Rachel Carson Challenge: The Hardest Thing I Have Ever Done

Every year on the first Saturday after the summer solstice,  there is a challenge hike in the hills along the Allegheny River.      Participants have either 15 hours and 4 minutes to finish a 35 (56.3km) mile hike or 7 hours and 17 minutes to finish a 17.2 (27.7) mile hike.    This is known as the Rachel Carson Challenge and it is notorious because of the terrain, length,  mud, and occurring in any weather condition.    At any given time, you can find yourself walking on a hard road,  crossing a rushing stream,  going down a muddy step descent inch by inch,  climbing up a  steep ascent hand over hand, hiking through a nice shaded glade of trees, or having the sun beat down on you as you climb up and down power lines.    I chose to do the 17.2 challenge yesterday (June 22, 2019) and it was by far the hardest thing I have ever put my body through.   My hats are off to the full challenge participants, some of whom ran it and some who finished in little more than 6 hours.   There is no way I would have finished the 35 mile challenge.

I buddied up with my friend Sharon and we set our goal to finish in less than 6 hours.   It was a beautiful day with temperatures at the start about 60f/16c and at the end  about 75f/26c.  This, along with the lack of any rain really helped. There we no clouds, however,  so open areas had the full sun beating on us.    We did have almost 2 weeks of steady rain,  so it was very muddy in some spots.    This made for some colorful legs and boots and slow going in those areas.

We started pretty strong  (there were 300 people who did the half challenge) and were setting our pace well at first.    We were able to do the early hills with no problem (the first had a steep 400 foot ascent) and with the exception of getting my boots soaked crossing a stream  (no choice there), we made the second comfort station at mile marker 9.4 about 20 minutes ahead of schedule.    I did have one slip by my hiking poles saved me from going down.

We took a short 10 minute break to snack (kudos for the Rachel Carson volunteers for providing salted boiled potatoes and Gatorade along with a bunch of other snacks) and put on dry socks.  

The last 7.8 miles proved much harder.    There was a long uphill road  trek (asphalt) of at least a mile and then once we started along the trails again,  it was lots of ups and steep downs.  One very notorious hill (known as Burtner Hill) was a lung burner..    This was about mile 12 and after that hill, there were even more climbs and descents.   By the time we left that area  (mile 14 or so),  I was on fumes for the hills and just put my head down to finish.    My quads and hips were feeling it for certain.  

The last three miles had minimal hills but made up for it with lots of mud.   Deep,  clay mud that you slid at every step.    About mile 15,  we crossed into the park where the challenge finished, and we had to wind through the park to the end.  This was the muddiest section as much of it was ground level and slow going.    By this time any incline was a challenge and I was very slow.    About 2/3 mile mile before the end we started seeing signs saying Challenge Finish and we were very psyched to be almost done.   Alas,  we came upon the .4 mile to the end sign.  Ugh!.   This last bit had some small uphills that I was not happy to see.   The last 100 meters was a hill that I had to stop on before coming into a clearing and crossing the finish line.       My time as 5  hours and 55 minutes.  Sharon came in 2 minutes before me.

I hiked 17.2 miles and all I got was a lousy T-Shirt..    The hardest thing I have ever done to my body.


I am very glad that I did this but I am still feeling it.    In hindsight,  I should have taken advantage of the training hikes offered by the Rachel Carson Conservatory  instead of doing my usual hiking routine.   I think I would have been better prepared and would not have struggled so much at the end.  I will probably do this again next year, but I plan to be better prepared.  I of course will be one year older but that never stops me.  

Namaste..

 

Elevation Gains

Up and Down

Tired but Happy.