In my latest ‘Binge Run’ I cross 2 States in 90F heat and high humidity, Go Fishing for Water, have 7 Heart Attacks with 7 Sisters and learn what its like to not see a single person for 3 days on a trail in the USA.

The NET FKT

For the one year anniversary of me living in the USA I thought I would do something special. On the evening of Wed July 31st I set off at the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire and ‘run home’ along 225 miles of the entire length of the New England Trail unsupported in 5 days. The trail had no official time record on it having existed for 10 years without anyone doing a continuous end to end journey.

This run became a culmination of everything I had learnt the hard way on the trails of ‘The Beast Coast’ as it is known. Steep trails, extreme weather and difficult conditions underfoot combined with very few places for water and resources made this trail one of the most challenging things I’ve ever completed.

During the route I would endure river wade crossings, lonely night sections through dark woods, a spell of tired hallucinations that left me confused as to why I was following ‘blue paint in the woods’ and a constant concern for places for water, power or safe sleep.

What I also got was one of the most challenging adventures of my life and a sense of accomplishment I’ve rarely felt to this level. I met new friends and old and had generosity shown in small and big ways that made the route more wonderful. I slept near castles, swam in lakes to keep cool and slept in a cabin at the top of a mountain for $3. It was an adventure of a lifetime.

I am sure in the future the time I set on the course will be easily beaten, but I would question if anyone would come as close to the overall experience I had that week in August which came to celebrate everything I’ve come to love and respect about the trails of New England.

It was also a mental pivotal moment for me here as I crossed into Connecticut, as I recall this was the first time in my head I referred to Connecticut as ‘home’ and not the England I was born in.

The New England Trail

The New England Trail is now 10 years old. It comprises 4 separate trails combined to traverse 225 miles from the New Hampshire/Massachussets border to Guilford in Connecticut on the coast in Long Island Sound. In essence the route takes in most of the Metacomet Range that runs down through the middle of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The Massachusetts portion of the New England Trail is made up of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail which is 114 miles long. The Metacomet Trail runs for 63 Miles through Connecticut before meeting up with the Mattabesset Trail which donates 33 miles to the ‘NET’. Finally the Menuckatuck Trail completes the last 16 miles to the coastline and the finish of the New England Trail at the coast in Long Island Sound. This gives a total NET traverse from New Hampshire to Long Island Sound of around 225 miles (or 205 to 239 miles depending where and what you read !).

5 Days 4 Trails 3 States

I put a bold target of completing the NET in 5 days. I actually completed the course in 5 days and 19 hours which still meant I averaged more than 40 miles per day. This was some of the most hostile environment I’ve ever moved through with 90F temperatures, very few places to source natural water and constant high humidity which left me with infected skin lesions on my body and even my eyelids because I stayed wet for nearly 6 days solid. The trail is very rocky and I totalled nearly 38,000 ft of ascent on the trail carrying a pack that was close to 18lbs in weight with all the water, food and camping gear I would need to stay on trail.

Physical and Mental Scars

Some sections were overgrown too forcing me to push through them as best I could, which left my arms and legs badly scratched and cut by the end, they actually looked worse than they were, but my body was left with sores and boils in various parts where being constantly wet in the humidity left me no chance to heal. I even had infections on the inside creases of my eyelids when I finished.

From Old Hampshire to New Hampshire and Guildford to Guilford!

I was originally born in Hampshire in England and prior to living in the USA lived just outside Guildford in Surrey in England. The New England trail starts in New Hampshire and finishes on the coast in Connecticut in Guilford so I couldn’t think of anything more fitting.

Over the past year I’ve come to know the wonderful scenery and trails of Connecticut and create an online guide here for all the Blue Blaze Trails. The NET seems like the natural conclusion to my first full year in this beautiful state.

Deep Dark Ancient Woods and High Traprock Ledges

The trail has a huge variety of terrain, from deep ancient woods in Massachusetts to the high traprock ledges on the Metacomet ridge. The trail also traversed swamps and lowlands, whilst avoiding any built up areas. In my first 3 days I saw one person on the trail. As well as beauty the trail has places than mentally nearly broke me.

