Chase Frost submitted a route covering every trail in the Sipsey Wilderness in Bankhead National Forest with the minimum amount of backtracking:
From the Gate @ the Borden Creek trailhead I ran south on trail 200, to the intersection of 200 and 209. Turning west, I crossed Borden creek and traveled on 209 to the intersection of 202. Crossed the Sipsey and followed 202 to the Randolph trailhead. Traveled north on 201 to the intersection of 209. East on 209 to the trail north that loops 204 & 204a. Round trip to the place this crosses the river is 6.6 Miles, and was arguably the most fun section of the day. This is the only “loop” or back tracking section of the entire day. Then headed North on 206, passed through the Thompson trailhead and followed 208 to 223 the top @ the Braziel Trailhead, at just about 25 miles. The next 15 miles is hardest section of the day. From Braziel, I traveled southeast on 210. This trail is very untraveled, cambered and quite frankly sucky to run, (briars!) From the south end of 210 I traveled west on 208 to the intersection of 224 and headed south east to the bridge @ Borden Creek. Leaving here, headed due north on 207, climbed out to the Gum Pond trailhead and followed forest service road 208 south and east to the final section of trail of the day, 203. Running 203 south back to the Borden Creek Bridge, and climbing the hill back to the gate at Borden Trailhead to complete the day ( the "leg" off of the 203 trail around mile 50 is an error. I actually missed the turn off to the trail and went .5 miles out of the way).
Trails: 200, 202. 201, 209, 204. 204a, 209,206, 208, 224, 210, 208, 224, 207, 208, 203
Comments
I will be attempting an unsupported hike tomorrow 5/21/21
I will be attempting the route unsupported tomorrow. This is gping to be a good time, right?!?
FKT achievement unlocked!
Yes, you can beat my time, and I will do my best to arm you with the lessons I learned while doing this route unassisted.
These trails are unmarked. There are no blazes to help you understand whether you are on the trail or randomly wandering through the wilderness. Many of the trails are lightly traveled and not obvious, especially when the sun is down. If you want to save yourself many, many hours of searching for the trail you need to be on, go to travel each section of trail before you attempt the full FKT. Learn where the intersections and river crossings are. Know them without needing to search for them. Learn the landmarks that will guide you and keep you on course.
The first half of the course has plenty of access to water. The second half does not. As you are leaving the river and canyon area, you will come to a bridge leading to trailhead parking. There you will take a horse trail up into the hills. This is your last good opportunity to get water for quite some time. You might want to load up with water there. Crossing the bridge will give you easy access to the shore. Staying on the side of the bridge with the horse trail you need to travel will not. Travel the extra distance and save yourself a struggle with thorny bramble.
The final loop begins so very temptingly close to where you parked to begin this journey. Be mentally prepared for this temptation. Carry on in your task and do not give up. You've got this!