FKT Attempts We're Tracking

I AM BEYOND EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT I WILL BE ATTEMPTING THE SUPPORTED/OVERALL FASTEST KNOWN TIME (FKT) ON THE SUPERIOR HIKING TRAIL (SHT), BEGINNING ON THE MORNING OF JULY 4TH (WEATHER DEPENDENT). I WILL BE STARTING AT THE NORTHERN TERMINUS AND HEADING SOUTHBOUND.

YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TRACK MY PROGRESS, UPDATED LIVE AND IN REAL TIME ON THE INTERACTIVE MAP EVERY 10 MINUTES VIA THE FOLLOWING LINK (PLEASE WAIT UNTIL THE 4TH TO CHECK AS I AM STILL WORKING OUT THE KINKS IN MY FINAL TRAINING RUNS).

HTTPS://US0-SHARE.INREACH.GARMIN.COM/SUPERIORFKT

MY SUPPORT CREW WILL BE POSTING PHOTOS AND UPDATES FROM INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK:

FACEBOOK.COM/CAMERONOFTHEMOUNTAINS

INSTAGRAM.COM/MOUNTAINMANCAM

THE FOLLOWING HISTORICAL ACCOUNT HAS BEEN PULLED FROM FASTEST KNOWN TIMES, THE OFFICIAL GOVERNING BODY THAT KEEPS DILIGENT TRACK OF FKT’S GLOBALLY. FOR ANY GENERAL QUESTIONS RELATED TO FKT'S, SUCH AS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUPPORTED AND UNSUPPORTED, PLEASE HEAD TO THEIR WEBSITE:

WWW.FASTESTKNOWNTIME.COM

I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT THESE PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AS THEY PAVED THE WAY FOR MY ATTEMPT, AND FOR THAT I AM GRATEFUL AND HUMBLED. APOLOGIES FOR ANY ERRORS IN MY RESEARCH OR ATTEMPTS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN DOCUMENTED. FOR ALL FKT RECORDS SPECIFICALLY REGARDING THE SHT PLEASE REFER TO:

HTTPS://FASTESTKNOWNTIME.COM/ROUTE/SUPERIOR-HIKING-TRAIL-MN

THE FIRST SPEED ATTEMPTS ON THE SHT DATE BACK TO 2005, WHEN THE TRAIL WAS STILL INCOMPLETE AT 205 OFFICIAL MILES.

-ERIK KAITALA WAS THE FIRST TO FINISH A SPEED ATTEMPT THAT YEAR, FINISHING WITH A SUPPORTED TIME OF 4D3H43M.

-ALICIA HUDELSON SET THE FEMALE SUPPORTED FKT FOR THE SHT AT 4D17H26M IN MAY OF 2009.

BY 2013 THE TRAIL WAS CLOSER TO COMPLETION AND HAD 296 OFFICIAL MILES.

-CODY BARTZ ESTABLISHED A NEW TIME OF 12D4H19M (SUPPORTED) 7/6/2013

-TIM LUPFER & JARED VANDERHOOK LOWERED THAT TIME TO 8D14H44M (SELF-SUPPORTED) 5/23-31/2015.

IN 2016, THE TRAIL WAS CONSIDERED COMPLETED AT 310 MILES.

-MIKE WARD WAS THE FIRST TO SET THE RECORD AT THE COMPLETED DISTANCE IN 8D 7H 59M UNSUPPORTED 2016-09-09.

-JEREMY PLATSON LOWERED THE OVERALL FKT (SELF-SUPPORTED) TO 8D 2H 35M 2016-09-25.

AJAY PICKETT SET THE CURRENT OVERALL RECORD, UNSUPPORTED AT 7D 20H 56M 2018-09-13

FINALLY, I WANT TO THANK MY MOM (PADDY EBLING) AND GIRLFRIEND (AMANDA ARNOLD) FOR SUPPORTING ME (LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY) ON THIS JOURNEY. WITHOUT THEIR HELP THIS ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE.

AND TO THE SHTA, AND ALL OF THE INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS AND TRAIL CREW WHO HAVE MADE THIS DREAM A REALITY!

