hardcore hiking

So I do a lot of things in the outdoors, but one of my favorites is hiking a nice brutal trail. There is something cathartic about exhausting all your energy until all your stress is no longer important. You end up just living and not thinking about the world around you. The pain you experience the next day is a reminder that you lived well. I'm not bragging too much here, but I've got some considerable experience hiking and therefore it takes quite a bit for a trail to become brutal for me. What makes a trail brutal in my mind? It definitely helps to have steep pitches and no interruptions in the pitch. Rocks help. I was originally going to do this as a top ten list, but hiking is not about competition, so the list is simply in random order.
Skyline Trail in Blue Hills park south of Boston. What, never heard of this trail? The Blue Hills are an urban wonder of rocky hills. The Skyline Trail makes no apologies and tops as many of the summits as possible. Switch backs do not exist. I hiked most of it in one day in a true epic hike but enjoy hiking it whenever possible.
Little Hermit Trail in the Grand Canyon. This trail is concidered the third easiest trail in the park. Calling it easy is just not fair however. It is as remote of a trail as you can get. Rock and dirt slides engulf the trail multiple times leaving you a 6 inch path on loose soil with a very scary slide and a probable fall your your death if you loose your step. Combine with a backpack and the elevation of one of the biggest pits on the earth and you have a wonderfully miserable trail. Garnet Rapids at the bottom are a sweet reward before you get to hike the trail in reverse order back up to the top. Concequently this was my first backpacking trip.
Rea Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon. After spending a summer as a campground ranger in the summer of 2001, I hiked this trail before leaving California. As the name implies, its a loop that goes up one canyon, crossing the crest of the Sierras before coming down another canyon. Most people do this trail in 5 days but I missed the memo and hiked it in four days. Wonderfull Sierra terain at its greatest.
Middle Teton in Grand Teton NP. Its a long story how I got myself involved on this hike, but this "trail" tops the list. Middle Teton is called the "easier" of all the summits, but that does not make it easy. A trail leads you to the basecamp for Grand Teton. The trail officially ends and you take a left towards the saddle between Middle and South Teton. A steep rock stramble to the summit and you are on a small rocky sumit looking up to Grand Teton and down onto South Teton. What makes this adventure the most brutal was the panic attach induced by my fear of heights. I did not hike down from the summit but slid down on my butt, missed the correct path and ended up sliding down a long, dangerous ice feild to safety. The assholes who hiked with me left me behind even though they knew I was panicing. Great story none the less.
Lineville Gorge in North Carolina. Linveville gorge is known as one of the most rugged trails in the east and it deserves the reputation. A steep "V" shaped canyon with a raging creek/river in the middle with no sections of flattness is what makes this trail so burtal. Starting at Lineveille Falls is the easiest way down. For my hike it rained and my glasses got fogged over. Whenever the trail encountered a boulder feild, I lost track of the "trail" and had to refind the trail. I lost and re-found the trail a couple of times. Of cource its hard to get lost in the gorge. You only can hike down gorge or up gorge, there is no where else to go. After camping in one of the rare flat spots, a long and steep hike to the top finnishes this incredible trail.
Rim Trail in North Carolina. While Lineville has the reputation, The Rim trail is a harder hike. Missing the memo again, I hiked a three day loop in two days. Keeping with its name, the Rim Trail follows the ridge of a large bowl, never leaving the top of the jagged ridgeline. You begin wishing for switch backs or at least going around a summit opposed to going directly over the top of it. The second day was much less brutal and very beutifull. A wonderfull waterfall ends an incredible hike.
AT... I spent an entire summer hiking the AT, so of cource I'm going to include sections of the AT.
Mahoosic Notch and Mahoosic Arm. Mahoosic has the reputation of being the hardest mile on the AT. I completely dissagree. It was the most fun mile on the trail. The notch is a steep gorge with house sized boulders lying in all degrees of confusion. You hike over boulders, around boulders, and under them. Very fun. After the notch, you get to hike strait up to the top of a mountain called the Mahoosic Arm. The climb out of the Notch was probably harder than the hike through it.
White Mountains. Even after hiking 1500 miles, we were scared of what we going to encounter. Moosilauke was the first bump and a wonderfull introduction. Kinsman Ridge was not any easier and of course the Presidentials were the crowing jewel of the mountains. Lots of elevation, lots of trail above treeline and no switch backs. As an unfortunate note, the lone death of 2002 happened in the Whites as a nice older gentleman basically let himself succome to hypothermia. I can't immagine a better place to spend all of eternity.
Lehigh Gap, Pa. While a short (comparitively) climb, it was very steep and exposed. It was the only spot where I was scared of falling off the trail. It ends on the baren ridge of Blue Mountain. Blue Mountain is the site of a SuperFund site as a result of zinc smelting. My favorate quote of the entire trail happened in Lehigh Gap by Sunshine. "I told myself I would not cry until I reached the top. When I reached the top, I decided I would either cry or eat my cupcake, so I ate my cupcake".
Mt Katahdin. Mt Katahdin was the hardest mile of the AT. Its the longest and highest (change in elevation) summit on the trail. Bouldering was a neccesary skill in many places, but the reward was the greatest of the trail. After spending over 2000 miles to reach Katahdin, the pain was not noticeable.
So thats it. My list of wonderull hikes that will make you happy to be alive once you take an ibuprophen and a hot shower.