A route put together by Lee-Stuart Evans following the approximate route of the legendary "Old Leatherman":
A 343 Mile Loop round Connecticut and New York State following in the footsteps of the Old Leatherman who walked this route continuously every 34 days until 1889
Route description
In 1883 in Connecticut in the USA a man appeared with startling regularity between 41 towns in a loop that spanned 365 miles. Every 34 days he would appear at the same town. He did this for 6 years before dying on the 20th March 1889. He had first been seen in 1857 and in the earlier parts of his life was reported wandering as far north as Vermont and Canada.
He is known simply as ‘The Leather Man‘ In my Fastest Known Time attempt I was looking to capture the ethos of his journey, based pragmatically around the caves and towns he visited and possible routes. Where possible I’ve tried to use trails that are marked, and where I have no other safe option I opted for roads between towns. In some situations I’ve used trails of outstanding beauty that travel between towns he visited but may have not actually traveled along. In my mind I wanted to create a route that could be defined and represented a challenge in the future for people to beat my time on, and do in sections as section hikers to enjoy. My route came out at 343 miles and I planned to do one more loop on the anniversary of his death starting and finishing at his grave in Ossinging in NY.
Detailed information here: https://theairlandandsea.com/2019/02/the-old-leatherman-loop-fastest-known-time.html
and a separate review here of all the caves he used to use as shelters on the route here https://theairlandandsea.com/2019/04/the-old-leatherman-caves-guide.html
