Wow, I do not know where to even begin.
The start, or no, before it.
I planned to send this route sometime in the summer but was too scared. My friend suggested a hut traverse, so I did that on Aug 29th. It gave me the confidence to step up to this route. I decided to spend the next few weeks recovering, in which I did 2 cyclocross races and 1 workout in the whites...
I planned to go out on the route Saturday, September 26th BUT due to a Nor'easter... I had to either quickly get ready and send it early or just hope for a window after. I decided to scramble everything together; I borrowed a friend's Garmin and learned how to work it the evening before.
I drove to Amber's and maybe went to bed around 8 pm to wake up to an 11:45 pm alarm.. sooo no sleep. Not a great move considering I wasn't going to be getting sleep for 2 nights and highly likely terrible sleep right after.
Anyways got to the start for 1 am, took off around 1:20 am.. Carefully chosen to not spend much alpine time in the dark.
I think my pack was close to 20 pounds; I had full layers, assuming the storm would hit the last night. I also packed what I thought was 45 hours of nutrition... but it barely lasted 40...
I approached the route as a long adventure hike, but quickly I realized maybe I hadn't fully recovered from the hut traverse. About 10 miles in I already had major doubts and niggles pop up. I had lower energy, already diving into my caffeine stash. I was exposed though; I posted the tracker, I spent money, I trained all summer, I used ALL of the PTO I just got at my new job, I have been visualizing the route (the trails I have been on) for quite some time. It was going to take alot more than being tired or hurt to quit.
I continued on, had a MAJOR low on the Osgood climb, taking 5-20 sec breaks after every 200 ft climbed... I kept thinking wtf this is too early to be dealing with this...
But I kept moving, on the southern presi's I had my biggest HIGH of the route, it was gorgeous and quiet. I have been stuck to the weekend trips which have been zoo environments on the trail... I like the quiet beauty, especially when I am in my head.
Never been on webster cliffs, they were not terrible but I didn't like it. Around here is when my period started.. which explained the extra aches the low energy.
The ethan pond trail up was nice until it was muddy and meh, boring.
I was still in lots of pain, mostly knees and right hip and feet.
I tried to nap after galehead hut somewhere but was shivering instead. I said f it and continued. I was so so hungry and diving deeper into the stash of food I brought.
I was moving super slow with pain popping up in my right elbow now, due to the heavy pole usage to help my knees.
I was also stressed I didn't have a ride lined up and that I would be in survival mode at the end so I had to take my phone out of airplane mode to post.
I could see the finish on the ridgeline which was still far away. I just kept hiking. For some reason people were commenting things like: "looks like you're on a mission" so I couldn't have looked as bad as i felt. The climb up to the Kinsmen's was tough, but mentally I could start smelling the barn. The trail off south Kinsmen.. horrid and slick, then i was bored and couldnt get into a good grove, another low.
I also started bleeding heavy here. When i saw my watch near 10 miles left, I put on music and went at it without a care for my feet anymore, screaming whenever i hit them. I gathered all the nutrition I had left around 41 hours in and realized it was 2 gels (75g carbs) and 1 potato. I tried to eat the potato, but I simply couldn't get it down without water. I knew that there could be safety issues with this little food left, but pushed forward "don't pass out" "dont pass out"
Whenever I got to water, I chugged it trying to fill my stomach which was growling with hunger.
I kept moving and eventually finished. What a wild time.
This was really rough writing with very little recovery. A more digestible recap soon prob on a podcast or on substack, idek.
Anyone wanting to go after this, open book right here.