HAPPY TRAILS,

CAMERON M. SCHAEFER

TRAILNAME: NEON MOUNTAINS🤩🤩🤩

UPDATES:

Day 1 (7/04):  Started around 6:26am, southbound.  O/n CR58.  48-49 miles for the day?

Day 2 (7/05):  O/n Onion River, 93.5 miles total.

Day 3 (7/06):  to CR7 / E Branch Baptism River, 131.3 miles.

Day 4 (7/07):  to Split Rock River, 181.9 miles

Day 5 (7/08):  to Knife River / CR-131

Day 6 (7/09):  to Duluth.  From Instagram:  "Wahoo! We made it to Martin Road!! 🌲☔️🏃‍♂️🌲☔️🏃‍♂️🌲 With only 50 miles remaining, we are on pace to shorten the current FKT by over a day and are planning to finish tomorrow night! "

Day 7 (7/10):  Looks like Cam finished around 1:12AM on 7/11, which would be a new FKT of about 6d18h42m !!!

I plan to make a northbound attempt on this route starting Monday, July 8, 2019.   This will be a solo, self-supported attempt.   I will start at the Oregon border on the Bridge of the Gods and follow the PCT to it's northern terminus (Monument 78), hopefully arriving within 10 days.  I will use a garmin inreach for live tracking and documentation.

UPDATE:  It looks like Tony bailed at US Hwy 12 late on July 10.

I'll be making a solo and unsupported FKT attempt of the 242mi Cougar Traverse in WA: http://www.christofteuscher.com/aagaa/news-242mi-cougar-traverse-fkt-attempt
 

7/12:  Started at Hwy 20 at about 4:00AM (heading clockwise).  O/n near Hopkins Lake.  About 42 miles.

7/13:  to base of Sand Ridge, 33.5 miles / 75.5 total.

7/14:  Horseshoe Pass, 35.1 miles / 110.6 total.

7/15:  Andrews Creek, 31 miles / 140.6 total

7/16:  Gunbarrel Camp

7:17:  "Finished the 242-mile Cougar Traverse solo and unsupported in 5 days 17 hours 52 minutes (137.9h). THE GOOD: I did not die. THE BAD: A concussion from a freak fall while traversing wet deadfall. THE UGLY: Lost the GoPro at about mile 179 with many hours of footage."

Day 1 (7/14): Start St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, end at Puente la Reina, 92.1km

Day 2 (7/15): End at Parque de la Grajera.

Day 3 (7/16): End at San Juan de Ortega, 263.6km so far.

Day 4 (7/17): Castrojeriz

Day 5 (7/18): San Nicolas del Real Camino, 404.2km

Day 6 (7/19): Leon, about 466 km / 300 km to go.

Day 7 (7/20):  Pena Llabaya

* Here's the overview of what I'm doing:

https://justinsimoni.com/2019/07/14/sangre-de-cristo-range-traverse-fastpack/

7/15, 02:15 start at Hwy 150

7/15, 10:48 Little Bear

7/15, 13:03 Blanca

7/15, 13:59 Ellingwood

7/15, about 14:30 chased off the ridge by a t-storm for a couple of hours

7/15, 19:40 Pt 13,577

7/15, 21:07 California

7/15, about midnight took a break at the Zapata Trail

7/16, restart about 05:00

7/16, 08:19 Carbonate

7/16, 10:30 CR583

7/16, 14:38 Zwischen

7/16, 19:15 Medano Creek (slept here)

7/17, 08:38 Blizzardine

7/17, 08:53 Blueberry

7/17, 09:53 Snowslide

7/17, 11:53 Pt 12739

7/17, 13:03 Marble

7/17, 15:03 Milwaukee

7/17, 19:30 Broken Hand

7/17, 21:20 Crestone Needle (bivy)

7/18, 09:05 Crestone Peak

7/18, 12:08 Pt 13799

7/18, 13:46 Pt 13398

7/18, 14:26 Pt 13541

7/18, 15:06 Pt 13517

7/18, 17:46 Adams

7/18, 20:06 Fluted

7/18, 22:27 Comanche (slept at Comanche TR)

