What a beautiful loop! I couldn’t have asked for better weather, not a cloud in the sky so you could see all the peaks. It was warm for September, but there were plenty of shady breaks in the trees on the second half. Water is plentiful, two soft flasks got you through to the next water source anywhere on the trail.
Got started just after sunrise around 6:45am from Deer Park and went counterclockwise since that seems to be the way everyone else goes. I tried to pace myself for the first half and stopped to take way too many photos and videos because it was so gorgeous. I’ve been having some glute/hamstring issues on my left side so I wasn’t totally sure I was going to try for the FKT. Body felt okay enough, so I decided to try and go for it. Hamstring ended up flaring up pretty bad on all the descents. I was hoping to get closer to 10hrs, but that just wasn’t in the cards for me today. I did what I could, and had a wonderful day out there!