Attempting to Hike 120 Miles in 48 Hours

This morning we woke up relatively early at the motel room. Our plan was to be out of the room by 8am so we could grab breakfast and then hitch back to the trail. But right as we were about to walk out of the door for the morning we realized it was pouring rain. I was so glad that we zeroed yesterday so that we didn’t get hit with rain in the middle of our 48 hour challenge. We wound up only having to wait about an hour for the rain to stop. That was good because I definitely wanted to start as early as possible.

By 9am the rain stopped and we packed up. Then Syrup and I headed out to begin hitching. 9 Lived in Sidequest we’re still lounging in the room watching a movie when we left. But I knew that they were going to start packing up pretty soon. I figured the hitch would take a little while and I could probably just give them a call once we got a ride.

A guy wound up pulling over after about 10 minutes, but he could only take two of us. It actually worked out that we had started hitching earlier because it’s typically a little bit hard to get a hitch for four people. So Syrup and I took the ride back to the trailhead and I gave a call to 9 Lives to let her know. They started hitching right around that time too and actually got a ride not long after us. So my plan was to just wait at the trailhead for the two of them to catch up. Syrup isn’t going to be joining in on this 48 hour challenge because he is worried about injuring himself. That’s a reasonable thought and something I’m a little bit worried about as well. But my plan is to just keep going as long as I feel ok.

Syrup began hiking right away, and I sat at the trailhead for about 20 minutes waiting for 9 Lives and SideQuest to catch up. They weren’t long behind and we all linked up shortly after that. Then we begin our mission.

Sitting next to the trail, waiting for 9 Lives and Sidequest to get a hitch to the trailhead too.

After about 3 miles walking through a small town called South Pass City. It was a historic town which actually had a ghost town in it. The trail went right through the ghost town, which was super cool. There was a little gift shop so I got a root beer and a Creamsicle ice cream cone. We sat there briefly and then begin walking through the ghost town. The ghost town was really cool and all of the buildings have been maintained and preserved. So we got to walk there for a little while and explore.

About 3 miles into the day we walked through South Pass City.

The small general store in the town.

The original ghost town was still maintained and we were able to walk through it.

Then we left town and got back onto some trail. Over this 120 mile section there is only a little over 8000 feet of elevation game. That’s why we chose this for our 48 hour challenge. But, there is elevation game. So we were doing some relatively steep hills right off the bat. I’m just hoping that as the day goes on the trail will level out in the climbs won’t be too bad. Hiking 120 miles is going to be exhausted. But it will be even more exhausting if there is a ton of climbing.

We spent the day walking along a variety of different dirt roads.

After hanging at the ghost town we pushed on for about 15 miles without stopping. It wasn’t necessarily my intention or something I wanted to do. When you’re doing a big push like this it’s probably smarter to go as slow as possible and to take a lot of breaks. But we were also eager to get some miles under our belts for the day and get some headway.

The walking was nice and easy along mostly dirt roads. We were on trails for some time as well, but for the most part we were on dirt roads. The walking was really nice and easy. Though I was already a little bit sore at this point, which was a small bit concerning.

The time was actually flying by over these next few hours. I was doing my best to get in as many calories as possible. I think the key to this challenge is going to be fueling myself properly with food at good intervals. If we were doing an ultra marathon, you’d want to be eating every single hour. One of the main keys to an ultra marathon is consumption of calories. So I was snacking a lot as we walked. I was also listening to music and just attempting to zone out as much as possible.

Sidequest and 9 Lives up ahead along the dirt road.

We walked for a few hours, and then I was starting to get hungry for something more than snacks. At this point, we could actually see Syrup off in the distance. We were attempting to catch him for a while. But we realized we were hardly gaining on him. In the end we know we’ll catch him eventually. Syrup is going to camp earlier tonight and not hike long into the dark. So it was only a matter of time until we ran into him.

We sat down by a river and took our first long break of the day shortly after that. I snacked on a block of cheese and some crackers which is  really good source of calories and lots of nice fats as well. I tried to take down as many calories as possible during this break.

After sitting there for a little while, we decided to continue on. Another goal that I have for this 48 hour challenge is not taking too long breaks. Obviously we need to be breaking periodically to allow our bodies to rest and recover. But I am worried that if we sit for too long my body will get stiff or I’ll get tired. We are only in the very early hours of this mission, and I was trying to stay on task.

