Pemi Loop. Anyone up for a sufferfest?

[glowingrock]

37 year old guy seeking hiking partner to complete the Pemi (Pemigewasset) Loop in one day on either August 25th, 26th, or 27th. I will be out in New Hampshire with my wife and two little kids during that time. My wife suggested I get away for a day alone to do a big hike. For safety and boredom reasons, I?d prefer to hike with someone else.

THE TRAIL: This Pemi Loop is rated America?s 2nd Hardest Dayhike by Backpacker magazine. It is 32 miles long with 18,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. The hike summits eight 4,000 footers but I may want to add two more by hiking an extra 2 miles depending on how we feel and the weather.

ABOUT ME: I have done a number long one day hikes: the Timberline Trail around Mt. Hood (rated America?s 1st hardest dayhike), the entire Coastal Trail at Lake Superior Provincial Park (rated a 5-7 day backpacking trip, took us 28 straight hours), Lake Michigan to Lake Superior in one day (53 miles), and the Lakeshore Trail at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (42.4 miles). I?m in decent shape but nothing spectacular (Example: I jumped on my mountain bike a couple of Saturday?s ago and rode 41 miles in 2 ? hours and didn?t feel bad the next day.) Most people say I hike fast but there are people I can?t keep up with. On the Lakeshore Trail we averaged 3 m.p.h. including breaks over the whole 42.4 miles. On the other hikes mentioned above, my average speed was slower (2 to 2.5 m.p.h. over the course of 22 hours or more. This is really dependent on the terrain.) To read some short write ups about some of these hikes go to my website: www.roykranz.com. There are links at the bottom of the home page. There is also a link to my videos page. Those are all videos of hiking trips I?ve been on. I?m an optimist. I keep a positive attitude. I?m able to adapt when necessary. I?m fun to be around. I?m mentally tough. And I?m willing to do some suffering to reach my goal. And I?m a federal prosecutor so you can trust me.

Here?s a couple of write ups I found on the internet about the Pemi Loop.

Trip report at: http://danpye.blogspot.com/2007/11/pemi-loop.html

info: http://www.davidalbeck.com/hiking/pemiloop.html

If you think you might be interested in joining me on the Pemi Loop in August either reply here or email me at roykranz at (use the @ symbol) gmail.com

[claaky23]

I am pretty certain you'll be able to find someone interested in doing the Pemi with you on this forum, and I would guess that most here are very familiar with the trails around the wilderness.

That being said, I think that when spring and summer roll around and this forum fills back up, there will be a lot of experienced NH hikers arguing against the Pemi-loop being the hardest day hike in the area.

If it were me, and I was here for a week, I would definitely attempt a Presi Traverse instead. Elevation gain is about the same, distance is less, but pain factor hiking in the Presidentials is devastating compared to the smooth trails of the Pemi, making up for the shorter distance.

Additionally, Nearly the entire Presidential range is above treeline,
while only a small portion of the Pemi is exposed. The descent from S. Twin is pretty boring and feels long(although the view from guyot is nice). I have also heard that the lincoln woods trail feels pretty long.

If you do decide to do the Pemi-loop, North twin is definitely a short trek from S twin, but Zealand is a very unremarkable summit, so I'm not sure that would be worth it.


Others with more experience than me will probably chime in here though.

[rockin rex]

The loop can be done in one day but you will end at Lincoln Woods in the dark. I set out to do the loop in one day but when I arrived at Mount Garfield I realized I would be doing Franconia ridge by head lamp, solo. As much as I wanted to complete the loop in one day I broke out the sleeping bag and spent the night on the summit of Garfield. This is a very difficult loop to do in one day but if you don't mind hiking by head lamp it can be done with no problem. I started from Lincoln Woods and went from the bonds over Franconia ridge and then back to Lincoln Woods. The thing here is you have to figure out where you are most comfortable hiking with head lamp. Also if you figure what time you will pass Galehead hut you might be able to Yogi some free food. This is an awesome loop and one of the favorites of most people on this site. Enjoy and good luck.

[claaky23]

I can probably swing this on Aug 28th if you have no other takers for better dates for you and don't want to attempt on your own. I would like the challenge and think it would be a great time. I have hike about 40% of this on different occasions. Unfortunately I can't make it on a weekday. I can guarentee that if we did it, we would make the loop, as I am relentless, but I am very limited on days I can attempt it. As I will hopefully/probably be done my Presi Traverse by then, I would probably try this next.