Sixty five hours and 219 miles provided me a lot of time and opportunities to take photos of the Mason Dixon Trail. Here are the ones that didn’t make it into my trip report.
Mason Dixon Trail FKT Report
Seven years of dreaming. Five years of planning. Three failed attempts. One epic journey. The Mason Dixon Trail (MDT) is a 207(ish) mile trail from Whiskey Spring on the Appalachian Trail to Chadds Ford, PA. I always think of it as 10 sections based on the trail maps (2016 version), which is how I’m structuring…
Preview: MDT FKT Attempt IV – A New Hope
A long time ago in a county far, far away. . . Backstory I first heard about the Mason Dixon Trail (MDT) at some point during 2017. I have no recollection of the context, but as soon as I discovered it ended in Chadds Ford about 10 minutes from my house I began thinking about…
Moments in Time: MDT FKT Attempt
In May 2021, I made my first self-supported attempt to run the Mason-Dixon Trail. The hardest section of the trail arrives just east of Shank’s Mare Outfitters. The Four Sisters section is probably the gnarliest section of trail in PA. I was about halfway through the section, 65+ miles into my run, and it was…
DNSing
I’ve decided not to run the Mason Dixon Shortest Day next weekend. This event has been on my calendar since this summer when I ran the MDLD. I thoroughly enjoyed that run and thought I would give it’s shorter brother a go since I had an open spot in my race schedule. Well, the summer…
0-3
Well, my last attempt to run the Mason-Dixon Trail ended the same as my first two: far short of Chadds Ford. This time I only made it to Wrightsville (mile 54) after getting almost halfway and 72 miles in my other two tries. It was pretty amazing how quickly the wheels fell off. I was…
For The Fun
This weekend I’m planning another attempt to run the Mason Dixon Trail. Or walk/crawl/shuffle as the case may be. I made it almost halfway the first time I tried it. And not quite as far the second time. I’m going into this attempt with a slightly different mindset. The first time I was 100% focused…
Mason Dixon Longest Day 100K Race Report
MDLD, as it’s known, is a 100k(ish) fat ass-styled event held the Saturday closest to the longest day of the year. It follows the Mason-Dixon Trail (MDT) from the Rock Run Mill in Susquehanna state park north to the steps of Shank’s Mare Outfitters in Wrightsville, PA. The Trail Dawgs host this “dis-organized” run and…
Failure Sucks
While my second attempt at the Mason-Dixon Trail FKT wasn’t a repeat of my first, it did rhyme. TL;DR – I gashed my shin on a rock after 70 miles and got picked up after 72 miles. It’s difficult to put into words how frustrating this ending was for me. I was in the middle…
If at first you don’t succeed. . .
. . . I guess I might as well try and run the Mason-Dixon Trail again. My first attempt back in May resulted in me quitting after 99 miles. Even though I wasn’t able to finish what I started, I had a blast out on the trail and was completely satisfied with my effort. The…