The section through the gamelands was great. The five miles of road prior to entering the gamelands seemed pretty superfluous -- not sure why that is part of this FKT? It isn’t even part of the MST…? But we did it anyway. We were slightly worried about dogs while running along the road but the only ones we saw were relatively nice and right at the entrance to Holly Shelter. There are very few houses along the road stretch and not many cars.
The gamelands are super flat and have well-packed dirt. Great place to do a gravel ride sometime. You’re on forest roads the whole time that are wide and sunny. Not much in the way of streams to filter water so would recommend packing in all the water you think you’ll need. We left our car at a boat launch area by the start of the route and then Ubered back once we got to the finish. It was a great, challenging day for a couple of runners used to at least a bit of elevation change! Your body is just doing the same motion for hours. The forest gets more beautiful by the end with long stretches of longleaf pine savanna. The earlier portions of the gameland are scrubbier.