Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

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Captain Nowhere
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Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by Captain Nowhere »

Looking for some advice from those of you who are ultra runners, through hikers, and anyone who has hiked or ran Nolan's 14.

I am planning on doing Nolan's 14 (or Slow-lan's 14, as it were) via a solo ultralight through-hike over the course of 5 to 7 days. I have yet to do any of the Sawatch Range, and rather than monotonously picking them off over the course of who knows how long I would like to challenge myself and go for it all in a solo thru-hike push. I'm gonna list my questions first before going into what I have researched this far so I don't lose those of you who might feel inclined to scroll past a wall of text.

TL;DR:
1:What is the best way I can train for a strenuous thru hike aside from getting lots of big high-altitude hikes? (And to be clear I do not intend to even jog for one second on this hike or in preparation for it.)

2: What are some signs of overuse injuries, and how can I be sure to avoid them both while training and on the hike?

3: Do you have any suggestions for some of the nuances involved in the typical route, including whether north-south or south-north have their own pros and cons?

4:Before I spend a lot of time being sure I get all the USGS quad maps to cover the route, does anyone have a quick list of which areas I'll need or the easiest way to figure it out myself?

5: Should I alter my diet prior to the hike in order to prepare in any way? (I typically stay on keto except for the night before and during any considerably big climbs)

6: Anything else I'm missing that I haven't mentioned or thought about?

I have done a considerable amount of research on the route, including pacing out the days for the quickest I could realistically do it, how to space it out longer in case of weather or exhaustion, and noted all of my potential bail out options. I began piecing it together south-north, and then found other beta that describes it north to south. I recall plenty of 3rd class ridge downclimbs early on when looking at the South/north route, so I'm wondering whether it would be better to downclimb class 3 stuff early on, or upclimb it towards the end when I may be lower on fuel in the tanks. (probably a matter of personal preference but still curious) I've definitely got more research and critical thinking to do on the route I take, but I was hoping for any insight possible.

I intend to draw my own .gpx lines to be sure I'm sticking to my route, and will have the ability to keep my inReach and phone charged throughout. However, I would never rely entirely on technology for a multi-day off route trek like this, so I'm hoping someone has a quick list of the USGS Quad area maps I'll need for the Sawatch range. *fingers crossed* I'm very familiar with creating my own lines and routefinding off-route in our San Juan kitty litter and scree piles, so I have no hesitations whatsoever in my ability to navigate off-route to piece the 14 peaks together.

I have my 36L pack dialed to the point of having all my amenities loaded with ample room for my extra layers and the amount of food I need for up to a week. It comes out to about 22ish pounds with three liters of water but none of the food and layers, so I figure it'll be around 30 lbs max at the start. I have been doing all of my big day-hikes with everything (and a little non-essential extra weight) in this pack to get the feel for doing long days with it, and it's feeling great. When my legs get really warm it almost feels like there's no weight pack at all, I love it.

Since I'm furloughed all summer I've been cranking out hikes & climbs around Telluride and summiting 14ers whenever the opportunity arises. I'm very fortunate to have access to high altitude hiking whenever I want. I'm no stranger to a ridiculously long day in the mountains, but have never done anything near this pace on a multi-day trek. As soon as I decided that I wanted to do this route, I figured I needed to push harder by doing big hikes in succession in order to simulate the the back to back nature of thru-hiking. The last one I did about 6 miles for a full moon hike, then got home, slept maybe 3 hours, and woke up to do another 14 miles pushing myself to keep a much quicker pace than my normal leisurely saunter. It was this quick back to back that got me tight in some obscure places and made me realize I need to do more than just constantly hiking to set myself up for success.

I've been trying to do my best keeping up with my stretching, but I'm wondering if there are some particularly useful stretches to focus on, or any free yoga instruction videos geared towards high intensity endurance athletes. I'm extremely impatient when I stretch on my own so actual yoga sessions have been really useful in slowing down me down to get the full benefits of the stretch.

