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Hoop Time
08-10-2008, 11:24
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN

Forget the old folk song, it's through the river and through the woods today for Karl "Speedgoat" Meltzer as he heads south from Sugarloaf Mountain on his quest to set a new through-hike speed record on the Appalachian Trail.

Meltzer hit the trail this morning at 5 a.m., earlier than usual because today's planned 47-48 mile segment is "big distance and some pretty tough terrain," said Marit Fischer, melter's spokeswoman, who checked in from Sugarloaf this morning after her cell phone had dried enough to be usable.

It's been a rainy, wet go thus far for Meltzer, who started Day 6 arond 50 miles behind his hoped for schedule, according to the WheresKarl.com Web site. Fischer said to not expect Meltzer to attempt to make up the lost time until next weekend.

"The next six days will be tough. Karl sees these next six days as probably the hardest," said Fischer. "He expects to make up time when the trail gets easier and he can run more."

First there was an expected difficult river crossing to deal with.

"We haven't seen any NOBOs come through," said Fischer. "They'll swim if need be. They've got to get through."

Meltzer's crew plans to rendezvous with Meltzer and Matt Hart, an ultra runner doing the Maine section of the trail with Meltzer, when the trail crosses Route 4. The final stop for the day is expected to be at Route 17.

Tracking Meltzer's progress on the WheresKarl Web site continues to be the same exercise in frustration for Meltzer's crew as it has been for those trying to follow the hike.

"Spot (the tracking device Meltzer is carrying) seems to be pinging. Every day we turn it on and we're seeing signals on our end," Fischer said. "They're working on it. Spot is FedExing a new, more powerful model to try."

The new device will likely go live Tuesday.

On the fitness front, Meltzer's resting heart rate five days into the hike is up to 43 beats per minute from a pre-start rate of 40. Meltzer has lost a few pounds, too, Fischer speculated, though he has not actually been on a scale. Both developments were expected.

Despite the tougher than expected monsoon conditions, Meltzer is in good spirits.

"He's out there. He's enjoying it. He talks about the beautiful things he sees every day," Fischer said.

trailangelmary
08-10-2008, 11:58
Another great article, Chris. Thanks so much.

Sly
08-10-2008, 12:23
Not for nothing, if you take a look at the articles menu list to the left it's for info and strategies regarding hiking the trail, not a news article per se about an individual hike.

IMO, this would be better placed in the Media forum. That said, yeah good "article"