The KTA Challenge, A Story of Perseverance, By Tim Bennett

A Legacy Hike Interrupted

In July of 2022, I began an end-to-end hike of the Long Trail in Vermont to celebrate my recent retirement and honor a family legacy. In 1937, my father hiked the Long Trail to celebrate his high school graduation. Armed with his 1937 trail journal, I planned to retrace his steps and compare our journeys. After covering the first 100 miles, my plan was interrupted when I was struck by a car at a dangerous road crossing.

The accident was devastating. My injuries were severe, but after great medical care, I was able to return to the LT a year later. I made it as far as Camel’s Hump before I was forced off the trail again. This time, it was raining. Lots of rain. Catastrophic flooding rains. 

Hikers were asked to come off the trail until damage could be assessed and conditions improved. I went home to regroup and consider whether to continue this hike or listen to what the universe was telling me. Maybe it was time to quit. In addition to the rain, I had struggled with balance and footing after recovering from my injuries. I had fallen several times, narrowly missing additional injury. At my age, I needed to reconsider whether it was smart to pursue this goal and finish the LT.
A Trying Time

In between my aborted attempts to hike the Long Trail, I was home on the couch and hooked up to an IV, just days removed from being in the hospital again. This time it was for an unexpected complication that put my recovery on hold and required additional surgery. It was a trying time. I was physically unable to do the things I love. Several previously planned trips and events had to be cancelled or postponed: fishing, camping, hiking, paddling. For the most part, I accepted that reality with a positive attitude, feeling fortunate to be alive and on the mend.

I’m not sure why, but the one thing that I was most disappointed in missing was the KTA Trail Challenge on my home trails in the Susquehanna River Hills.

The 25K race is a major fundraiser for Keystone Trails Association, an organization devoted to trail stewardship and advocacy in Pennsylvania. Many of my hiking friends participated as runners or volunteers in the event. As photos appeared in my social feeds of friends toughing it out and crossing the finish, I was happy for them, but depressed that I was confined to the couch and unable to join them. In addition to suffering from my injuries and a serious infection, I felt a little sorry for myself and seemed to have a bad case of FOMO when it came to the KTA Challenge.

Challenge Accepted!

Fast forward a year later. Now that I was mostly healed and home from Vermont after the floods, I vowed to join my friends and run the 2023 race. I looked forward to it for months and started trail running again to improve my balance. With several hundred miles of hiking and backpacking under my belt, I felt ready. 

On race day, I started strong - running the flats and hiking the hills. But the humidity was brutal, and I wilted on the Pinnacle, a climb I’ve done several times before with a full backpack while training for the LT. I was well hydrated but still suffered from heat exhaustion. About halfway through the race, I seriously thought about giving up. And I hoped the EMT’s at the aid station wouldn’t recognize my distress and pull me from the race.

But finishing the KTA was a way to acknowledge how far I’ve come in the last year, so I rested up for more than twenty minutes and then set out to finish. My hiking friend Jenny was great company for the second half of the race as we looked out for each other. It wasn’t always pretty, but I persevered and completed the race.

The KTA Challenge became a launching pad for a return to the LT. I was ready to try again before the daylight hours got any shorter in the Fall. Two weeks after the KTA Challenge, I returned to the Long Trail with a better sense of balance and renewed confidence. I just “knew” I would persevere after toughing it out on the KTA. A week later I stood on the Quebec border at Journey’s End having finally completed the Long Trail.

I can’t wait for this year’s KTA. I’ll be ready for the Pinnacle this time!

This time I hoped to be a little better prepared, but that's no guarantee of success. I was in decent backpacking shape during my attempt earlier this summer, and had this been any other trail, it would have been fine. But this was the Long Trail where balance and agility are just as important as having endurance and "trail legs".

I started trail running again in the hopes of improving my balance. At first, I was tentative, afraid of injury. But then I started to find a flow and rhythm. Hesitation was something that plagued me on the LT after coming back from the accident. I would look at an obstacle and freeze, trying to decide the safest way forward. But it's often easier to maintain balance when in constant motion, and trail running forces you to make countless decisions on foot placement in just milliseconds.

For the first time since the accident, it no longer hurt to run. And overall, I felt better. The daily pain I experienced in my knee for over a year finally started to fade. Maybe it was the running, or possibly just some extra time to heal.

- Jim Bennett - 2023 KTA Trail Challenge Finisher 

Learn more about the 2024 KTA Trail Challenge: https://www.kta-hike.org/kta-trail-challenge.html

---