On the evening of Feb 26, 2018 I established a new FKT for the FNST. Covering the 1103.7 miles of trail northbound in a time of 24 days 11 hours 45 minutes. I began from the Big Cypress Oasis Visitor Center on Feb 2 at 7:00am EST and arrived at Fort Pickens on Feb 26 at 5:45pm CST. I've added one hour to my overall time in order to account for the time zone change.
Along the way I walked to and from my resupply points never riding in a vehicle and followed the official orange-blazed route the entire way. Taking no road detours. This added an additional challenge to the hike having to deal with barriers and on one occasion navigated a very overgrown tidal creek floodplain with deep sucking mud and sharp grasses and thorns where a boardwalk had been destroyed some time before.
In the coming days I will be writing up a more detailed trip report and will include the link here for all those interested. This was an amazing often humbling experience. I now have even more respect for the efforts of those that came before me and wish the best of luck to the guy or gal that follows!
Happy trails,
Daniel Munsell aka Chopsticks