A humbling exercise in pain tolerance.
Was looking for something long to prepare for the Whites100 (or decide if it was even worth doing), and this route jumped out at me! Presi-cat + Wild River loop + Evans Notch loop, all in a fun shape.
Was initially aiming at sub 30 hrs (<2.5 mph elapsed). Going up Madison and traversing across to Washington was uneventful. Made better time than expected, and even found some blueberries along the way.
Once at the top of Washington, I was so in my zen-happy-place that I managed to fully 180 myself and head back down towards Clay. Being the buffoon that I am, I only noticed 5 min AFTER crossing over the cog againš¤¦āāļø. As I (re-) summited Washington, a cloud set in, visibility dropped, and it started raining. By the time I reached Glen Boulder, I was soaked, including my feet. 24 more hours of wet feet is a lot of wet feet, and I genuinely considered bailing here.
On my way up Wildcat, things cleared up and the sun came out--but we can't have nice things. My brand new watch failed in the exact same way as the one I'd warrantied 2 weeks prior (cmon garmin š). By some miracle, I was able to break out of the infinite watch restart loop by hitting random buttons enough times, but I was on edge for the rest of the run that it would fully die and I'd be robbed of my strava clout.
By the time I made it to Carter Notch, I had already swapped one pair of socks, which were now also wet. I stocked up on water (which would have to last me to the Wild River), and continued. At I mp shelter, I made another sock change. Feet were trenchy at this point, skin was delaminating, walking hurt, and I was on to my last pair of socks. My feet actually dried out quite nicely after this, but the damage was done; every step hurt quite significantly (and would continue to for the rest of the hike) and I still had 2/3 of the route ahead of me.
By the time I hit Moriah, I was dehydrated and it was dark, but spirits were high.Ā There's little else in life that compares to the joy of the runnable Moriah bog-bridges, especially after 25 miles of the Presidentials, Wildcats, and Carters.Ā I promptly chugged a liter of water at the first Wild River tributary, grateful that I was doing this section downhill at night. The hard terrain was done now; just smooth sailing and a couple more miles...or so I told myself. My watch was only at 10 miles, following its crash, so distance was a mystery to me; my sense of time wasn't much better.
The Wild River was just barely rock-hoppable, for which I was grateful. I'm not sure my feet would have survived getting wet again. From there, it was up to rim junction and Evan's Notch loop--half of which was new trail for me.
Near Meader, I got a nasty bloody nose, and got blood EVERYWHERE. Fortunately, there was no one else around at 4 am on a random Tuesday to notice the dirty blood-spattered kid, grimacing from the pain of walking. The Baldfaces were fun, and I was treated to sunrise coming off South Baldface. The night was much easier than many other night hikes I'd had, and I even had 90% of my chocolate covered coffee beans left.
The rest of Evan's Notch was quite runnable, and I made adequate time, save for a 6 min dirt nap shortly before Speckled mountain. East Royce was the second-worst part of this run. A pointless out-and-back for mediocre views, which added 500 ft and a mile. It's a beautiful hike with nice views; it just felt like a lot. At this point, anything that wasn't moving me towards the car seemed excruciating.
By the time I crossed back over Rim Junction and down into the Wild River, the end was in sight. Then came the rain, and lots of it. Over half an hour of torrential downpour, which left the trail indistinguishable from a river, left me soaked, and left my phone unusable (at least for the next 3 hrs til it dried off). This was a great motivator. I went from shuffling along, unable to even lightly jog, to running through puddles and up hills, giving it one last push. I was already wet, my feet already hurt, I was already tired to the bone; what could the mountains throw at me that they already hadn't this run?
I passed through Carter Notch a little after 4 pm; in my mind, I was practically done! In reality, I still had close to 5 miles left. The upper mile of 19 mile brook was heinous, as my feet were wet and hurting even more, and I had no desire to downhill rock hop. Eventually, the terrain became runnable, and in a couple miles, I was back at Great Gulf, where my girlfriend was waiting with hummus and dry clothes (in that order of importance).
Overall, this was an extremely rewarding run, with a good 70% of it being type 1 fun, though there was some serious struggling as well.
I still believe I could have done this <30 hrs in ideal conditions. My limiting factor was more the ability to endure foot pain when moving than physical fitness (though I was tired and sore by the end of this). I knew the Tuesday afternoon rain storm was coming, but the Monday morning rain on Washington really threw me for a loop. I probably should have used my third pair of socks sooner, but I was afraid of using all my socks too quickly.
Nothing beats existing in the mountains, and it was so much fun to push myself and learn so much along the way. There's just something cathartic about plodding uphill in the mountains alone for hours on end.Ā
Wish I had known that Eli did a white mountains podcast about this route before I ran it; would have been fun to listen to it while running the route! On the other hand it'll be a nice excuse to lounge out on the sofa for 30 min with a pint of Ben and Jerry's, not that I need the excuse.