On Saint Patrick’s Day, I established the very first Fastest Known Time (FKT) for the combined Crescent Trail + Seneca Trail systems. A 100k+ trail run.…
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(Cover Image: Remote Glacial Moraine, Cranberry Lake 50 Trail, Five Ponds Wilderness Area.)
Back in August I attempted to become the first person to run the entire Cranberry Lake 50 mile trail loop (solo and self-supported) through the Five Ponds Wilderness region of the Adirondack mountains. It was going to be awesome. I was going to knock it out in under 12 hours. A “First Known Time” and a great way to cap off (if not redeem) my race season.
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Back in 2013, Jamie Hobbs was kind enough to show Ron and I The Devil’s Path out in New York’s Catskills Mountains. Repeatedly ranked as one of the hardest/most dangerous trails on the planet, Devil’s packs somewhere around +/-19,000′ of climb/descent across 6 mountains (and 8 peaks) in its 25 miles of highly technical trail. It’s rated as a highly strenuous, three-day hike. In 2014 I was able to run the whole thing (along with my friends Ron and Ryan) in 12 hours (for comparison, the fastest known time is just under the 5 hour mark). In addition lots of climb and descent (there are no ridges in between the peaks), the trail is highly technical, riddled with roots, rocks, and cliff bands. If you’ve heard absurd descriptions of this trail? Don’t write it off as hyperbole. It’s almost impossible to overstate how challenging this trail can be.
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WHAT: On Saturday, August 15th I’ll be attempting a solo, self-supported run of the Cranberry Lake 50 Mile trail loop through the Five Ponds Wilderness Area in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. Many have thru hiked and fast packed the trail since its completion in 2009, but, to the very best of my knowledge, no one has run the whole thing in daylight. So, if all goes well on Saturday it will be a ‘First Known Time.’ (Image: Cranberry Lake, and the Five Ponds Wilderness beyond, as seen from the top of Bear Mountain.)
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Well, my 2nd Escarpment Trail Run is in the books. Barely. Had my ass unceremoniously handed to me by the infamous wall of Manitou this weekend. Which… is basically what makes Escarpment the race that it is. With 10k’ of climb/descent over 6 mountains in just 30k, this race will make you work for it even on the best of days. On a bad day you’ll be happy just finishing.
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Well, that was one hell of an adventure. This past weekend’s Manitou’s Revenge Ultramarathon more than lived up to its brutal reputation, and I had an absolute blast. This was easily the most fun I’ve ever had in a race due to the beautiful setting, the amazing racers and volunteers, and the sheer ridiculousness of the course and the conditions. It was also probably the worst time I’ve ever had in a race due to circumstances out of my control that, ultimately, ended up costing me the chance to finish – exiting the race at mile 44, scratching my head on what had become a pretty bizarre situation.
I started a great trend in 2014: run a great race, never get around to writing a race report. I ran CanLake 50 last October…
1 CommentYeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Rothrock was back in June. It’s been a busy year. I haven’t been on top of my race reports lately.…
1 CommentAh, the infamous Devil’s Path. An unassuming little foot path through the gently rolling green mountains of the Catskills in upstate New York. Don’t let…
5 Comments(Image: Sweeping view of the Hudson Valley on the final climb up Stoppel Point 6ish miles from the finish.) In many ways, The Escarpment Trail…
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