Same question stands for muscular and cardio conditioning: what are the areas of the body or excercises I should be focusing on as to prevent any overuse injuries, and what are some good exercises to hit these zones at home without much more than maybe a couple dumbells? I wanna get some kind of isometric/body weight training regimen around the house for rest days or days I'm only doing smaller hikes.

If you've read this far, thank you for your time. I just want to be sure I set myself up for success and enjoy the challenge of this hike, so any insights you might provide me are extremely appreciated.
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by justiner »

I think weighted carries are the best thing - just hike with a load in your pack. Elevation gained per day will be your limitation I would think - so find out what it may be. A moderate/advanced hiker with a UL pack could be around 5-7k' elevation gain/day. Flat running mileage that you can do will mean very little when trying to figure out what you can do on Slowlans. The most direct Nolans route makes for pretty terrible backpacking terrain, but better footing can be had if you don't mind more mileage. 5-7 days may be on the more aggressive side for finishing for some.

I've been working on my beta for a Slowlans, here:

https://justinsimoni.com/routes/backpac ... tch-14ers/

"Additional Resources" has links to Peter's and Mike's trip reports of backpacking, rather than challenging/racing the Nolan's route:

https://justinsimoni.com/routes/backpac ... resources/
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by Captain Nowhere »

justiner wrote: Sun Jul 05, 2020 10:55 pm I think weighted carries are the best thing - just hike with a load in your pack. Elevation gained per day will be your limitation I would think - so find out what it may be. A moderate/advanced hiker with a UL pack could be around 5-7k' elevation gain/day. Flat running mileage that you can do will mean very little when trying to figure out what you can do on Slowlans. The most direct Nolans route makes for pretty terrible backpacking terrain, but better footing can be had if you don't mind more mileage. 5-7 days may be on the more aggressive side for finishing for some.

I've been working on my beta for a Slowlans, here:

https://justinsimoni.com/routes/backpac ... tch-14ers/

"Additional Resources" has links to Peter's and Mike's trip reports of backpacking, rather than challenging/racing the Nolan's route:

https://justinsimoni.com/routes/backpac ... resources/
Oh hey! I actually started my research with your beta before until the trail went cold, I appreciate the effort so far! Fortunately nothing I hike is flat mileage, but I do recognize that I need to make a point to continue increasing the elevation gain per mile as I train. The way I have it the 5 day route divided allows me to split some of the days into two to make it 6 days with a couple easier days sprinkled in, or even 7 for a much less intense week. I'm hoping if I truly train for this for the next month and a half, and find a nice late summer high pressure system window, I could truly succeed in the 5 day goal I've set. Regardless, I will be bringing 7 days worth of food to make sure I don't have to bail if I can't keep up the pace. Here's what I'm thinking (very rough estimations based on your beta and drawing gpx lines myself after I ran out of beta):

5 day plan
Day 1: +8000 -6800 ~17mi
Angel of Shavano, Tabeuache, down to browns creek and up Antero, Drop off Antero as far as I can

Day 2: +11000 -9400 ~22mi (could be divided into 2 easy days)
Princeton, drop NE ridge to CO trail, join Mt. Yale E ridge, descend to cottonwood creek

Day 3: +9800 -7900 ~16mi (can be divided into 2 easy days)
West ridge or S slope up Columbia, traverse to harvard, down NW ridge, up gully to oxford/belford/missouri combo, descend to colony lake

Day 4: +6500 -7000 ~20 miles (could be divided but the elevation gain seems extremely doable compared to the last 2)
Climb Huron, descend to N fork clear creek, climb La Plata, descend to lake creek

Day 5: +8000 -9000 ~20.5 miles (I reallllly wouldn't want to have to split this one up since it's mostly just highway between them)
Ascend Elbert via echo canyon -> bull hill, descend to north halfmoon creek TH, ascend massive from S (did I just mean "the south?"), descend to fish hatchery

My full ultralight pack already feels no heavier to me than my normal day pack (lighter in fact), and I've been training with it off route in the super loose San Juans, so I'm not overly concerned with the poor footing Nolan's direct lines may create. Ultimately I'm prepared to recognize my over ambition and spread the peaks out where needed due to weather, opting for some of the less steep Slow-lans variations, or even just my own physical limitations. Going to be sure to have those longer/easier variations on the ready if any direct slopes look annoyingly arduous. However, I'm pretty stubborn once I set my mind on something so I'm going to keep training with the ambitious 5 day goal in mind. I know I could do any of these 5 days by themselves now, but it's the rapid succession that I'm worried about wearing me down physically beyond basic muscle fatigue.

