*"Public Lands Version FKT" I mentioned this on day 4 in the Plott Balsams which is the only point (besides right next to Mt. Mitchell) where private property rights significantly interfere with this trail. A person could easily cut off about 8 hard miles and 5 hours of hiking by either getting the consent of the landowners (which I believe is intentionally hard to find for their convenience) or trespassing near Plott Balsam, neither of which I think is sustainable for the FKT. Seeing how that information is not easily available my path in the Plott Balsams my path consisted of only moving on available public land to keep. While this is a decision I have chosen to make, I would hope that future FKTers follow this public land path instead of relying on a landowner who could inadvertently give one person a 5-hour advantage and not the next.
SB6k day 1
Miles 42.66
It was a good first day of hiking after a terrible night of sleep. I absolutely should’ve brought my 20° bag and spent most of last night shivering in my 40° bag in 18° weather.
The good news is it was easy to wake up and the day was all about three things
One: after Grassy Ridge, bald instead of going back on the ATI whack down the mountain and saved about 3 miles of time which was awesome
Two: at one point during the day, I thought I found a shortcut which after a mile and a half led to a dead end with no trespassing signs and no way for me to cut back to the trail, resulting in me losing my lead
The rest of the day was a fast road and now I’m camped a little less than I wanted to be, but in a place that will not be windy so that I can actually sleep tonight.
Early tomorrow and got to finish my jambalaya before sleeping.
Edit: This Part written after the FKT Attempt
I did not get sleep and that night sucked.......
One thing that I did not expect was how heavy the pack was going to be. Although I didn't realize it until the end of the day, it was biting into my back super hard the entire time. Secondly losing those three miles was something that tortured me for the rest of the trail as whenever I was doing milage math to figure out how much further I would need to go, I would think about the "ghost miles" and be bummed I was three miles further back than I wanted. The biggest mistake I made all trial was going down that valley and losing three miles.
SB6K DAY 2
I think I got 40 miles today but it’s hard to know cause my watch got changed in the middle of the day.
Regardless, I am worn out.
I did the ridge hike with the dogs a couple of weeks ago and thought it was tough in the snow but it turns out it’s just really tough. It caused me to move about 2 miles an hour and that made me walk from pretty much 4 AM to 11 PM to make my mile go , I did not even sit down for 30 minutes
To make matters worse at the end of the day, I was feeling dehydrated and needed water to cook dinner and breakfast, but it took forever to water. That’s why I’m lying down at 11:15 to get up in about four hours. Good night.
Edit: This Part written after the FKT Attempt
Day 2 was the first real peak bagging day and it was harder than I thought it would be. Going up and down and back up was exhausting even though the ascents were only 300 feet max, that trail from Cleo Knob to Mitchell is not something most would do in one day, and that was just my first 5 hours. After Fortunately I could make up miles by hitting the parkway but the first up and down killed me.
Secondly, this is the only day I "might have" trespassed. The entire time I tried to be very respectful of private property rights but when I was bushwacking I came out into a clearing and realized I was in someones yard. So if going the same way over Mitchell swing wider than my path goes.
Sb6k day 3
That was the wettest day of hiking I’ve ever done. Maybe there have been days with more rain, but that was the longest rain. I can remember for a long time. I started wearing my rain jacket at around nine and took it off at around nine. I needed it for about 12 hours today.
And some rains are better than others, today’s rain was so fucking cold. It was crazy. I couldn’t feel my hands under-packed my warmth. I felt it today when I was shivering for hours on end
Regardless, I’m in camp now settled once again the story of this hike. I messed up the first day and every day I’m still behind where I wanna be I’m technically 4 miles behind
Edit: This Part written after the FKT Attempt
If the final day wasn't 51 miles, this would have been the hardest day. Once again I did not pack enough warm clothes and my Gatewood cape, which I LOVE is not the best for a full-day deluge of rain. Secondly, the rain was cold and so it was impossible to get warm the entire day. If I hadn't been going for the FKT I absolutely would have camped because I only hit two mountains and one of the two that day was covered in rain at the top and there were a couple of puddles to my shin. Long story short, bad day
Sb6k day 4
Am I going slow? Idk. All I know is I walked till 11 and it said I only did 40 despite 19 hours on foot. Shit is lame. 5 miles behind goal pace. Will need to get real tomorrow
Also, I threw out most of my dinner because it was gross as hell. I usually cold soak meals and I accidentally cold soaked with off-brand Gatorade.
