September 14, 2003 - My Hiking Style for the Triple Crown
Here’s how I want to hike. Maybe there’s some more little rules that I should have, but I haven’t thought of them yet:
1) Hike every mile, except when it’s dangerous to do so and the danger will persist for more than a day. If I must bypass a section, I’ll bypass it on foot unless it’s huge miles.
2) Attempt to make the trip a continuous progression from start to end. There’s going to be some trail changing (like maybe AT to CDT before all AT is done) to accommodate weather, but I don’t want a large number of skips to go around and clean up (actually, I don’t want any skips).
3) When there’s not a single designated trail, then any trail that goes to the destination is ok. No forward progress by anything other than feet, though. (This is kinda my CDT rule since it seems like there’s lots of trails that run parallel. Maybe this is the voice of ignorance, though.)
4) Try to keep the resupply durations 4-5 days. Shorter is too much fussing in town, and longer is too much weight to carry.
September 27, 2003 - Strategy for the Hike
I’m going to basically follow Brian Robinson’s lead from his 2001 hike.
I’m going to hike north on the AT starting on New Year’s Day. I’ll hike until I get bogged down in snow or until about April 1; with luck this should bring me to Hanover, NH. Pennsylvania cold and Vermont snow may challenge this plan. (I froze in Pennsylvania in October 2001 while on my southbound AT thru-hike.) If I get bogged down I can either sit it out or switch trails as conditions suggest.
Next I’ll travel to Chama, New Mexico, and hike south to the Mexican border. If time is short I’ll start this section of trail further south. I’ll judge how much of New Mexico to do based on how much snow is in California and how much time I have between the AT and the PCT.
I’d like to start the PCT as soon as it’s hike-able. This will give me the maximum time to complete the PCT and CDT before wintry weather closes in. This is the critical section to complete in order to be successful with a calendar year Triple Crown. Every mile before this section is conditioning for this critical section. I must do high miles here to make it all the way through. I’ll hike the PCT northbound to Canada and then the CDT southbound to the place I started on the CDT earlier in the year.
Then finally, I’ll go back to the AT and complete it northbound, finishing at Mt Katahdin just as Brian Robinson did. The White Mountains of NH and Mt Katahdin in Maine could provide significant challenge for hiking this remaining portion late in the year.
Well, this strategy sure looks good on paper. I can’t wait to try it out.
|
