We are closing in on less than two weeks for the NPT run!
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Date TBD between July 11-17, 2015 (Updated start on Friday June 10th 8-9am)
~135 miles from Lake Placid to Northville, NY Waterfront Park (Southbound)
Current Record 39 hr 16 min
The Northville-Placid Trail (NPT) was my first solo thru-hike back in high school. I spend 6 days hiking from Upper Benson (near Sacandaga Lake) up to the TH on Averyville Rd., just outside of Lake Placid. My sister dropped me off with my pack containing all of my provisions for nearly a week and my mom picked me up late in the morning at the end of the trail on the 6th day. It was my first real test of endurance, both mental and physical, where I covered anywhere from 17-23 miles a day. The trail is by no means super hilly. It does not summit any peaks, but at the same time it is not a fast trail by any means due to the typical Adirondack rocks, roots, and mud! It travels through some remote country, passes beautiful ponds, and a couple sections are over 30 miles between road crossings.
I am attempting a supported run on the NPT, which means that Hillary (and others!) can resupply me with nutrition, equipment (i.e. lights), or whatever along the way. I can drop things off and grab what I need. However, I will not have anyone 'mule' for me, which means no one will run beside me carrying what I may need at any moment. I may have pacers, but will only resupply at the designated points on the trail. With that said this trail is remote and there are not a lot of places to refuel. I may be alone for up to 7 hours at a time, so I will need to carry enough calories and electrolyte (Nuun!) to supply me over that amount of time.
I will be attempting the record on the ENTIRE trail. There is about 1.25 miles of road at the Lake Placid end of the trail and about 7 miles of road on the Northville end. Some of the historical attempts have only included the trail portion of the trail, but there is a push by the NPT Chapter to construct the last few miles of trail to Northville in the near future. In the last year they have already put in a number of trail miles and diverted the route around Upper Benson, which is the tradition trail section start. Since I think the future attempts will be on a full trail, my attempt will also be on the full distance. There have been many trail changes, reroutes, extensions over the life on the NPT, so I realize that any record is really on that specific configuration, which is bound to change again in the future. The trail has been around for over 90 years, so there are bound to be changes.
As pointed out at fast known times the current record holder is Sheryl Wheeler in 2011 for both the trail portion (35 hr 13 min) and the entire trail (39 hr 16 min). Since the NPT no longer passes through Upper Benson (the trail portion ending point of Sheryl's record setting run) I will attempt the entire trail. I will also be going southbound as was pursued by most of the previous attempts.
I am looking at an 8am start on the day I see as a good weather window and hope to finish in under 35 hours if all goes well. Below is a hypothetical table of road crossings and aid points if I finished in 30 hours, or a 13.6 minutes per mile pace. Really who knows! Start time may change.
A Start - Lake Placid (Mile 0) 8 AM
B Trailhead Averyville Rd. (Mile 1.25) 8:20 AM
C Long Lake/Tarbell Rd (Mile 38) 4:35 PM
F Durant Lake CG Rte 28/30 (Mile 53) 8:00 PM
H Cedar River Rd (Mile 66) 10:45 PM
I Piseco TH (Mile 97) 6:00 AM (next day)
K Cross Rte. 8 (Mile 100) 6:45 AM
L Whitehouse (Mile 107) 8:00 AM
M End of trail, County Rte 6 (Mile 125) 12:20 PM
O Finish - Northville Bridge (135 miles) 2:00 PM
I encourage anyone that wishes to come out and run some distance with me, or just say 'hey' out on the trail. I will try to keep the most up to date information on my facebook account and twitter feed @avermily
Follow @avermily
For detailed information on the trail, including an interactive map see the NPT Chapter
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