Fastest Known Times — that is, the fastest known time that it’s taken someone to cover a stretch of trail. You may be familiar with the concept in terms of a major trail. The AT, for instance, which has seen intense competition over the years to see a new FKT record. The current record, for the 2,189-mile AT, btw, is 41 days, 7 hours and 39 minutes, set in 2018 by Karel Sabbe, a Belgian dentist. Or possibly North Carolina’s 1,175-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which saw a new record set last summer, when Tara Dower ran it in 29 days, 8 hours and 48 minutes.

But those are far from the only trails that boast FKTs, thanks to 2020 and the pandemic. With no trail races to focus their energy on, trail runners by the thousands set out to cover a myriad of trails, from Maine’s 6.5-mile Mount Agamenticus 3 Peaks to Skokie, Illinois’ 9.57-mile Skokie Valley Trail.

FastestKnownTime.com is the official record keeper of all things FKT. In 2020, the site received 14,640 FKT submissions — about 40 per day — from people claiming to have set the FKT record for a given trail, or stretch thereof. The really wacky news? FastestKnownTime.com recently proclaimed 2021 to be the year of the FKT, suggesting that 2020 was a mere warm-up.

To us stop-and-smell-the-roses types, the allure of the FKT may be a bit perplexing. Covering 42 miles per day for more than 29 straight days as Tara Dower (pictured above) did to set her 2020 MST record might have one asking numerous questions, starting with, “When do you have time to sleep?” (Answer: you don’t, much.)

Dower and fellow FKTers Tory Grieves and Kyle Curtin, who last year set the respective female and male record for the 62-mile Pitchell Run (the stretch of the MST between 5,722-foot Mount Pisgah and 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell) shared their stories and perspective at the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea trail’s annual gathering, this year called the “Ungathering” because it was conducted remotely, via Zoom. The Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail was gracious enough to share the audio of their panel discussion with our GetHiking! Southeast podcast, which you can listen to here. 

Where some of the FKTs set in 2020 for trails in the Southeast?

• Uwharrie Trail in the Uwharrie National Forest southwest of Asheboro, N.C., 37.4 miles: set, unsupported, by Jon Ziefle in 7 hours, 4 minutes, 57 seconds. (Ziefle was busy in 2020, also setting the FKT for the 33-mile Neuse River Trail in Raleigh and Clayton, running it in 3 hours, 45 minutes and 39 seconds).
• Mount Rogers via Massie Gap, Virginia, 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles): set, unsupported, by Ryan Woods in 36 minutes, 49 seconds (it was one of 7 FKTs set by Woods in 2020).
• Rocky Top – Thunderhead – Brier Knob Loop, Tennessee, 25.8 miles: set by Kevin Hoeper in 4 hours, 22 minutes and 34 seconds (that eclipsed the previous record, set three months earlier by Luke Bollschweiler, who beat the previous record set just a month earlier by Hank Hepperly).
• Long Cane Horse Trail, South Carolina, 32 miles: set by Kim Russell in 6 hours, 50 minutes and 56 seconds.
• Greenbrier Trail, West Virginia, 77.1 miles: set by Daniel Rau in 12 hours, 31 minutes and 57 seconds. 

Wondering how these FKTs are verified? You can find that out and get most of your other FKT questions answered at FastestKnownTime.com. Another cool thing you can do on the site: track FKT attempts in progress. Which leads us to wish Craig Millikin best of luck as he attempts to set a new record of the 217.5-mile Ouachita Trail in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Go Craig!

GetHiking! Southeast Podcast

In this week’s podcast, listen to Tara Dower, Tory Grieves and Kyle Curtin share their tales of setting new FKTs on the MST in a rebroadcast of a panel discussion they conducted at the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail’s annual gathering in March. Catch the podcast here. 

The post Were Record FKTs in 2020 a warm-up for 2021? appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

A big part of the game lands appeal is that they largely fly under the radar with folks who don’t hunt or fish. That means a lot fewer people to contend with on a hike, which has become an especially big deal in the past year. Sunday mornings when people are waiting in line just to get into their favorite state parks, our GetHiking! crew is exploring game lands in isolation. Occasionally, we may see a birder or dog walker, but usually it’s just us. And considering there are 530,000 acres of WRC game lands across the state — that’s about the size of either the Pisgah National Forest or Nantahala National Forest, more than two times the size of North Carolina’s State Parks and Recreation Areas combined — that’s a whole lot of land left virtually unexplored.

But what about the hunters? you ask. They’re out there every day but Sunday, and I understand even that’s about to change.

Granted, one of the challenges in exploring North Carolina’s game lands is that you need to be careful because, yes, there is hunting. But hunting isn’t allowed as often as you might think. For starters, hunting season runs roughly from Labor Day through Memorial Day.

“What I typically tell folks,” says McRae, “is that September 1 through February, then again April 1 through the middle of May, if you’re on a game land you should expect to interact with, and see hunters out there. Definitely wear blaze orange during that time.”

That’s a general rule of thumb. Some game lands have even fewer active hunting days; the R Wayne Bailey-Caswell Game Land north of Durham, for instance, only has hunting on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. As for the possibility of allowing hunting on Sundays McRae says WRC was given authority by the State Legislature in 2017 to allow hunting on public lands. About three years of research into the possibility followed, at the end of which it was recommended that Sunday hunting be allowed on 55 of the state’s 92 game lands. These recommendations are undergoing a public comment period, and a final decision is expected by the end of February. The new Sunday hunting regulations would go into effect Aug. 1.

As for figuring out where to explore on game lands, McRae notes that the WRC offers online resources, including basic maps of the preserves that you can overlay with various types of more insightful maps (including topos), and that their maps also are available on a pair of apps, including onX, a hunting-specific map, and Avenza, a trail app more familiar to hikers. Avenza allows users with GPS-equipped mobile devices to track their location. And, McRae notes that the WRC is working to make its online resources more accessible to hikers and other non-hunting recreational users.

As for where to go, McRae is quick to underscore the fact that game lands do tend to be more wild than, say, state park lands. Game land trails tend to be “footpaths,” says McRae, and often those footpaths are dirt roads used for access both on foot and by maintenance vehicles.

“We don’t have restrooms, we don’t have picnic areas, we don’t have visitor centers or onsite staff,” says McRae. “We just offer a very different and unique experience.” Which is why we’ve spent more time exploring them.

Learn more about hiking North Carolina’s game lands, including some recommended spots, in our interview with McRae on the GetHiking! Southeast podcast, here. 

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Learn more

Check out the N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission website here; go here for a map of game lands statewide.

GetHiking! Southeast Podcast

Check out our GetHiking! Southeast interview with Brian McRae, as well as past episodes, here.

The post Game Lands a game changer for escaping the masses appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

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