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The day started out and remained pretty toasty. Caught some nice breeze in the exposure areas, and higher elevation canopy felt great. Legs felt good off the start but aerobically felt a bit off. By the time I got over the cobbles I felt pretty warmed up and just tried to keep rolling.

Stopped on Bald quick to grab a snack. Kept popping salt stick tabs every 45 mins or so. Running over the exposed false summits toward RPR was just EPIC. I wanted to chill on RPR but forced myself to grab a little food and push on down to the col. I actually expected the climb up Giant to be harder than it was, I think I was getting some mental energy from seeing some other folks climbing as well. Spent a couple minutes drying my phone off and eating on Giant. (Need a dry bag for phone..) The descent seem to go by pretty quick and I didn’t see quite as many people as I expected along the ridge trail. Had one really bad toe stub about 1 mile from the Chapel Pond TH, add it to the bruises lol. 

Made to 73 in 3:25 ish after filtering another 3L for the bladder at Beede brook. The road mile felt really nice after all the muscle demanding movements along the RPR-Giant ridge. Ate another bobo snack early into the climb up to Round Pond and tried to keep a cadence before the big climb up Dix, then that’s where things got tough… filtered another 0.5L on the N Fork Boquet River since I knew there would be no water from the summit of Dix all the way to Slide brook at the bottom of Macomb Slide. 

About half way up Dix started dealing with some cramping in the quads and calves, I didn’t bring enough salts/tailwind to mix in the filtered water at Beede brook so I started to pay the price. It was a long, slow slog up Dix, I think it took over an hour to go from bottom of slide to the top. Once I reached the summit at about 5:56 hours, I grabbed a snack and ripped off my tank top to just bask in the sun and beautiful breeze. I wanted to change socks but my shoes were caked in mud and I didn’t feel like unknotting them, honestly this was the least of my problems. It was just incredible up there and not a soul. 

Trying not to waste too much time, after a few minutes I started moving towards Beckhorn and forgot the trails become unmarked, and accidentally went about 15-20’ off the ridge trail until I noticed I was going away from Hough. The descent, although quite technical seemed to go fairly smooth toward Hough, even saw a friend along the way! The climb up Hough and basically any climb after that was slow, as I was managing cramps and mild nausea, and kicking myself for not having more electrolytes to mix in my water, but atleast I had plenty of water! Got to Hough and had to pee (I had throughout the day but not often) which was a good indicator that I was doing something right.

The climb up S Dix was well appreciated as it was the easiest climb of the day and seemed to go by relatively quickly. Stopped on the summit to scarf some fruit snacks and then made my way to the last climb, up Macomb. Needed many micro breaks going up this climb to just keep things in check, but I knew I was doing okay on time. Took another salt tab and started the descent down Macomb Slide, which was one of the hardest parts of the day, trying to avoid fast twitchy movements and slips that would cause cramping/lock up. Slide Brook was bliss when I got to the bottom, I dunked my head and splashed water over most of my upper body. (I did this at most stream crossings through the day 😌) Some blow down along the Slide Brook herd path, which actually felt great to slow down and scoot over, to give the legs a quick break. Pace definitely wasn’t great going down to Hunter Pass but I was still good on time which kept mental energy up. The last 2 miles on Hunter Pass felt decent over all, even though the mild nausea kept me from jogging some slight uphills I would have liked to otherwise, but mostly maintained a cadence. The last mile my brain was on cloud 9 knowing I could practically smell the Elk Lake TH. 

I met Bec and Forest at the TH and immediately took my vest off and laid on the ground, trying to rid the nauseousness from lack of salts in water. Once we started down Elk Lake rd, about 2 miles in, I had her stop so I could throw up. I think the water with lack of salt really upset my stomach, so I basically puked and dry heaved on the side of the road for 10 minutes. This was exactly what I needed, then I was finally able to keep liquids down. Stopped for a nice dip in the Branch River and then ordered pizza on the way home, which was the only thing that seemed appetizing. 

I chose a spicy day to do this route, and I know if attempted in cooler weather with less sweat loss, it would inevitably be faster. Cheers to a fantastic and painful day in the ADKs!!! 

Nutrition:
4 Bobo snacks
3 fruit snacks
12 scoops tailwind 
7-8L water
8 salt tabs

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Len A

Giant Dix Traverse FKT 🤠

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