Lemme tell you Gatorade flavored jambalaya is fucking gross
Edit: This Part written after the FKT Attempt
Day 4 was the nicest day on the trail. I already had a fond vision of the art Loeb trail, Tennant mountain, and that area of trails and once again, it was glorious. This was the only day I hiked in shorts and wasn't cold at all. It did cause me to get scrapes and cuts on my legs, which wasn't great but I was thoroughly enjoying the change from the endless rain of the previous day.
Once again this day fell into the "do hard miles" and then coast on the parkway trend but since the hard miles were so timely, it took me hiking until 11 PM to get to my mileage goal for the trail. This is something that would bite me in the butt the last two days as the exhaustion of waking up early would cause me to sleep in on the next two days.
Sb6k day 5
Started late, and felt grateful. But the sun goes down and so do my powers.
All in all, today pretty much had three parts
Part one was the road walk to Water Rock which went about as you expect. I did make an interesting decision to hike on the MST and bushwhack on public property to cut off about 3 miles and a good amount of unnecessary elevation that I’m proud of.
Part two was the Ridgewalk between Yellow Face and plott balsam. Four mountains in 10 miles besides the descent from Lynn it was a pretty easy hike
Lastly, the final Part consisted of a long road walk that I made it to the end of. It was kind of fun because it was all part of the old MST, which it no longer routes. However, in two of my failures I hiked this and so it was fun doing it in reverse, especially Round Bottom Road which is just a 9-mile road in the Smokies and has been closed all three times I’ve walked it
Go to finish tomorrow and do it in under six days. That will be very difficult but I think I can. I decided to sleep and lay down at 10:15 so that I can get started early tomorrow instead of needing to sleep then
Edit: This Part written after the FKT Attempt
I focus on this day because of the problem in private land ownership and SB6k. There is a path up to Plott Balsam that would have saved around 6 miles, however, I did not try to pursue that path because 1. I am lazy and 2. it really doesn't make the FKT fair if it relies on the OK of a private landowner who not everyone knows. If you look at the path I took I followed the parkway and then the MST, before bushwacking up to near mt Lynn Lowery, cutting off about 2 miles of waterrock and I did this because that was on public land. Unfortunately, we need to do the trail this way, but for the sake of fairness I would like my FKT to be more of an "acceptable public lands version of FKT SB6K" instead of the "fastest version FKT"
SB6K day six
That was a hard day of hiking around a three I was thinking besides the rain how nice this trip has been. Then sometime on day five, I noticed a twinge on the muscle that lifts my foot up on my right foot. As the day progressed the pain in that muscle varied anywhere between a four to One but I always felt it all day.
This did not make the final day easier being that it was 50 miles with a lot of off-trail bushwhacking. Add onto that the fact that for some reason, I had no hookah at the start of the day and woke up and started hiking at six. It made a very difficult day.
I was aiming for a sub-six-day hike and when the sun I realized that wasn’t going to happen because of the slowness of the off Trail, bushwhacking, muscle pain, and tiredness during the night.
I planned on hiking through the night, but as always, I got tired at about 10 to the point I couldn’t concentrate, so I took a dirt nap just in my quilt on the ground for an hour. That got me 4 miles before I took another 20-minute nap. I probably slept for about two hours between random points where I just decided to collapse and sleep on the side of this trail.
However, I did finish and I’m including this on day six even though I finished technically on day seven because the final day felt like one long 26-hour day of hiking.
All right, fuck that was tough
Edit: This Part written after the FKT Attempt
Honestly, I still don't exactly know how I gutted out that final day. As the sun set and I knew I was going to hike for around 8 more hours minimum and more if I took any more "naps" I knew it was going to be tough. After the fact, I am sure I have Anterior Tibia Tendonitis and my right leg is much more swollen than my left because of all the pain from the day. If there had been a day 7 or 8 I might have dropped out of the FKT because of the pain, so I am lucky it decided to get tough when It did. I honestly thought that until this day, the trip had been pretty easy, but 21 hour day, with no sleep, a throbbing leg, and little water will make a hard day MUCH HARDER