Trailrunning AT New Hampshire - miles per day?

[jmeyerdo]

Hi all!
Great to be part of this great forum/community now. After some reading I feel free to post my first question(s).

I am an experienced trailrunner (Transalpine run, Marathons, Ultras, ...) and I would like to run on the AT in New Hampshire (probably North to South).
- Are most parts runnable trails or rocks to climb? How many miles are possible per day?
- For 5 days: Do you have any recommendations where to park the car and shuttle to start (US2 Gorham or Pinkham Notch)?

Best regards from Germany, keep on running/hiking, Jens

[Slo-go'en]

You can try, but your pace will probably be not much more then a fast walk at best. The trails have many very steep climbs and descents with large steps, big boulders, lots of slippery roots and rocks. If it is raining and your not ankle deep in water, your not on the trail.

A typically hiking pace is about 1 mile an hour through here. You need to pay constant attention to where your feet are going to be placed or you will fall down. I constantly look ahead to plan my next 2 or 3 steps. There are sections which are effectively a rock climb. It's really difficult to convey how hard the trail through NH is, most just don't believe it until they experience it themselves.

[colorado_rob]

You can try, but your pace will probably be not much more then a fast walk at best..... It's really difficult to convey how hard the trail through NH is, most just don't believe it until they experience it themselves.

I'll attest to this! No matter how many times I heard folks talk about how difficult the White Mountain stretch of NH was, I still was unprepared and was amazed at the nearly-continuous ruggedness of this trail. I am an ex-trail runner (got a case of O.L.D.) and I doubt if I would have been able to run more than about a third of the miles along the White Mountain stretch of the AT.

This all being said, I did see some trail runners here and there... again, I was amazed.

Logistics for our recent 100 mile stretch in the Whites: We flew into Boston, rented a car, drove to Glencliff, got a shuttle from the Hiker Welcome Hostel in Glengliff to Gorham ($90 for two of us), hiked 100 miles back to Glencliff, grabbed our car and drove back to Boston. I paid the Hostel $5/day to park there (voluntarily, call it a donation).

[brian039]

I would consider the Whites and New England in general a very bad place to try to trail run. Trail tread is very bad for running because of rocks, huge boulders, wet rocks, roots, wet roots, mud, and steepness. Tons of trailheads to use, though. Western US is better for trail running due to better trail conditions. The AT is goat-trail in New England.

[Linesman]

Hallo - 5 days? If you're fit you could run from NH 25 at Glencliff to ME 26 at Grafton Notch in 5 days. I wouldn't miss the continuation of the Whites into Maine. Carlo, Fulling Mill, and Goose Eye mountains, Trident Col and Mahoosuc Notch are some of the most magical places on the AT and not to be missed, especially if you're coming from Germany!

Grafton to Glencliff should be easy for you. Some parts of the trail will be runnable and other parts wont. At that mileage you could walk most of it and still get to camp before dark. Grafton Notch to Hanover is even possible. If you stop at Glencliff you won't miss much.

Keep in mind that the Huts are expensive and alternative shelter is often pretty far off trail.

[fudgefoot]

I am a trail runner (though don't do ultras). The northern part of the trail in New Hampshire is the worst section of the entire AT to trail run. It is precipitously steep and rocky. If you attempt this, I hope you have good health insurance because you will be risking serious injury.

[redseal]

Great question. I spend a lot of time trail running in New Hampshire and the Whites. For 5 days, I would suggest starting at Hanover and heading north. The first 40 miles are very runnable. Mileage-wise I cannot say what you should be able to do in this section. You can look at my blog and try to compare yourself to me if that is helpful. This would be 2 days for me.

Days 3 - 5 is when the runnable sections start to diminish, but there is still plenty of sections if you are good on rocks. If I was planning 5 straight days of running in this section I would probably shoot for around 15- 20 miles per day to give ample recovery time before the next day. However, if you are planning to get off the trail each night the road crossings make that a little more difficult.