For example, I've done Pikes Peak via Barr trail in one trip from 11pm to like 3 pm the next day (upon summitting for sunrise I found out I couldn't buy a cog rail ticket down ](*,) ), so I know for a fact I'm capable of 20+ mile 7k+ days while tired. Additionally, me and a friend pulled off Willow Lake to Cottonwood Lake in a through hike/traverse over KC, Challenger, Crestone Peak (over bears playground then up SW Couloir), and Crestone Needle (via the traverse) all with our ultralight setups on our backs, so I'm also comfortable over varying technical terrain with full packs. I really believe I have what it takes to crush this out in 5 days if I put my mind to it.
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by GreenHorn »

Sounds like a great time - best of luck to you. I have a few morsels for you... Each direction has pros and cons as you said. Princeton is the monster of the route, and the day you plan Princeton and Yale will likely be your longest day. I think the route can be done with very little class 3. The S-N approach on Princeton S ridge might be the most precarious spot on the route if you're concerned with that sort of thing. Just check out trip reports so your prepared for it. If you're a paper map guy (as I am) check out the Nat Geo Trails Illustrated maps. You will only need 4, as opposed to many more USGS quads. They don't have as much detail but they are adequate.


https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/myphotos ... cnum=21562
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by Cereal »

I've been looking at doing the same thing: Slow-lan's in 5 days / 120 hours.... Your five-day plan looks nearly identical to what I've been thinking. Biggest question marks for me are the camping locations (near water source).
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by justiner »

Sure, I think 5 days is realistic for a very, very fit person - and for someone with thru-hiking experience; I'm not sure I'd suggest it for a first backpacking/fastpacking trip. Just be real with the elevation numbers - mileage can almost be ignored (but just remember, any route you take off the "main" Nolans route adds mileage), or at least seen as less of a priority when it comes to assessing if you have the fitness.

But, the elevation gain of ~44,000' has to be contended with - that's 1 1/2 Everests. No one like Skurka would ever design a high route with that much elevation gain - even the Roper's Sierra High Route has less elevation gain/mile. I know it's tempting to think that somehow the route is not as hard as it seems, since it's going down in 41 hours, but it's going down in 41 hours by a career ultrarunner who isn't sleeping, and eats elevation for breakfast. Consider looking at the FKT's for the JMT/Sierra High Route, then seeing what UL backpackers do these same routes in to get a barometer reading of time to finish.

Just pay mind to the weather and don't try to push to go up and over a summit if things look nasty. May be best to retreat backwards and wait out the storm or take a detour and miss the peak. Your timeline can get all messed up if the peaks you wanna do that day just can't be accessed, so be flexible! And enjoy the chaos.
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by Captain Nowhere »

GreenHorn wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:05 am Sounds like a great time - best of luck to you. I have a few morsels for you... Each direction has pros and cons as you said. Princeton is the monster of the route, and the day you plan Princeton and Yale will likely be your longest day. I think the route can be done with very little class 3. The S-N approach on Princeton S ridge might be the most precarious spot on the route if you're concerned with that sort of thing. Just check out trip reports so your prepared for it. If you're a paper map guy (as I am) check out the Nat Geo Trails Illustrated maps. You will only need 4, as opposed to many more USGS quads. They don't have as much detail but they are adequate.

