well as my legs were very tired by the end of Day 2 and would not have liked those slippery rocks.