Let me know what your plans are for staying or getting off the trail each night and I can provide some more suggestions.

[rafe]

I'd love to see somebody "run" through Mahoosuc Notch.

[Linesman]

http://mountainpeakfitness.com/blog/...c-traverse-fkt

This might give you some idea of terrain/speed in the whites, where the fastest known time for this particular 29 mile stretch is 7:45. Another FKT, over the 17 mile carter moriah range, stands at 4:45. The stretch with the most FKT action, the presi traverse, has an fkt of around 4:30 for 20 miles. All pretty slow by running standards but still good runs in the sense that strong athletes were moving as fast as they could. Ultimately speed doesn't matter. It's about just putting in your maximum effort.

[jmeyerdo]

Hello all!

Wow - thank you very much for this interesting and helpful feedback! My apologies for my late reply - I missed the information about further replies and after reading all your (different) suggestions it took some time for further research and thinking this project over.
Of course this should be no race for me! My primary goal is to enjoy the nature - in a sportive way. For trailrunning in Yosemite I needed less than half of all the expected hiking times. But I know/understand that the trails in White Mountains are much more technical/more rocks, ...

I think I will start at "Gorham US2" or following your tipps to start at "Maine-New Hampshire State Line" and will see, how fast/far it goes. ;-)
Glencliff could be a good finish. If I will end more north my wife has to travel a little bit longer to collect me up...

Again thank you very much for your suggestions, links, tipps - and interesting own blog stories!

Best regards, keep on hiking/running, Jens

[Slo-go'en]

Besides the difficulty of the trail, the real challenge is in finding places to camp. You can not camp just anywhere. Your best plan is to use the AMC huts. They are expensive and require reservations well in advance (like now for next summer). However, you won't have to carry any actual camping gear and very little food, as they feed you breakfast and dinner. Having a very light load to carry will allow you to travel farther and faster and you don't waste time setting up or breaking down camp or worrying about if there is room for you at a designated, non-reservation site. The only problem is your schedule has to conform to their meal times.

[hikeandbike5]

it's pretty common to run the presidentials in a day. (20ish miles)

[Slo-go'en]

it's pretty common to run the presidentials in a day. (20ish miles)

But that's all they do and not with a full pack.

[hikeandbike5]

But that's all they do and not with a full pack.

correct. remember, this is a thread about trailrunning.

[CalebJ]

True, but it sounds like he's carrying 5 days worth of kit. Mix of jogging/fast backpacking the way I read it.

[jmeyerdo]

True, but it sounds like he's carrying 5 days worth of kit. Mix of jogging/fast backpacking the way I read it.

Should be in between: I will take minimalistic stuff for the 5 days. Will stay in the AMC huts (as suggested by Slo-go'en) and in Inns near the trail later on. So I should be able to run/move fast.

[jmeyerdo]

Hello linesman, redseal, all!

Thanks again for all your helpful suggestions! Very helpful...

I will follow your recommendations and start at Maine-NH-line to see this "magical part" also.
How is terrain from state line to Carter Notch Hut? Very technically or better runnable than in the Whites later?
BR Jens

[Traveler]

I'd love to see somebody "run" through Mahoosuc Notch.

I would pay serious money to see that!

[DavidNH]

the OP here is totally clueless. You are not going to "run" most of the AT in New Hampshire. Way to steep, rocky, rooty whatever. Maybe you could job 10 % but not much more. These are the White Mountains we are talking about.

[jmeyerdo]

Thank you for all your replies - some with detailed information, some with critical feedback.
As far as I understand this is a thread about trailrunning (even not to compare with streetrunning). Maybe it is more speedhiking but I am very mountain experienced and can't believe that there are no meters of trail which are movable in a slow jogging pace. Of course I don't know the area so I am very thankful for all feedback of experienced hikers here (Linesman, redseal).
Best regards, Jens