Rabbit Peak has been on my to-do list of hikes commonly considered unpleasant for quite a while now. About a year ago I quit my job to do a thru hike in New Zealand (Te Araroa) and then decided to tack on the CDT directly afterwards, so I figured that completing two thru hikes would put me in great shape to tackle Rabbit. However, I spent a month with family after the CDT and didn’t hike at all during that time, so when I found myself at the Rabbit Peak trailhead I hadn’t hiked (or moved my body, really) in over a month, which I quickly learned wasn’t the best strategy for doing a dayhike with over 8,000 feet of gain. Alas, I put on my sneakers (the same worn-out pair I finished the CDT in that had over 500 miles on them and very little support left) and started walking.
Of course, within the first few minutes my water bladder started leaking so I had to stop and fix it. My goal was to finish this hike in under 11 hours so I wasn’t especially concerned about time and tagged Villager on the way to Rabbit, stopping at that peak for a break and a look through the summit register. I also got distracted when I noticed pinon trees and did some (unsuccessful) foraging for pine nuts at several points along the way. After a 20 minute break on the Rabbit summit I was wandering around on the ups and downs between Rabbit and Villager, constantly getting off trail. I wasn’t woefully out of shape, but on those final climbs I didn’t exactly feel in shape. On the descent from Villager I looked at my watch and was pleasantly surprised when I realized I actually had a shot at finishing this hike in under 9 hours. I shoved some off-brand fruit snacks into my mouth, did my little shuffle down the final slopes, and eked out the most pitiful attempt at a jog for the last mile back to the trailhead. I’m sure that any remotely in-shape trail runner who is intrigued by suffering will easily beat my time, but for now I’ll pat myself on my sweaty back for knocking this one off the to-do list.