First attempt at an FKT with this one and it ended up being a full day. I took a look at Whitney's track (thank you, Whitney!) and think she nailed the fastest route up and between the peaks. I decided to swap directions though and began at Cabot, as it was the mountain that I was least familiar with having only hiked it once (last year). I figured if something went wrong I'd give myself time and daylight to sort it out. This would also mean that I could wrap up my second full set of NH48 on Moosilauke as I did last year.
- Cabot was soggy from the previous days' showers as well as the mist / sprinkling throughout the climb. Caught a couple of peeks at sunlight at the very top, but no views through the cloud veil surrounding the summit. The way down was a bit slippy as expected, although I made relatively good time and only dunked the shoes once or twice.
- Moriah moved quickly, and not much to report here. I heard a moose in the woods, but didn't wait around too long to see just how close it was (I just hoped it wasn't still near the trail on my way back down). There were some muddy areas, which I had run into a few weeks ago when doing the Moriah-Carter-Wildcat Traverse so they weren't a surprise. Overall the trail was significantly drier and quicker than it had been just a few weeks ago and it made for relatively quick traveling. I was able to pick up the pace to a jog/run for most of the descent.
- Whiteface was hot in comparison to the other mountains. Cabot had been chilly due to the moisture and Moriah was similarly cool with some added wind, which was nowhere to be found on Whiteface. This was the ascent that I was dreading the most given its later position in the queue as well as the steep gains towards and over the final ledges. I summited initially up off the ledges to the large open boulder, and then when checking AllTrails I noticed that there was a 'second' summit with the same/similar elevation so I kept going on the trail in the direction of Passaconaway to tag that one and make sure I didn't accidentally disqualify this effort in case that was in fact the true summit, then doubled-back past the first summit and down the ledges. (I'd appreciate feedback from others who are more familiar with these mountains as to which is the true summit here so I know for sure next time.) Based on the way the trail is positioned along the shoulders the light made for a few misplaced footings in some sections on my descent; however, I was able to jog for the majority of the descent following the hand-over-foot section near the top.
- The quick up-and-back on Moosilauke began with the last bit of daylight and I ended up using the headlamp for the duration. I was glad that I'd chosen Moosilauke to be the final summit, as the legs were tired at this point and I would not have been as comfortable trying to navigate the mud on the lower-half of Cabot via headlamp as I was the relatively dry rocks here. I think the first two miles that I put in here were the fastest two 'upwards' miles I had the whole day, then I hit a bit of a wall for the second portion of the climb. Coming out of the tree line opened up to heavy gusts, which lead to a brief reshuffle of the bag at the summit to pile on heavier clothing before heading down.
Thoughts for improvements: If attempted again, I would find lodging in NH so that I could avoid the ~3 hour drive from Portland to get to Cabot; there's enough driving throughout the route as it is. To that end, the driving seems like it would give a good opportunity to recharge a bit but I found the muscles getting tighter during these trailhead-to-trailhead transitions. It definitely adds an unfamiliar element to a course (for me anyway). I took the time to swap out of my trail runners for each transition as well. If the trails had been drier, I think I could've avoided this and saved some time, but after each of the first two they had found their way into at least one larger (mud)puddle and I had planned to swap socks regardless to try to avoid blisters. Lastly, I would start a bit earlier than the ~7:20am start time I ended up taking. Ideally, I'd begin just before dawn and this would afford me the extra two hours of daylight on the back end.