08/22/2026
The 27-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail from Franconia Notch to Crawford Notch has about 8,800 feet of climbing and descent. Thruhikers generally hike it in one to two overnights.
In 2018, one ambitious thruhiker convinced us to slackpack him over this section in a single day, and he succeeded. Since then, only two other groups of thruhikers has ever attempted or completed this feat while staying with us—Ducky, Ghost, and Showtime in 2021, and Jimbo Poppins, Jammies, Alpaca, and Bucko in 2025. This is probably one of the most demanding road-to-road sections of the entire Appalachian Trail ever to be attempted by a current thruhiker in a single day. We do not encourage/recommend it to anyone.
This past Wednesday, Copperhead and Dipper, both trail runners training for a marathon after their thruhike, decided to go for it.
After a 5:45 a.m. drop-off at Crawford Notch, Copperhead and Dipper spent fifteen and a half hours traversing this incredible stretch, finishing at the Flume Visitor Center just before 10 p.m. When they pulled back into the hostel, a crowd of hikers was waiting in the parking lot, cheering in the dark. It was a moment.
The two described their hike as profound and unforgettable. They reconnected with fellow thruhikers they hadn’t seen in a long time, and proved something to themselves too; just how much grit and endurance they had in them to do very, very hard things.
Huge congratulations to Copperhead and Dipper. They will forever live on our wall as part of the 302 single-day Hall of Fame.
