Fastest Known Time (FKT)
An archive of fastest known times for various trails and routes.
News! Recent FKT action posted here.
Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine article
on FKT activity in the southeast USA (June 2009).
Trails:
Allegheny Trail, West Virginia
Appalachian Trail
Benton MacKaye Trail, GA/TN/NC
Cherokee Foothills Trail, N. & S. Carolina
Chilkoot Trail, Alaska
Colorado Trail
Colorado Plateau Routes (UT, AZ, CO)
Grand Canyon, Arizona
Ice Age Trail, Wisconsin
John Muir Trail (California)
Kokopelli Trail (Colorado - Utah)
Long Trail, Vermont
Maroon Bells Four Passes Loop, Colorado
Mason-Dixon Trail, Appalachia
Massanutten Mountain Trail, Virginia
Mount Sanitas, Boulder
New Hampshire Hut Traverse
Northville - Lake Placid Trail, New York
Ouachita Trail, OK/AR
Ozark Highlands Trail, AR
Pacific Crest Trail
Routes in Patagonia
Pemigewasset Loop, New Hampshire
Presidential Traverse, New Hampshire
Ptarmigan Traverse, Washington Cascades
Superior Hiking Trail, Minnesota
Tahoe Rim Trail (California, Nevada)
Tetons Circumnavigation, Wyoming
Trans-Zion, Utah
Tuscarora Trail
Uinta Highline Trail, Utah
White Rim Road, Canyonlands Nat'l Park, Utah
Wonderland Trail, Washington
Mountains:
Adirondack 46 High Peaks, New York
New Hampshire 4000 footers
Southern Appalachian 6000 footers (NC, TN)
Longs Peak, Colorado
Colorado Fourteeners
California Fourteeners
Granite Peak, Montana
Glacier Peak, Washington
Cascades Trifecta (Rainier, Adams, Hood)
Mount Rainier, Washington
Mount Olympus, Washington
Mount Fury, Washington
Mauna Kea, Hawaii
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
How do you establish a speed record?
Buzz Burrell has proposed 3 common sense guidelines:
· Announce your intentions in advance. Like a true gentleman, pay your respects to those who came before you, and tell them what you intend to attempt and when.
· Be an open book. Invite anyone to come and watch or, better yet, participate. This makes your effort more fun and any result more believable.
· Record your event. Write down everything immediately upon completion. Memory doesn't count.
These three rules do not "prove" you have done anything. They just make it easier for a good person to believe you.
Supported, self-supported, unsupported? What does it mean?
· Supported means you have a dedicated support team that meets you along the way
to supply whatever you need. This generally allows for the fastest, lightest trips,
and for an element of camaraderie and safety, since someone knows about where you are
at all times.
· Self-supported means that you don't carry everything you need from the start,
but you don't have dedicated, pre-arranged people helping you. This is commonly done
a couple different ways: You might put out stashes of supplies for yourself prior to
the trip, or you might just use what's out there, such as stores, begging from other
trail users, etc.
· Unsupported means you have no external support of any kind. Typically, this
means that you must carry all your supplies right from the start, except any water
that can be obtained along the way from natural sources. This approach has also
been termed "alpine style". The longest trip I'm aware of using this style is
Coup's 20-day thru-hike of the Colorado Trail. For most people, carrying enough food
for more than a few days to one week will be prohibitive.
Disclaimer:
I make no attempt to verify the accuracy of the records quoted
here. If you think something is incorrect or misrepresented, please email me and
let's discuss it. Thanks.