Treadhill

Golf course with kids

Sugar, snow

Beautiful snow

10k and a little more

White Mountains Direttissima FKT Attempt Day 2. Note: full description is very long and apparently can only be seen on the web interface.

Dedicated to those who introduced me to long distance hiking, the White Mountains, and the Diretissima: DC Backpackers and DCUL and Philip Werner’s blog post about the White Mountains Challenge. 

I woke to my alarm and got my day’s snacks organized in front-accessible pockets while staying warm in my sleeping bag. I hadn’t slept well, nor had I the night before starting, but managed to drag myself up and out after about half an hour of fiddling and packing up. Of course, I then hit 13 falls, and realized I couldn’t get across the river without getting my feet wet, so I took my shoes and socks right back off and forded the river, dried my feet with my handkerchief, then started back in. Garfield is plenty hard and I was happy to get to drop my pack before that heinous section of trail. I enjoyed sunrise on Garfield summit, which is a glorious spot to be at almost any time. The rain had ended, and I was in for a glorious day. Spirits were high, though the pack was still heavy, and I continued my trip around the eastern Pemi, quickly tagging Galehead after dropping my pack at the hut. I filled some bottles at the hut and set out up South Twin, which wasn’t nearly as bad a climb as I had remembered. It was quick work to North Twin, and I started to see quite a few people coming in to enjoy the 2025 rarity: a beautiful-weather weekend day in the mountains!

I hadn’t been up the Firewarden’s Trail to Hale, but it is nice and is probably the smoothest summit trail for any of the 48. I kept a decent clip up this climb, perhaps pushing a little too hard. I felt very ready to be at Zealand Falls by the time I finally got there. I sat and filled all my bottles without any real sense of urgency before beginning a long time without additional water sources. I enjoy the climb to Zealand Cliffs and the slabs on top, but I forgot how long the ridge to Zealand actually is. I was happy to finally put that behind me and break out of the trees at Guyot. I forgot my tracker on the out-and-back to West Bond. A couple of guys there were celebrating finishing one of their 48. There were lots of people out as I crossed Bond and Bondcliff. On the way down to the East Fork of the Pemi River, I was finally passed by two hikers moving very well, and two runners completing Pemi loops. They were the only people to pass me (going the same direction) during the whole Direttissima attempt.

Fording the Pemi, I discovered two new unfortunate pitfalls: without the rain, the black flies were heinous; and also swatting said flies caused me to drop my phone into the river! Twice! It survived, and I took a bit of a dip myself to wash off and take a little break to refresh. I was definitely tired. By this point, I also wasn’t really producing any saliva to speak of, so eating my food was tough. It was mostly a mix of different granola bars, crackers, and cookies. All things I like to eat, but it wasn’t even about taste; my body just couldn’t keep up with the demands of producing saliva for 9000 calories worth of food. Drink mixes and energy chews still went down fairly easily, and I used a lot of water to help get down the rest. 

I kept up a steady pace across the Cedar Brook Trail as it was initially very smooth and easy going - I even trotted a bit. But then it got gradually worse and slower and slower, and my hopes of reaching my intended campsite by dark faded. I finally made it to the Hancocks turnoff and bumbled with my pack and bottles and drink mix for a while before finally setting off on that loop. I was very happy to not have my heavy pack. The loop felt hard enough without it. As I passed by the ridge over to Carrigan, I felt relieved I wasn’t taking the bushwhack Bill Tidd had showed me a month earlier in the slush. My knees hurt on the decent, but I was racing sundown, and made it back to my pack with a little time to get moving down the trail before it started getting dark. At last light, I found a spot along the trail and decided to pitch there rather than push on a couple more miles to my intended end location where I didn’t really know if I’d find a good spot. The spot I chose wasn’t all that comfortable though, and I didn’t sleep well.  I had a weather forecast that sounded good overnight, so didn’t pitch my tarp. I woke to raindrops a bit before midnight and got my tarp out and draped it over me. A passing hiker disturbed me at midnight. Off and on fits of sprinkles and the discomfort of being under a tarp ensured I didn’t sleep well. It never really rained enough to need the tarp. Given I didn’t pitch again, I clearly should have left it at home.


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Joffrey Peters

Direttissima Day 2: Splitter Day in the Pemi

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Treadhill

Golf course with kids

Sugar, snow

Beautiful snow

10k and a little more

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