FKT: Matthew Striewski - North Country Trail: Moraine & McConnell's Mill State Parks (PA) - 2021-05-15

Route variation
one way
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Self-supported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
9h 1m 59s
GPS track(s)
Report

This hike is fantastic and I don't think I could have asked for better conditions. The trail ranges from a wide gravel walking path to a rock scramble climb and everything in between. Water spots are plentiful and I filled my bottles at a creek around mile 8, from the lake around mile 14.5 (img_0240.jpg), and from the river around mile 18.7. Luckily, most difficult spots on this route are followed by decent segments of "rest" trail. I would, however, prefer to hike this in the other direction. The section from mile 20 to mile 24 really beat me down and you can see how happy I am to be nearing the end in img_0246.jpg.

A couple of notes:

I did the hike unsupported, but listed self-supported since there was a trail race happening from my start point to about halfway (McDanel boat launch in Moraine Sate Park) and spectators cheered for anyone they saw. They were not there to see me. I met a few racers as I would pass them uphill and then be passed by them downhill.

The Garmin time (source of the gpx file) is slightly off from the Strava time because I caught my watch on a backpack strap and stopped the activity for ~2 minutes. That was when I was taking img_0231.jpg