This was a fun first foray into FKT attempts for me. I am not a runner, but I love the Baton Trail, and I’ve done many day hikes and overnight backpacking trips along it. When I saw there was not an out-and-back female record yet for the Batona, I thought it would be a challenging goal for me to hike the trail as quickly as I could.
I stayed at the Batona Campground on Thursday night before my hike, checked in at the Batsto Office, and set up my tent. I kept some supplies at my site at the Batona Campground, including clean clothes and extra batteries. I also cached a couple gallons of water at camp, and a BearVault full of food for my trip.
On Friday morning, 10/9/26, I drove south to drop two more water caches, one at the road crossing by Batsto Village, and one by Evan’s Bridge. Then I drove to Bass River State Park to obtain my parking pass. I drove to the southern trailhead on Dan Bridge road to begin the hike
At 12:29 pm, I started the hike at brisk walk. The weather was warm and sunny, and the trail was flat, clear, and well-marked, with mile markers every ½ mile. I filled up my hydration bladder at my water cache at Evan’s Bridge around mile 10. I topped it off my water again by Batsto Village, before mile 20.
After passing Batsto, the sun set quickly, and I turned on my headlamp. The trail and the pink blaze markers were easy to follow in the dark, and I had hiked this section many times in the past. The night was slightly chilly, but not cold. I crossed the railroad tracks, the road to the Carranza Memorial, and then arrived at the Batona Campground at mile 31 just after 10:30 pm, which was sooner than I had planned. There were some families having campfires at other campsites that evening, since it was a holiday weekend.
I opened my BearVault, ate dinner, and slept well for a solid 5 hours. Saturday morning, I treated a blister on my heel, packed up my food for the day, cached my BearVault, and set off in the dark around 5am.
At 6:20 am, I arrived at Apple Pie Hill as the twilight was breaking behind the fire tower. I passed some lovely ponds and a fun section of bog boards traversing cedar roots before arriving at Pakim Pond around 10am, where I filled up at the public water spigot and washed up in the park restrooms.
At 1:30 pm I arrived at the northern terminus, and I took a brief break to have a snack and chat with some day hikers in the parking lot. I signed in as “Skunk” (my trail name) in the log book. I noticed I was developing a pain in my right knee. The weather was still warm and sunny, and I set off south.
The pain in my knee affected my stride, and eventually spread to both knees. I was walking more slowly, and realized I likely wouldn’t finish the hike as quickly as I had hoped.
I wasn’t thirsty, but I was low on water, so I stopped at Deep Hollow Pond to fill up my water filter bottle. The pond was quite dry, but there was some shallow water farther out. However I didn’t end up needing to drink any, and I instead filled up again at the spigot at Pakim Pond.
The sun set, and I turned on my headlamp again. Usually I hike in silence, but I chose to listen to the end of an audiobook for this night-hiking section. I sat down a couple of times to rest, and the pain in my knees was particularly sharp when trying to get up. I decided to rest for longer than planned at camp to give my knees time to heal. I reached the Batona Campground before midnight. It was a warm, mild night, and I slept well. My knees felt a bit better Sunday morning. There was a light drizzle when I woke up. Again, I topped off my water from my cache and refilled my snacks from my BearVault.
I took off around 8:30 am. The rain persisted nonstop throughout the rest of the day. I wore a simple disposable rain poncho and kept my belongings in ziplock bags. Luckily it was a warm day. I saw a beautiful Eastern box turtle enjoying one of the newly-formed puddles. I skipped over my water cache at Batsto. At one point, a bit before Evan’s Bridge, I noticed that the Strava App was no longer picking up my GPS signal, I’m guessing because of the heavy rainfall. I stopped walking to restart my device, and my phone was able to pick up the signal again. The lost data appears as a straight line on Strava’s map on this southbound section, however I walked the official blazed trail the whole time.
At Evan’s Bridge, I topped off my water from my stored cache.The sun set, and I used my headlamp for the final stretch. I was walking as quickly as I could with two sore knees. I recited some poems to pass the time. At 9:51pm on Sunday evening, 10/11/26, I arrived at the southern terminus, taped the sign, and signed out in the trail logbook.
I returned to my car and drove back to pick up my water containers. I drove back to my site at the Batona Campground for one last night before picking up my campsite.
Overall, this was a fun physical and mental challenge for me. While I still enjoy slow, thoughtful hiking, I definitely learned some of the benefits of attempting a challenge like this. I’m grateful to all the stewards of the trail for making my trip possible.