Warning: I mapped my 3-day loop in the White Mountains backward on purpose and it actually worked
I flipped the route so the big climb hit on day one instead of day three, and somehow my knees felt better at the end than they did on the normal direction last fall, so now I'm wondering if anyone else plans their loops around where they want the hurt to land instead of where the views are.
Did the same thing on a Vermont loop last year, front-loaded the climb so my legs were fresh and the last day was all downhill cruising. Way better than limping through the hard part on tired legs.