The best part about this route is Todd's story about his original attempt. I'm glad to say Todd that that 2 hour barrier is no longer!
Today was my first time to Joshua Tree, and we only had one day. After spending the morning hiking and scrambling around, I wound up with enough time to give this trail a go. After cruising the first couple miles (started from Park Blvd), I was certainly surprised to find the nightmare of sand for the second half of the trail. With a couple miles to go I realized how close to 2:00 it was going to be, and I cursed the ~minute I had stopped earlier to re-do my shoelaces and to deal with some stomach problems. I was treated to a beautiful sunset at the finish. It seems in retrospect that starting from the Indian Cove side would be better for an FKT attempt.