It appears that the tracker has become mud-splattered and waterlogged at the base of Stratton Mountain.
Originally Posted by Math Teacher
Hilarious! Hopefully it’ll right itself
Not sure where he stopped, but at 430 he was just north of Spruce Peak shelter, south of 11.
He got in his 50 miles yesterday as indicated by where he is this morning at 8 am. He should finish today a few miles after climbing Killington. It wouldn't surprise me if Karel the Belgian Blur enjoys the muck. He doesn't seem to be fazed by much.
I guess probably Wm B Douglas shelter last night? With an unusual 3am (ish) start!
That post was three weeks ago. Have we decided if he is one yet?
Just Bill said "I expect a boring and steady continuation of metronome footsteps to the finish."
I agree the Karel-tronome is up to finishing the job. I just wonder if he stops at K or will he just get up at 4 and keep on 50-mileing!
Yes & no. On average Karel has continued to move faster than SB, but somewhat less so as time goes on. For the first three 10-day periods Karel was 8.6%, 6.9% and 4.0% (respectively) faster than SB. If this trend continues Karel will finish between 2 and 3 days faster than SB. But, we'll have to see about the White Mtns, of course. Is Karel slowing down or did SB speed up? Karel averaged 52.5, 53.4 and 53.5 miles in each of these 10 day periods (respectively), while SB averaged 47.8, 49.7 and 50.5. So, Karel sped up, but SB sped up more! [Caveat to all this being that they weren't on exactly the same terrain during their respective 10 day intervals - leaving that nuance to OMO!]
That post was three weeks ago. Have we decided if he is one yet?
Probably Karel is a supported mutant, and SB is a self-supported mutant.
Maybe the tracker was right all along, and he stayed at Story Spring with an early finish? I didn't check to see if it had moved at all very late in the evening but I think it was still right around there in the same place since 16:30 at dark. I think there were pretty big storms yesterday afternoon and it may have been safer to just end the day early, and maybe he got up super early this morning? It doesn't matter that much except for statistics of daily mileage.
The new tracker seems to work better than the old one, except that the new one seems to do a worse job of filling in the buffered points. Anyway, yes, he was either at Story Spr or Douglas last night. Douglas gives him his usual 50+. Tracking resumed once he got above Manchester Center early this morning. From Douglas to US4 is 56 miles, which is what he'll have to do to avoid another night in a shelter.
Looks to be stopped at a minor road crossing (Upper Cold River Rd) south of Killington. I think he just used a little of his buffer yesterday to stop early with a thunderstorm at Story Spr, 41 miles, and has done 55 from there today. Stayed safe and maybe lost 6 miles of his buffer to Stringbean on this section--no big deal. Possibly not done for the day but it's been over 90 minutes there now.
A friend of mine who's thru hiking says "He just passed us on Killington." I'm not sure if "on Killington" is anything past VT103 which means tracker could be right, or if he's actually further along and near the top. She says "he looks okay". First report of anything less than "strong" or "great", but toward the end of day 32 I guess he's entitled to be just only okay! He did have someone with him. I don't want to push her too much for info as she probably has other stuff to catch up on at the end of her day. And not that I think this is all anything but totally legit, but it is nice to get another report of a sighting on trail.
What? No, the tracker shows him going more than an hour past Story Spring. There's no way he'd have turned back to that shelter. He made it to Stratton Pond Shelter at a minimum. Great to learn of a sighting today! I wouldn't see him stopping early today unless the weather really went to ****. At 4:20pm he had <20km to the highway. I wonder if he'll push a little late to get a shower!?
OK, I haven't looked hard enough at the tool to see anything but his last reported location so I can't see where I was looking yesterday early evening when he appeared to be stopped. I thought what I saw was very near Story Spring but I could be wrong, and like I said it could've updated later in the evening. If you saw something else that's probably right.
Karel got in another 50 miles yesterday and the extended weather forecast is good other than maybe a dismal day on Wednesday when he will most likely traverse the Presidentials.
The Belgian Blur is flying today. He might be through Mahoosuc Notch by tomorrow morning.
Oh, he's definitely a mutant in my book! The sheer number of 50+ MPD boggles my mind... no matter how he finishes out thru NH/ME.That post was three weeks ago. Have we decided if he is one yet?
hmmm, not so sure about that. These next couple of days will be interesting to watch.
To get his 50+ he'll need to get past Hanover tonight. Another 50 after that will put him over Moosilauke tomorrow night!
Now you are talking. My choice to celebrate this amazing feet.....err feat is: "Cuvee Van de Keizer - Goulden Carolus - exceptional dark ale, ages well, developing a refined complexity amid intense aromas". Given this Karel's herculean efforts I think hoisting this brew in his honor is befitting his incredible accomplishments. I'll let mine age a bit more until the deed is done.
Furlough
"Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen." Louis L’Amour
Well, Karel did not tarry in Hanover.
He sure has a penchant for stopping places with no cell coverage... I'm guessing Hanover Ctr Rd / Etna, + or -. That'd be 52.7 for the day. Yawn....
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