The Swamp of Despair

In an area I called ‘The Swamp of Despair’ I was so badly attacked by insects I had to crawl into a mesh tent just to spend 5 minutes tending my feet and drinking water without being constantly harassed. The ‘Deep Woods‘ Insect Spray formula guaranteed to keep insects away was next to useless, and I actually wondered how a spray so aggressive that it melts tent fabric can be so useless against insects. On the last night through the woods I finally found a solution and gleefully stood by a huge cobweb on a low tree and watched all the hundreds of ‘No See ‘Ums’ get removed by the cobweb as they orbited past me and hit the spider silk. When I crossed the state lane from Massachusetts into Connecticut I actually chuckled and wondered if I was breaking a state law bringing about 200 insects into the state.

After a few days I smelt so bad the insects orbited me but didn’t bite. I realized that in many ways they were my permanent company on trail. I came to only really notice they were there when bright sunlight shafts or my headtorch exposed them.

A Trail Steeped in History and Legend

I passed a number of exciting historical spots on the trail, including the Horse Caves made famous from Shays Rebellion as well as Will Warrens Den on Rattlesnake Mountain near Pinnacle Rock.

Moving Day and Night

I spent large amounts of the cooler evening moving through the woods, often not sleeping until about 3am, and I would take a nap during the heat of the day between 2 and 4pm as well to try and avoid the crippling heat that sapped my energy levels. There were a few shelters on trail too which I used for shade during the day when napping and as an overnight stay too. The Richardson-Zlogar Cabin on my first night was a highlight. I had the cabin to myself and it only cost $3.

Fundraising for the CFPA

My run was a fundraiser for the Connecticut Parks and Forest Association. The distance in Kilometres is around 300 so I had a fundraising target of $300 for this run. You can click on this link to donate.

Fishing For Water

The height of the summer is a terrible time to be self sufficient on trail. There were sections of 6 to 10 miles where I wasnt confident I could get any decent water and it turned out although there were actually more opportunities than I thought, I still had to work hard for water. In some places where a stream had dried up I would dig down with a rock for as deep as I could and wait while water slowly collected, and on one occasion I left the trail to find a reservoir deep in the night only to despair when I saw that the water was 20 ft down a wall below me with no easy way down.

With a failing torch and severe thirst I used my paracord ( that I use to hang food away from bears when sleeping) and lowered my 3L BeFree Water Bladder down to the reservoir to fill it. I chuckled at how stupid it was that I was fishing for water and how hard it was to full the bladder up.

Seven Sisters and Seven Heart Attacks

The Holyoke Range was nearly my undoing and probably the hardest part of my journey. I hit that ridge in the full heat of the day being exposed on the peaks to the full heat of the sun. The 13 mile ridge offers no opportunity for water except at the visitor centre half way along so I had to carry a lot of very heavy water. I set a new personal worst half marathon time of around 9 hours. When I got halfway to the visitors centre I stopped indoors in the shade, refilled my water and recharged my watch and phone. I commented to the staff that I was glad I had got the hard 7 Sisters Peaks completed and was met with quizzical gazes.

The staff explained that the peaks I had gone up and down to get to the Visitors centre were not the 7 Sisters Peaks and that the harder section was yet to come. The afternoon was a living hell and I arrived at the Summit House around 2pm completely broken from the heat and all the ascents and exposed sun. I drank heavily at the facilities there and pushed on to a cabin near the Connecticut River to sleep in the shade for an hour and get my strength back.

River Wades and Tough Crossings

The route also has a number of tricky areas to traverse. Shortly after the Holyoak Ridge the trail continues over the Connecticut River up and over Mt Tom, except there isn’t a bridge across. This leaves you with a 10 mile busy road dog leg round to the nearest bridge so I decided to use common sense and got my Wife to come and meet me and drive me round that section to drop me on the opposite side of the river.

Previous FKT for Metacomet-Monadnock Trail map here

Help on Trail

With so few opportunities for water and resources I occasionally needed help. Although I was entirely self reliant and slept on trail throughout I had planned to be self reliant, but with the ability to accept help if I needed it or if people wanted to come along for company and there were times when I needed help. I spent an hour on the porch of a house on the trail charging my phone and torch batteries one evening chatting to the welcoming owners when I was low on power, and also happily stopped at a couple of diners or pubs in small towns for a big breakfast or dinner.

