On July 16, 2021 Duane Konyn and myself (Brandon Williams) completed the unsupported Fastest Known Time on the 27-mile Strawberry Mountain Wilderness Traverse in 8 hours 38 minutes and 6 seconds. Duane picked this route as a tune up for the Bigfoot 200 Mile Endurance Run and since I had never been to the Strawberry Range before, I was easily convinced to join. We had considered combining this route along with a variation of the Strawberry loop as a multi-day fastpacking trip, but Duane had a better idea. He proposed we do the routes on separate, back-to-back days and setup camp at Strawberry Campground to maximize recovery and enjoy the soothing sounds of Strawberry Creek.
We made our traverse from West to East, starting at Canyon Mountain Trailhead and ending at Strawberry Campground, along with the mandatory summit of Strawberry Mountain on the way. My wife and son, Jaime and Josh, drove us to the start after an early rise at camp. We started a little after 6 AM and decided to "take it easy" which turned out to mean "push a little bit the whole way". There have been several burns in this area, and it is exposed but thankfully there was plenty of water. The trail started out in pretty good shape but became less maintained after passing Canyon Mountain. There were downed trees but nothing too difficult to navigate. We made our way over to the Pine Creek trail and then descended down to Indian Creek for one last fill up before climbing Strawberry Mountain. From there it was a fun descent down to Strawberry Campground as we passed by Strawberry Falls and Strawberry Lake.