I tried running this loop in November 2020 and got an injury from a muscle imbalance. So I was really happy to have the chance to run it again (especially before the FKT was out of reach). I was also happy (and nervous) to see that the loop's FKT has gotten noticeably more competitive since November. I ran alone and never saw another person on the trail. It rained hard all night and rained all morning. It is a beautiful area and great trail. I was worried the trail may be really muddy, sloppy and slow. However, there were only a few short swampy areas, so luckily they didn't slow me down too much. I was also worried about running over the many wooden planks & boardwalks in the rain. I went over them cautiously and luckily never fell. I carried 2L of water in my Salmon 8L vest. 2*500 in the front with Skratch super fuel (400 Cal in each flask). I also ate 1*100 Cal Cliff Gel and 1 sleeve of extra salty cliff blocks (margharita, 180 Cal). Near the end of the run, I finished my flasks and grabbed one of the 2*500 mL flasks I was carrying in the rear compartment (water only), took 2 electrolyte tablets and drank about half of that 500 mL flask during the remainder of the run (So I carried an extra ~750 mL of water I never needed, but I wasn't sure how long I would be out there). I carried an extra cliff bar and sleeve of cliff blocks that I didn't need. The cool weather and rain definitely made it easier to thermoregulate and required less hydration.
I took my trekking poles expecting to want them for the 2nd half of the run with, what I expected to be a lot of climbing. But I wish I had not taken them. I got them out at about ~8.8 miles and used them a bit, but mostly carried them. I should've slowed down and put them away, but I kept expecting to want them for the final climbs.
Very frustratingly, my garmin forerunner 935 froze around mile 9.2. So it was telling me I was way behind pace after that. It was also my source of navigation and that stopped working. The watch kept recording heart rate and total time, so I submitted my garmin connect file and link. Luckily, I ran my phone recording on the strava app as a back-up. I started my phone recording and zipped it into my pack, then I started my watch and started running. The file on Strava is from my phone. So the phone file has an extra 5 seconds when I was putting my phone away. 2:49:06 was the time from my garmin and is the correct time. I was worried about taking a wrong turn, because I took a wrong turn here in November and even took a couple wrong turns today. But luckily, I didn't get too far off track anytime. I managed to get the map to show up on my phone once late in the run to make sure I was on track (after the navigation on my garmin stopped working). But almost all the other times I tried to look at my phone, it was too wet and I couldn't get it open. I ran past a couple posted maps, and should've stopped but didn't. Finally, with about 1.5 miles to go, I stopped to look at a map. But someone had scratched off the two nearest sign post numbers on the map, so I couldn't be 100% sure which directly to go. Luckily, I guessed correctly.
The back-up recording on my phone using the strava app over-estimated the distance by about 3 miles, so that pace is not accurate. But the elapsed time is accurate.
I expected the biting flies to be bad, so I bathed in deet before starting. But I didn't see any flies or feel any bites (maybe because of the rain?).
I highly recommend the trail.