Wanted to attempt this route for speed and see what is possible. Generally speaking, you’d want to spend AS MUCH time as possible in the narrows!! However, I enjoy moving fast on my hikes and this was an opportunity to cover 16+ miles of untouched rugged terrain through some of the most incredible land out there.
Did a practice run two weeks ago and came in around 4 hours, so wanted to give the FKT a shot. The Narrows are just absolutely stunning. Started at Chamberlain Ranch at 4pm, to avoid crowds at the end. This proved to be helpful as there were only a handful of people near the bottom do the route at the end, whereas earlier in the day there would be hundreds of people to work around.
The start was extremely hot for me as I haven’t done recent heat training, so I was anxious to get in the water a couple miles into the route. Crossed the river over 100 times on the day, with a lot of running right down the middle. I didn’t use a walking stick in order to keep my speed up.
Just an incredible afternoon. Had my dad shuttled me out to the Chamberlain Ranch Trailhead. GPS is off, it’s a 16 mile route but the canyon walls are 1,000 feet so you won’t get a perfect distance, but there is definitely only one way down!! Total time 3:14:18.