David Sadowski and I camped near the trailhead on Monday night and ate dinner after warming. We huredly got to bed to avoid all the mosquitoes. We woke to ran Tuesday morning before light and packed up camp as best as we could with drenched gear.
We set off shortly after sunrise, which we couldn't see due to overcast, drizzly skies. But whatever moisture we missed in beds while it rained, we seemed to collected off the low, hanging shrubbery we encountered along the start of the counter-clockwise route journey through the Pasayten Wilderness. As we reached the apex elevation of just over 8,000 feet, we discovered the source of Windy Peaks namesake, so we put on a jacket layer to compensate. Later, we would encounter much warmer conditions.
We made several stops to filter water out of the numerous creeks along the way towards the boundary trail and Cathedral, so our average pace ballooned up slightly over 20 minutes per mile. Not what would get the sub-14-hour FKT, so ergency began to make a comeback.
The Boundary Trail was to well build, and apparently maintained, that we made numerous comments about it's runability and great condition, yet we were not moving quite as fast as we calculated we needed to despite having ticked the average pace down to below 18 minutes per miles.
Reaching the old mine cabin was a notable and welcoming to be able to sit at a table and eat an equivalent to a "meal". At this point we had come to a consensus that I could continue on to the finish, completing the full loop, and then drive the truck to pick up back 3 miles to pick up David, as he had been struggling some from the distance, as it would be his longest run ever.
So I lingered with him for a couple, few more miles after the cabin, and then pushed the gas up and over Cathedral Pass. At that point I stopped filtering the water and went into more of a "race mode". I remember cresting the pass; after a few quick, must-take picks of the gorgeous, rocky ridges; at around 2:35 pm.
The remaining miles would be mostly downhill, except the finally climb up to the road to complete the loop, so was looking forward to pushing that. However, the Chewuch Trail ended up being full of overgrown shrubbery and round, rolls rocks. Despite this, I focused hard and moving "quickly" down it. At this point in the afternoon it was warm enough to ke to justify pouring water from tributary streams on my head. Thus did help, but I thought of finally reaching the truck and almost nothing else (except worrying some for David and shouting some quick prayers for his safety).
Finally reaching the climb up to the Chewuch trailhead, I attempted to mentally lock-in for the good ol' power hike up from the Chewuch River basin. The trail and warm conditions reminded me of the climb up to devil's thumb at WSER about four weeks prior. However, I was feeling much better than I was in that race, so I could sense it would go by quickly and the ice in the truck felt closer than ever.
When I reached the road, I was still at over 15-minute mile average pace, so I decided to try and get it down to 15 even on my watch. There was some rolling uphill climbed, but overall, flat and down. I managed to eek-out 15 minutes flat on my watch, although the elapsed pace was a touch over, I felt satisfied and I had completed the full 53-mile loop. Under 14 hours, so good enough for the FKT. Look forward to seeing the next adventurer destroy my time.
PS: I drove the truck back 3 miles and layed down in sleeping back, with my alarm set to get me up just before dark, to run backwards on route to look for David. To my pleasant surprise, David knocked on the window before my alarm, as he had finished his first 50-miler in about 15 hours, and got out before dark!