Started the day a little after 5am at Nira Campground in a counter-clockwise direction with the temperature in the low 30s.
With the primary goal of establishing the route as an FKT (and not doing it unsupported), Justin Whittet joined me for the first 10 miles of the Manzana Trail and we parted ways after the high point before descending down to Happy Hunting Ground Camp.
Because of the large storms earlier in the year, both the Manzana Creek and Sisquoc had plenty of water to support the effort with only a couple of 500ml bottles. My first two fill-ups were at Manzana Narrows and just after hitting the Sisquoc Trail in the Sisquoc River. The rest of the day's fill-ups could happen pretty much as needed along the way. I used a Katadyn BeFree to refill my softflasks.
Once you hit the Sisquoc River, you cross it so many times it is not a matter of if you get your feet wet, but when. Luckily I was able to start dry until the crossing leading to Sycamore Camp. At that point, I gave up trying and just kept getting my feet wet the remainder of the day.
River crossings and the associated route-finding was definitely the slowest part of the day.
At just about every crossing you need to find the flagging or cairns to see where to exit on the opposite bank otherwise it can be tricky finding the trail once you reach the other side. Luckily I have done the loop a few other times and had a general familiarity, but I found myself keeping my GPS map handy so i could just follow my past GPS tracks. Even then I made a couple of errors.
The huge rainstorms of 2023 really cleaned out a lot of the river, but it also has made finding the actual trail quite difficult in many spots. In addition to just trying to keep on the trail, I ended up spending a lot of time on sand and river rocks trying not to twist an ankle.
Every time I wanted to get a bit of speed going again, I would hit another point to cross the creek, walk, and find my way.
The temperature for the day was in the 60s with a clear blue sky.
The only other person I know of who has completed it in a day was Howard Cohen in 13:53:28 and I used his route which both started and ended at the Upper Manzana Trailhead.
My goal of finishing in under 12 hours was achieved with a total elapsed time of 11:53:54.