This was my second attempt at an FKT on the trail. The first was in July and went from North to South, this time I attempted it south to north. The first 15 miles are fairly runnable, and, as I'd hoped, I would be able to bank decent times at easy effort on fresh legs. I was as slow as I would have been on the hills, but as I came up the final 500' (over 1.3 miles) ascent before the finish, I remembered on my start last summer "it's a good thing I'm taking this as a downhill at the beginning, instead of an uphill at the end!". It was as bad (and as beautiful) as I had expected, literally crawling up a path next to a waterfall. I encountered very few people south of the Farmington River, but a lot more north of there, as the day wore on. Both Tory Den (at the beginning) and Indian Caves (towards the end) were welcome sights, but down-bouldering on 24 mile legs is not the easiest thing. The northern 10 miles is very muddy this time of year, but that also meant that the streams were running. I left with 3L of water and a filter, and I ended up filtering another liter along the way. In the summer the trails are much drier, but so are the steam beds, and getting water on-trail is a challenge.