A neighbor buddy of mine was sitting next to me in our local coffeehouse the other day, pondering where and what he could pull off in a two-night epic. He’s a former ultrarunner, with fitness levels most of us will only read about, so his idea of an epic couple of days might be different from yours or mine (definitely different than mine). But he has three-day weekends every week, the lucky SOB, and he was trying to plan a summer of two-day epics.
As we chatted about what he thought he could pull off, we got to wondering: What big 48-hour American adventure epics are the biggest? Not just outrageous feats of human endurance like running 100 miles in one day and riding 100 the next simply for the sake of covering that mileage, but actual point to point achievements, or big rides to reach a bag gable peak along a route that makes some natural sense. Climbing the Grand Teton one day, century ride the next; doing the low-to-high deal cycling through Death Valley then climbing Whitney; running the length of the Tahoe Rim Trail, etc.
Can’t exactly run a multiple choice list of questions here, so you tell us—what’s the most epic two days you can have here in the US?
Top photo: Patrick Hendry
Some memorable 48-hour adventures I’ve done are backpacking the 50-mile Timberline Trail around Mt. Hood in Oregon, and road tripping all over New Mexico for hikes and mountain biking while taking turns driving at night with a buddy.
Def closer to type 1 fun territory, I wonder how many state high points can be grabbed in 48 hours. I’ve done a couple of 3-4 high points in a day trips and they are memorable and the driving was fun. Maybe MA, CT, RI, NY, NJ, PA, MD, DE, WV. Perhaps the whole Southeast or Midwest.
Great suggestion – this dude would def be up for that.
Mt. Marcy (N.Y.) is a 15 mile hike. It’s going to use up a whole day. However, you can drive to the top of Washington (N.H.) and almost to the top of Mansfield (Vt.), so those might be good substitutes.
In Moab: Ride White Rim in a day, then the next day ride The Whole Enchilada from town (no shuttle).
Cycle on trails from Pittsburgh to Washington DC. From Pittsburgh to Cumberland MD it’s the GAP trail, 150 miles. Then you catch the C&O Canal towpath from Cumberland to Washington DC, 185 miles. For a total of 335 miles of pretty, fairly level, mostly groomed trail riding. It’s doable in 40 hours with an overnight in Cumberland, or about 32 hours if you ride straight through without sleeping.
Another Moab Multiverse option: Skin-up/ski-down Mt Tukuhnikivatz (or other peak in the LaSalles- some cool yurts up there to use as launching basecamp) ending at Geyser Pass Winter Trailhead then transitioning to Mtn Bikes for lower half of Whole Enchilada/Upper-Lower Porcupine (pending snow conditions) and then biking from Big Bend to Hittle Bottom put-in for a float (duckie? packraft? raft?) down the Moab Daily section of the Colorado. Alternative version would be to take the Kokopelli Mtn Bike Trail from Hazard County to Dewey Bridge put-in for an extended bike/paddle. I’ve done a three-day version of this a few times but I’m sure some hardos could do it in 48h with an alpine start. Maybe even do it all self-supported.
Colorado’s Four Pass Loop at Maroon Bells backpacking
Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim.
BWCA mix and match: find 2 entry points more than 30 miles apart. Add distance if you think you can*
*Generally, p2p trips have no bailout option. I suggest bringing an extra day or 2 of food.
Pemigawasset Traverse Day one, Presidential Traverse day two- white mountains in New Hampshire
Rae Lakes loop in the Sierras. 40+ miles.
The white mountains traverse, go fast, see if you can do it in 48hrs. If not it will still be an epic 48hours.
Get yourself to Isle Royale National Park by boat or sea plane. Join the wolves and moose as you hike the length of the Island along the Greenstone Ridge Trail. If you can do that in less than 48 hours, rent a kayak and paddle around the island in Lake Superior.
Many great 48 hour adventures around Anchorage, Alaska combining bike, boat, ski, skate and boot.
My fave was flying to Kotzebue on Alaska Airlines then on to Selawik above the Arctic Circle on a Saturday morning in late November to ice skate 100 miles in two days.
We slept out under the stars and aurora borealis one night and in a hotel in Kotzebue the second night.
Pretty much 48 hours from door to door on some of the wildest ice I’ve ever been on, horizontal or vertical.
Fly from Boston to Phoenix Friday evening after work. Rent a car and drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and catch a couple of hours of sleep in the car. Run Rim-Rim-Rim on Saturday, then spend the evening scarfing pizza and get a good nights sleep in the car. Drive back to Phoenix on Sunday and fly back to Boston arriving Sunday evening. Show up to work Monday morning and when your work mates ask you how your weekend was your response is “pretty good, how about yours?
Grand Teton “Picnic”; bike from Jackson to Jenny Lake, swim across, climb the Grand Teton, retrace your steps/ strokes back to Jackson:)
Ride from SF TO the Death Ride in Tahoe, do the Death Ride, then ride back. Or, do the Coast Ride. A friend of mine has done both of these challenges. Here’s his Coast Ride (in “one” day): https://www.strava.com/activities/7219412252
Personal favorite is the triple crown of the wasatch here in Utah: climb Mt. Nebo, Mt. Timpanogos, and Mt. Olympus. Technically the true triple crown requires doing all three in under 36 hours, so maybe you could tack on riding the Wasatch Crest or something similar.
Retrace the Race Across the West route – Oceanside, CA to Durango CO. Around 880 miles, so doing it in 48 hours would need an average of about 20MPH.