https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/myphotos ... cnum=21562
If I split any days into two it will most likely be the princeton/Yale day. I'm about to dive back in to micro planning each section. Thank you for the pointers and the map tips. In searching through the USGS quads I immediately started to get annoyed because most of the peaks fall on the edge of the quadrants and the cost for getting a comprehensive map collection would have become very expensive very fast.
Cereal wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:54 am I've been looking at doing the same thing: Slow-lan's in 5 days / 120 hours.... Your five-day plan looks nearly identical to what I've been thinking. Biggest question marks for me are the camping locations (near water source).
I was just assuming I would bivy in some trees near creeks in the valleys between peaks. I'm planning on doing a lot more research on the these creeks/drainages rather than just assume they're all good.
justiner wrote: Mon Jul 06, 2020 11:30 am Sure, I think 5 days is realistic for a very, very fit person - and for someone with thru-hiking experience; I'm not sure I'd suggest it for a first backpacking/fastpacking trip. Just be real with the elevation numbers - mileage can almost be ignored (but just remember, any route you take off the "main" Nolans route adds mileage), or at least seen as less of a priority when it comes to assessing if you have the fitness.

But, the elevation gain of ~44,000' has to be contended with - that's 1 1/2 Everests. No one like Skurka would ever design a high route with that much elevation gain - even the Roper's Sierra High Route has less elevation gain/mile. I know it's tempting to think that somehow the route is not as hard as it seems, since it's going down in 41 hours, but it's going down in 41 hours by a career ultrarunner who isn't sleeping, and eats elevation for breakfast. Consider looking at the FKT's for the JMT/Sierra High Route, then seeing what UL backpackers do these same routes in to get a barometer reading of time to finish.

Just pay mind to the weather and don't try to push to go up and over a summit if things look nasty. May be best to retreat backwards and wait out the storm or take a detour and miss the peak. Your timeline can get all messed up if the peaks you wanna do that day just can't be accessed, so be flexible! And enjoy the chaos.
I appreciate you keeping a realistic perspective on this all. After the initial ambition died down I started thinking it would be better to plan on taking 7 days and if the day is nice and the body's feeling good, then decide on the fly to push further. It's starting to look like this might happen early September, so hopefully weather won't be a major variable in altering the plan.
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by 719BR »

Captain Nowhere wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 5:46 pm In searching through the USGS quads I immediately started to get annoyed because most of the peaks fall on the edge of the quadrants and the cost for getting a comprehensive map collection would have become very expensive very fast.
Check out https://mytopo.com/

Custom printed printed topos at a very reasonable price. You get to set the boundaries, scale, etc. So no more super annoying peak on the edge of one map with trail on another. I have used them a number of times, including creating my own custom map set for an extended Sierra cross-country jaunt, and am very pleased with the product.
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by justiner »

You can make a custom PDF of any part of USGS map in Caltopo, then just take it to Fedex (or print at home)
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by 719BR »

justiner wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 8:34 pm You can make a custom PDF of any part of USGS map in Caltopo, then just take it to Fedex (or print at home)
You have a printer that prints 24x36?
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by justiner »

Play around with caltopo - you can print on a reg. sized sheet of paper, tiled however you'd like (and overlap them). Then, just cut the margins, and stick the pieces of paper in a ziplock bag and take those hiking.

Makes checking things on a map easy when on route. I've attached a rough example below. You can also print out an overview map that can show what those other sheets you printed are located. Considering how many topo maps you would need to buy, and how much of the area would actually be served by them on a route like Slowlans, this is the way to go, for sure.

I haven't played around with it much, but Caltopo has a phone app now, so you can view your saved maps there - the same ones you may have printed out. Haven't played around with the offline capabilities, but you can always export everything out of a caltopo map, and import that into Gaia, which has offline stuff up the wazoo.
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Re: Thru-hiking Nolan's 14 (Slow-lans): looking for advice on preparation!

Post by Captain Nowhere »

Welp, I appreciate all the advice from everyone! I spent the last 8 weeks training specifically for this and it looks like I'll be embarking tomorrow morning with a goal of 7 days and 6 nights. I"ll be taking less time if possible but I have a feeling the snow will be slowing me down a bit on the off-trail portions. For that exact reason I am opting to take some of the longer work-arounds for the sake of using established trails.

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