We started the Solitude Loop clockwise from Coffeen Park at 5:29 am on Saturday, July 27th. The morning was a bit smoky but not bad enough to impair views or breathing. We easily made our way to Highland Park before dropping onto the rolling ATV trails at Kearney Lake. From there, we re-entered the Cloud Peak Wilderness where we encountered only a few other trail users. We experienced a small amount of rain before heading over Florence Pass. Once over the pass, we were treated to bluebird skies for the remainder of the daylight hours. The hike up out of Lake Solitude was long and steady, but the rolling trail to Teepee Pole Flats was a welcome change as we made up some time lost on the previous climb. The sun set shortly after leaving Teepee Pole Flats, and the following 5.5 miles to Geneva Pass flew by in the dark. We descended the technical trail down Geneva Pass and ran steadily back to the start, finishing in 18:37:23.
The Solitude Loop lives up to its name, as we did not encounter many other trail users; the majority of those we did see were around Willow Lake and the West Ten Sleep corridor. We saw five moose, one of which we had to wait for to move away from the trail, five elk, and numerous deer, pikas, and marmots. Other than the brief sprinkle of rain, the weather was perfect—mostly cloudy in the morning and clear in the afternoon and evening.
As this was an unsupported effort, we each carried and utilized all of our own gear and nutrition. We went through over 20 water crossings, so the water was in abundance for filtering.
We have both wanted to complete the Solitude Loop for many years and decided to finally give it a go this year. The day came together perfectly and we are both thrilled to have not only established the female FKT but to lower the time on the overall FKT for this route as well.