The 23 most intense hikes in America

[FOTG]

Some familiar trails in our neck of the woods made the list...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/fitness ... creen=true

[chumley]

Surprising to see Weatherford on that list. It's a relatively unpopular trail (vs Humphreys Summit 151). I assume the extra mileage and gain over #151 is what makes it "intense". (Not to mention it says it's 18.4 miles ... and I can't come up with any route that is under 22 miles r/t -- and it should be 23.)

R2R mileage is high by 2-4 miles too.

[big_load]

@chumley
Yes, I thought Weatherford seemed out of place on that list, but not badly so. Some aspects may be tougher if you're doing it as a backpack rather than a dayhike because of the extra weight (including water for both days). Going both up and back on the Weatherford makes a pretty long dayhike.

Of the others on that list, I've hiked most of the Devil's Path in the Catskills (in sections) and much of the Black Mountain Crest in NC, and neither stood out as being "intense", although both tired me out pretty well.

[Jim]

It's a long, smooth, and gentle abandoned road. How tough can it be?

[sneakySASQUATCH]

I'm surprised to see so many hikes under 5,000' of Aeg. Even the Superstition Ridgeline has more Aeg than most of the hikes. Also 30 miles seems arbitrary. It must be HAZ skewing my view of things, but I see a fare share of 30+ mile HAZ posts.

[Alston_Neal]

Meh I guess this was #24 on the list.
http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=33987

[big_load]

It's a long, smooth, and gentle abandoned road. How tough can it be?

There might be trolls.

[ddgrunning]

(Not to mention it says it's 18.4 miles ... and I can't come up with any route that is under 22 miles r/t -- and it should be 23.)

Maybe, they started from the end of Freidlein Prairie Road (or even where it joins the Weatherford Tr). Also, perhaps didn't take into account that the Weatherford officially "ends" at the saddle and it's another mile to the top of Humphreys from there.

I think Weatherford is as challenging as R2R, or close to it, particularly when you add in the effects of altitude.

[Tortoise_Hiker]

That's cool. How many have we done?

[JimmyLyding]

I would put Mount Kimball via Finger Rock in this list. That hike kicked my pumpkin like no other.

[Tough_Boots]

of the few I've done on that list, none probably compare to anything that MtnBart01 has dragged me on

[DarthStiller]

I would say that Paradise to Camp Muir is out of place. I've done that, minus the extra mile or so across the snowfield, but walking on the snow didn't seem all that difficult. All the trails in the Paradise area are very well maintained and not hard to hike at all.

[sidhayes]

The list seems flawed from the start. Intense seems to mean intensity which means high effort, where if something is very long, no one can do high effort (+85% of maximum speed) for a long time. So the real intense hikes in America would need to be short,steep, and uphill.

[SAMBA]

I've got a couple of Tucson hikin' buddies (ex-buddies?) who are apoplectic that T-Hill didn't make the cut.

[sneakySASQUATCH]

@Tough_Boots
I knew there was something missing in my PikesPeak pumpkin loop. I forgot to invite you!

I fail to see how 2 and 3 could be more difficult than the Barr trail topping out below the starting point of that trail in elevation. I found the Barr trail more difficult than the Supes Ridgeline x2 which is similar in AEG despite being in better shape and reasonably acclimated to the elevation at the time I did the hike.

[JasonCleghorn]

The list seems flawed from the start. Intense seems to mean intensity which means high effort, where if something is very long, no one can do high effort (+85% of maximum speed) for a long time. So the real intense hikes in America would need to be short,steep, and uphill.

I was more tired from Siphon Draw to Flatiron than I was Peralta to Charlebois and back despite being 5X as long...

[kingsnake]

Lists are not meant to be definitive, or even factual, but to provoke and generate page views. That's the reason there are so many "listicles" on the the internet, and why many of them have one data point per page (10 item list thus equalling 10 page views.) You even see the same thing happening in print, which is shame ...

[big_load]

@kingsnake
Yes, I got a chuckle over the number of items. Were they shooting for 25, but just couldn't come up with two more? Did they only want 20, but there were three others they just couldn't leave out? Maybe the author has a thing for prime numbers.

[chumley]

@kingsnake
Wait! Are you implying that FOTG originally--and all of us responders in the forum subsequently--are mere victims of the modern phenomenon of clickbait!?

Am I the only one who also fell for the trap to look at the source of this information only to find that it was some incestuous website owned by the same entity also intended to drive traffic and gather personal data on you and your search desires?

[kingsnake]

I'll admit, I clicked.