Can I do the W Trek?

Can I do this trek?

On our last night in the park, Ian and I met a 60+ year old blind man who had just completed the entire W with his wife on a guided tour. He made it all the way to the second of two lookouts in the French Valley (Británico) that adds 3h and 500m to the longest hike day. We are inspired as hell.

Ian and I are pretty average hikers. I am a generally terrible athlete. We are not fast, and we aren’t good at packing as light as possible. Our times were slow relative to those of many others we met, and we didn’t do some of the really insane stuff others did, such as doubling back to see things when the weather got better, or doing the Torres hike twice. The W is HARD, and it pushed the limit of possibility for us, but we did it.

A regular person can do the W if:

• You have the right gear

• You pack light

• You are determined

If you haven’t gone to the gym in a year, you should probably start going for several months before you attempt the W. Leg press, leg curls, leg lift, adductor, abductor, and stair master are the most important exercises for preparation.

People who might want to think twice about the W:

• Knee injury: if you haven’t PTed the crap out of your injury, this trek may break you. Other injuries are cause for thinking twice, too.

• Little kids. Parents should do the thinking twice for them. A 10 year old ran away off the (very well marked) trail and had to be rescued by helicopter on the day we did the Torres hike. He is fine, don't worry.

• Anyone who's never done an intense day hike before. If you want to do the W, find a 6-7+ mile hike that gains ~2000 ft of elevation to see if you’re game for this -- and like it enough to do it for 41 miles over 4 days!