We started just after 4 am in Keene. We chose our starting point partially for logistics of getting there in the morning but also because we thought it would be be nice to end with a 10 km descent flying down the hill.
Started with the Hurricane, Big Crow and Baxter loop and then headed counter clockwise around the big loop to the other mountains, finishing at our start point as was done in the previous FKT. While we technically could have left most of our food in Keene while we did the first loop and had the effort still be unsupported, we opted to take it with us so it was either with us or with the bikes throughout the day to keep with the unsupported spirit since leaving it in Keene would have felt like a food drop.
We benefitted from an unseasonably cool day in August, limiting how often we needed to fill water at streams and lakes along the way. We opted to leave the majority of our food with the bikes at the bottom of each mountain to keep our hiking weight low.
The final descent into Keene was an amazing way to end the day but we didn't quite make it before nightfall so we were thankful that we had good bike lights.
There is still plenty of room for improvement here, especially on the bike section. However, don't underestimate the bike portion of this route since it has almost as much elevation gain as the mountain portion.