I decided to tackle the tough but beautiful Ouachita Trail during the height of fall and hoped to sneak in one last record before the end of the year.
Per self-supported guidelines, I cached water in multiple places in advance, and resupplied once at Queen Willamena Lodge at mile 51.6
I faced many challenges during this fkt, but of note were hot, humid conditions, dry water sources, varied technical terrain including rocks of all shapes and sizes (sometimes wet and slippery), freshly fallen leaves obscuring trail, and extreme difficulty navigating in the dark.
Day 1 - 52.2 miles
3:00am start
- 6 min resupply at Queen Willamena
- slept at mile 52.2
- 60.6 miles at the 24hr split
Day 2 - 50 miles
12:02am start
- wet, slick rocks in am
- overgrowth and brambles in afternoon, legs badly cut and bleeding
- slept near mile 102
- 111.7 at the 48hr split
Day 3 - 121 miles
11:27pm start
- 48hr / 120mi final push to the end
- difficult to navigate trail in the dark
- Coros died end of day 3, restarted in final 17 miles
- out of food/water for hours
Finish at 11:42pm