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Mary Ellen BaRoss Going Long with Fat Packs When Mats asked me to join him on his 2009 White Mountain Direttissima , I thought, You’ve got to be kidding. Me, hiking 25 miles a day for ten days with an enormously heavy pack? I hike a lot but never entertained the thought of torturing myself with such an epic adventure. Yes, I can do long miles and carry a heavy pack, but could I do both? My pack would get lighter as the days went by, but I was not sure I could make the first day. Would I still be smiling? Would I enjoy testing myself as I have never done before? Would I prove my friends wrong, the ones who would think I was crazy? The only way to answer these questions would be to give it a go. Mats had successfully completed the Direttissima in 2007, so he gave me advice on how to prepare. “Go for a long hike with a fat pack,” he said. “Your body needs to get used to carrying a lot of weight. It’s always good to train.” I agreed, knowing I would never set out on my own with a fat pack just for training. In July I successfully completed the 272-mile Long Trail in nineteen days. I’ve been told that if you can complete it in less than twenty days you are a very strong hiker, so this boosted my confidence. My pack weighed 35 pounds and I averaged about 14 miles per day. I did not take days off, but resupplied my food bag four times. The Direttissima is 245 miles in ten days over the most difficult terrain in New Hampshire, and unsupported—you must carry all the food for the entire trip. Mats assured me that the first three days are the hardest, as the body adjusts; the rest of the trip would be all mental. Three days to get over the hump? I could do that! Little did I know how big the hump was going to be. I organized my food and loaded my pack, which weighed a whopping 53 pounds. Weeks prior to this I had hurt my back and, after wearing the pack around the house, I found myself in a great deal of pain. I could barely go up the stairs! The floodgates opened and the tears were unstoppable. After all this preparation and finally becoming excited about the trip, I was distraught to think that I would not physically be able to do it. Mats suggested that I see his trainer for some sessions on resistance stretching. 249 o d y sse y s To my surprise, after only two sessions I was able to bend and touch my toes again, relatively pain-free! On the Long Trail I had used a pair of Asolos that had ripped out two days before I finished. For this hike, I thought I could wear either old boots or my new trail runners—but then I panicked about my feet. In 2007 I’d had surgery on my right big toe; the doctor removed several bone fragments and bone spurs. Although there was much damage and hardly any cartilage left, he saved the joint. Since then, the keys to keeping my foot happy have been to keep the toe from bending too much and to make sure there’s enough room for my toes to spread out. I had been buying men’s Asolo boots because of the wider toe box, but the store was out of my size. I ended up with women’s boots, the cut slightly narrower. But everything would be fine, I hoped, if I wore a thinner pair of socks. August 13 We were on our way up the Mount Cabot Trail at 6:15. Adrenaline , excitement. Was I the first woman to give this a try? Hiking with my fat pack resulted in a much slower pace than normal and I worried about not being able to keep up. But Mats’s pack weighed 70 pounds and I was thankful that something slowed him down too. Our destination was the Jefferson Campground on Route 2, which was 24 miles away. It was a beautiful day and the miles slipped away to the summit of Cabot, the Terraces, and then the Weeks. As much as I love views and outlooks, there is something to be said about remote, wooded trail. This was my first time hiking...

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