Mohawk/AT loop (CT)

[sgregor249]

Yesterday, I ran a loop consisting of the Mohawk trail and Appalachian trail. This is a pretty obvious route as both ends of the Mohawk trail connect with the Appalachian trail. In fact, the Mohawk trail used to be part of the Appalachian trail before the Appalachian trail was moved. After the Appalachian trail was re-routed, the Mohawk trail became part of the Connecticut forest and parks association's blue blazed trail system.

I started at the northern junction of the Mohawk/AT since it's on a road and I could park my car there. I took the Mohawk south and hit the AT intersection in 5:27:12. I then hopped on the AT and headed north and reached the northern junction again in 8:22:41.

The route is about 35.7mi and has about 8500ft of climb per my suunto ambit 3 peak watch.

Here's my data. My strava overstates the climb.
www.strava.com/activities/1085188585
www.movescount.com/moves/move166491084

[rickotoole]

Scott, that is a great run. Congrats on setting the initial time.
As you and others have said, this is an obvious and the legit loop of two challenging trails. As such, I've also had my eye on it for a while.
The logistics of it being a loop make it so desirable. But that raises the questions of where to start and which direction to run. You at least set that standard by starting at the north end and running clockwise.
It will be great to see others take a crack at this.
And I'm curious to see how a counterclockwise route would compare.

[ryanwilliams]

Awesome route Scott. I've been eyeing this for a while (I grew up in northwest CT and went to Housy, the high school where you started). I hope to try the run sometime in October, though I don't know if I'll officially be going to beat 8:22.

I think starting at the high school and going clockwise is a pretty obvious way to go about it. The other option would be starting at Breadloaf Mt. off of Route 7. They both would work fine.

I also want to point out a thread I started regarding a Mohawk Trail FKT, which as far as I can tell you have it now at 5:27:12. I'll make a post in there about that. The Mohawk is a great route in its own right.