7/19, 07:37 Spring

7/19, 08:38 Venable

7/19, 10:57 Eureka

7/19, 12:00 Hermit

7/19, 13:18 Rito Alto

7/19, 14:58 Pt 13524

7/19, 15:59 Pt 13513

7/19, 17:07 Marcy

7/19, 19:09 De Anza

7/19, 21:09 Electric

7/19, 23:09 Lakes

7/20, 07:10 Thirsty

7/20, 07:53 Pt 13123

7/20, 09:10 Cottonwood

7/20, 10:50 Pt 12658

7/20, 12:36 Nipple

7/20, 15:27 Pt 11547

7/20, 18:21 Galena

7/20, 20:07 Otto

Instagram:  "I started the Long Trail Speed record today at 5:59am ET because I just couldn’t wait until 6. 
Getting to the trail - I flew into Burlington after close to 24 hours of travel time because of delayed flights and missed connections. The first task in town was to buy food at the store for my entire hike. It being an unsupported attempt, I have to carry everything I will need for the entire route. I bought everything minus a few items I didn’t like the selection of and then walked past university of Vermont and through downtown Burlington. I got a view of lake Champlain and met up with Cyclops (trail name) at the local gear exchange. He gave me a ride to his home and his fiancé, Mcgloober showed up shortly thereafter. We went to a brewery for dinner and I crashed after a sleepless night prior. I slept in, my body still not knowing sure which time zone it was in, showers, rechecked my pack and then went to the trailhead with Mcgloober and Cyclops. We stopped and had Maple Creamees with maple sprinkles on the way. It was amazing ice cream. They dropped me at the Journeys End Trailhead. I walked to the shelter, bearing a heavy pack and then continued on to check out the northern terminus. Finally I walked back to the shelter and went to bed early, ready for the start of an adventure."

Day 1 (7/18):  Jeff made it across the Lamoille River before taking a few hours break, 49.3 miles. "Day one Long Trail FKT – 48.1 miles I started hiking at 5:59 AM from the terminus. Then the climbing began almost immediately. It was straight up Jay Peak and I quickly had 5,000’ of gain already. My pack was too heavy and I was drenched in sweat. I ate ravenously to get the pack weight down to a manageable level for the steep climbs. The strategy may come back to hurt me in a few days, but it was necessary to move how I wanted to. The climbing was relentless and it was never flat. My pace suffered and it was never what I expected it, but I kept charging. I tried to run the downhills and on one of them I slammed my head into a tree crossing the trail at just above eye level. It could have been worse than the cut I ended up with. The humidity was intense, but nothing compared to Alabama in May which I kept drawing on. My body held up good today and I charged deep into the night. Day one is a hard one mentally because it is real difficult to focus on the present compared to being overwhelmed by the future. I finished the day with about 16k of gain and some tired legs after a late night push. I don’t know how this FKT will turn out, but I made it through Day 1."

Day 2 (7/19):  To a bit north of US-2, about 86 miles total. "Day 2 long trail fkt - 35.6 miles- I got up well before the sun and went to put on my shoes but I couldn’t. Leg cramps seized up the appendages every time I reached down. I got them on with the help of a log and finally started moving. I felt ok, but the morning was tame. When the climbing started I was spent. My head, heart and legs and lungs were not on the same page. I felt awful. My lungs were hit with asthma, my head was filled with negativity and I wondered if I would find enjoyment in this adventure. I slowly trudged through the mental BS, up and over Mt Mansfield and down the other side. Then downward negative spiral was too much and I laid down in the middle of the trail, pack still on to collect myself. I was able to salvage the day, but it did not turn out like I had hoped. It was a tough one with over 12k’ in gain."

Hello ! Attempting above route. Waterton 7/21/19. Colorado Trail self-supported record East-West, thru-hiker style. No outside assistance. Collegiate east variant. I’ll send my inreach link soon. I will verify successful attempt w gps track/live tracking. Will have inreach on w all movement unless battery issues. Backup will be Garmin watch. Third times the charge?