On a Mission

 So this is it.  The Lacloche Silhouette Trail is about to finally be conquered.  In all I have made 4 deliberate attempts to complete this ~ 78km loop in Killarney Provincial Park.  For various reasons like illness, weather, and motivation levels, I have never made it around the entire trail.  There remains approximately 15 to 20km of if that I have not seen at all, and it so happens to be the most remote and most rugged portion of the trail.  All previous attempts have been given 4 - 5 days to get done, with some significant time dedicated to 'enjoying the experience'.  In this case, the approach is a 100% focus on making mileage and continuing to walk so long as it's light enough and safe enough to do so.  For those who know me well, you might assume that this mindset is something I opted for, but in fact it is my friend Derek (who just happens to be joining me for this hike) who wants to push the pace and daily mileage and get past our usual daily adventuring limits.  Derek's suggested timeline for this trip: 2-3 days.  I honestly feel we can knock this trail off within this time frame given appropriate attention to details, especially nutrition.

While the past school year hasn't afforded me the time to further my skills and push limits, my last big outing in Gros Morne National Park last August was a giant leap in confidence-building for backcountry travel.  The Gros Morne's 'Long Range Traverse' is a trackless wilderness route on very rugged terrain with ZERO opportunity to bail out.  This has always been a daunting concept for me on past adventures, and likely fed into downsizing of mileage goals on several occasions.  However, being in a true wilderness where the only way out was to finish the route, proved a tremendous motivator.  At the time it became very comfortable as well, allowing for a focus on only one goal, with no distracting possibilities of something easier, shorter, or safer.  So for the sake of hammering through this trip, we're going to set some specific goals to meet along the way: 

1.  no 'in camp' time, just keep walking even if it's slow
2.  make quick work of easy terrain, but keep the pace down to avoid any 'red zone' time

 Hopefully these rules will keep us on trail and making good mileage.  All things being well, you'll see the trip report here in a week!