Okay, I was thinking about 'through-hiking' the LSHT for quite some years. First time I hiked part of it was i 2010, while training for the AT.
After 'transforming' to an Ultra runner in the last couple of years, 'hiking' the trail was no longer an option. ;-)
After gathering all the data and anything else I needed I was shooting for 30 hours. I was planning on using water only out of 'safe' sources, which would have been Stubblefield campground, the church in Evergreen and Double Lake campground. Therefor I had to carry plenty containers, sometimes empty, sometimes full! The later one caused a lot of weight in my small running pack and eventually rubbing my entire back sore. And in addition I ended up (had to) using natural water sources as well.
My feet started blistering after 55 miles, but I was able to 'push through' - some taping helped.
I took pictures of every existing (or at least the ones I found) mile markers, with my GPS watch next to it, to document and proof how my watch 'cut corners' and if you zoom in on the gpx track you can see that, and where, it had a few 'blackouts'. Aftermath: As I am writing this the day after I am pretty 'beat up', sore, can't walk due to blisters on both feet and I am loosing a toe nail - but, what's new?
The SPOT tracker that I recently acquired is not what I was hoping for. It needs a clear view to the sky and absolutely no obstruction to function properly. And even if that is available, that might be not at the specific time the tracker is set to send the next GPS point, so I ended up sending a few 'manual' triggered signals every now and then. In addition it is almost impossible to mount that thing to a running pack, so it is pointing skywards at all times - that might be possible at a hiking pack.
I met 6 or 7 hikers on the entire trail, given it was We and Th that might have been why it was that way. Met 4 or 5 snakes (3 Copperheads), maybe more but that's the one's I've actually noticed. ;-)
5 wild hogs, not one alligator! Plenty of birds, squirrels, rabbits, no deer! And one box turtle. Countless mosquitoes!
I hope this is all information that's needed, if you need more, please feel free to ask.
Respectfully
Texas Midnight Runner
(Helmut W. Walter)