My wife helped me with the river crossing at the Connecticut River and I was lucky enough to have a few friends meet me at a few places in Connecticut including Stefan at Ragged Mountain, Joe Laskey and Tobies Tello along the Mattabesset and in the last 24 hours Zak overnight. On the last morning Joe Laskey met me at the start of the Menunckatuck Trail so that we had the novelty of setting a joiny fastest known time on just that trail as no record exists on that section either.

Monday Night is 2 for 1 Hotdog Night

New Guidas Cafe sits on CT66 just after Guiffrida Park and before the TriMountain Section like an Oasis in a desert crossing. I got there with Zak around sunset and was overjoyed at the idea of cool cokes and a big burger. What I was met with was an enormous queue so large I couldn’t get in the door. My heart sank as I thought I wouldn’t get served or have a table. It was a frenzy of people but on closer inspection I noticed most of the tables inside were free…. It was Monday night which is Buy One Hotdog and Get One Hotdog Free night. It was wonderful wonderful chaos and I sat eating with my hands and drinking coke after coke after coke as the Cafe served hundreds of people. They kindly filled all my water bottles up and sent me off into the sunset with a big smile and a full tummy.

Finishing the New England Trail

After finally settling in to some kind of daily 24hr rhythm the adventure was nearly over. I spent the final overnight stint on the Mattabesset passing through the Tri Mountain Area which I knew well from a Fastest Known Time for a team I set with Tobias a few months before. I met a guy called Zak that kept me company for some of the sections and slept out at 2am on the trail for a few hours by a road in the woods within sight of the Soft Tail Cafe and Grille. It was not glamorous but the few hours sleep were well needed.

I woke in the morning at 4.45am to then get to the Bluff Head Car Park to meet Joe Laskey and complete the final part of the NET on the Menunckatuck Trail. As I had got closer to the coast the sea mist had rolled in through the woods and made the sunrise magical there, but a diversion on the route adding a new extra mile or so to the NET meant I got to Joe later than planned.

The final few hours on the Menunckatuck were fun in a painful way. My brain knew I was stopping soon so played every mind game possible to get me to stop early including aching feet, soreness and various pain niggles. A few major falls on steep sections the night before also went against me. Another good friend Alicia met us about half way along the trail for the last 8 miles or so.

Before long I was in Guilford and at the beach. FKTs are not like finishing races, there are no finish signs, medals or cheering crowds. Instead I simply sat down at the waters edge, slightly stunned looking at a sailing boat and finding it hard to think that I had got here under my own steam from the New Hampshire Border. It started to rain and I got in a car, ate chocolate cake and smiled.

I fell asleep about 10 minutes later.

This trail probably took more out of me than I realised at the time. l lost 12lbs of body weight and took a few weeks to recover physically. The summers in New England can be hot and humid and the trail is genuinely has some of the most stunning scenery that New England has to offer. Whilst the remoteness was wonderful it also made getting water a challenge on trail and of all of the adventures I’ve had this may well have been one of the most physically and mentally difficult ones. At many points I actually found my mental and physical breaking points.

The biggest change for me on the trail was the realization of just how much I enjoy New England trails on my own, and the surprising moment when I crossed the border into Connecticut and felt I’d made it ‘home’. Up until then I had felt like an Englishman visiting, but giving so much effort and being rewarded with so much I crossed a simple map border and for the first time genuinely felt that Connecticut was my home, not just a place I lived. I had a deep sense of relief and calm as I crossed into CT, even though I still had another 112 miles to go. This was my back garden…my home turf and I knew it well.

That feeling still hasn’t left me now.

Fastest Known Time New England Trail

I’ve now had the record verified here and through a quirk of the route being made up of other trails I also got the record for the Menunckatuck Trail as well.

Podcast Interview

I’ve now done an interview with the Cultra Podcast here about this run.

Kit and Tactics

I’ve written an extensive blog about the gear and kit I use on these adventures here. I’ve also written a blog about my wild camping equipment and tactics here.

https://newenglandtrail.org/get-on-the-trail/map/net