We walked along dirt roads which had markers for this “California trail”. I thought that was pretty funny.

When we left our spot, we walked for another couple of hours. Almost all of the walking was along dirt roads and was really nice and easy at this point. Those next 6 to 8 miles were almost entirely flat and I was feeling very good. The soreness I had felt earlier in the day had began to subside, which was a major relief. I’m still pretty sore from doing the wind river high route. That section of trail made my body ache in ways that it hadn’t for the entire year. It was going to be tough to follow up so many sections of hard trail with the 48 hour challenge. But we had been talking about doing this for so long that I knew we had to follow through.

After another couple of hours we came to our next water source for the day. Another big obstacle in the section of trail is that there are fewer water sources than ever. We’re going through the great basin. This is a section of trail that seems a lot like the desert on the PCT or CDT. There’s very little shade and few water sources. So we need to pay attention to the sources on FarOut and be sure to stop off for them when they arrive.

When we arrived at that next water source, Syrup was there enjoying a break himself. It was really nice to catch up to him and talk to him for a bit. He was feeling really good and only planning to go another handful of miles for the day before setting up camp.

This really neat rock structure was built next to the water source where we caught up to Syrup.

We talked and took a break to eat at this water source. Around this time of day, the sun was just beginning to set and it was beautiful. Even though this is a desert section the views have still been beautiful. We watched an incredible sunset which was lighting up the hills in the distance. Then Syrup continued along and the rest of us sat for a little bit longer before we did the same. Our plan was to stop off for dinner wherever Syrup set up for the night. That way we could eat dinner before continuing on.

After only another 5 miles or so we caught up to Syrup again. He was set up to cowboy camp for the night and was cooking dinner. We stopped by him and ate some dinner. I didn’t want to go down to the water source because I still had plenty. So I just ate some cheese and crackers and other snacks for dinner instead. Then we hung out with Syrup for a while before we pushed on. There are so many miles ahead of us it’s almost unfathomable. At this point, we have done over 20 miles for the day and we were finally into the double digits for mileage remaining. When we left dinner with Syrup we still had 89 miles left.

At this point it was pitch blackout and the moon was only around 30%. So we needed headlamps for the entire rest of the night. But the stars had come out and you had incredible views of the Milky Way. It was a beautiful night to be night hiking. When we left that break it had started to get really cold. I wound up putting on my senchi pants and top and even my rain jacket. Initially, I had expected to get too hot when we left there. But even with all those layers on and gloves I was still a little bit chilly until we were moving again.

We walked for another couple hours after that. The night was beautiful, and the temperature was actually pretty nice. It was a little bit cold, but it was a good contrast compared to the hot and exposed temperatures that you can expect in the great basin. After we walked for another 6 miles or so we stopped off for another break to rest, stretched, and eat something. Another important aspect of this section for me is going to be taking very regular breaks and doing a lot of stretching. In the past, I’ve had tendinitis issues and IT band issues, so I know that I need to be stretching every two hours if I want to feel good.

We walked past this big pile of bones along the trail.

At this break we turned our headlamps off and spent a long time looking at the stars and the Milky Way. It was unbelievably beautiful. Then we left that next break and continued walking around 11:45pm. The moon had only just began to rise. It was a gorgeous, bright, red moon as it first rose into the sky. We were all entranced by the views and it made walking much easier.

The moon rose very late into the night and was bright red.

It is so crazy to think about the fact that we’re going to hike continuously for the next 80+ miles. We have to hike for about 10 hours in the dark tonight. Then we still have another day of hiking all day long. And then another night of hiking for 10+ hours. Once the sun rises on the second day, we’ll hopefully only have a handful more hours of walking to do before we accomplish our goal.

This is an incredibly task. The idea of being awake for 48 hours straight and exercising constantly is unbelievable. As we walked through the night all of us were super giddy. I honestly felt intoxicated by the energy. We were cackling and laughing like hyenas. All of us are trying to channel our energy as much as possible. I think I felt more energized hiking tonight than I did today. We were stopping regularly all together and trying to make the most of this mission.

Around this time we officially crossed into the next day. At this point, we probably still had about 36 hours of hiking remaining. But I’m hopeful that we can keep our energy up and remain positive. I’m also hopeful that my body will keep feeling as good as it does right now. By midnight we gone over 30 miles. Now we only had about 80+ miles remaining.