Ozark Trail Speed Record – A Look Back!
Ticks, water, little sleep, and tired feet. Tim officially set the unsupported Ozark Trail Fastest Known Time!
WOW — that was hard. I (Tim) just hiked 234 miles in 4.5 days to set the unsupported speed record (“fastest known time” or FKT) on the Ozark Trail.
After being inspired by Renee’s FKT last summer, I wanted to test myself and see if I had it in me to set a record of my own. I was hoping to average 60 miles per day and finish in under 4 days, but I didn’t quite pull that off. Moisture plagued my feet the entire way, and I quickly re-focused on just beating the existing record of 4 days, 11 hours, and 28.5 minutes.
I did beat that by just over 2 hours, averaging 53.4 miles per day, and the feeling of accomplishment was totally worth everything I went through to get there!
Ozark Trail FKT Stats
My record is now live on the Fastest Known Time website for the fastest unsupported time to hike the Ozark Trail.
Distance: 234.24 miles (377 km)
Time: 4 days, 9 hours, 24 minutes
Average per day: 53.36 miles (85.9 km)
Old Record: 4 days, 11 hours, 28.5 minutes
Total tick count: 115
Turtle count: 14
If you’re curious about Tim’s Ozark Trail gear, you can find the complete gear list on our blog: Read it here!
Recovery Process
I had just two things on my mind for the final miles of the trip:
Taking my shoes off; and
Sleep
Renee was waiting for me at the finish line, and after way too few pictures, we went over to a grassy area and laid out my sleeping pad. I took off my shoes, ate a bit, and then fell into a deep sleep.
I slept the entire 2-hour car ride back to the hotel, and then after a quick bath and tick check, fell fast asleep.
I had to wake up on time the next day to work remotely, but I worked from bed because my feet were not functioning well. Trench foot (graphic content warning) had set in during the hike, and my feet were becoming infected and swelling like balloons. I did the following to treat them:
“Injected” [squeezed] antibiotic ointment into the open blisters
Kept my feet raised as often as possible
Soaked my feet 3 times in Epsom salts + iodine
Applied moisturizer daily to help the skin that survived the hike
By 4 days after the hike, I was clearly on the road to a full recovery.
But, about 10 days post-hike, I started feeling nauseous. Until this point, I was taking painkillers for my feet, and I really don’t know if that had been covering it up all along. Since I removed at least 115 ticks from my body over the course of the hike, some of which had attached themselves, it was possible that I had been infected with Lyme or another tick-borne illness. I went to urgent care and was prescribed antibiotics, just in case. Just hours after the first dose, I felt better, whether from the ticks or a lingering foot infection, the doctor’s visit was a good idea.
It’s now been over two weeks since I finished the hike, and as of this writing, I’m back to 90% health — I even just went for a short run, and my feet pretty much cooperated.
Advice For Future FKT Attempts
This trip was a success! But that doesn’t mean it was executed perfectly. We learn on every adventure, and here are some of my main learnings and reflections post-FKT:
An Ozark Trail FKT should be attempted in the fall when there’s less moisture on the trail and river levels are down.
Even when my socks were wet, wringing them out after a stream crossing to the point of only being only damp was extremely helpful.
I did not have time at camp to rehydrate food. But my rehydrated food tasted sooo good. Next time, I’ll accept that it should be rehydrated on the go and eaten while walking.
I can sleep without a tent in the rain. Maybe it’s just because I was so tired, but it really wasn’t too bad, and my sleeping quilt kept me warm even in moderate rain.
When exhausted, my favorite sleeping position is in a sitting position, leaning on my backpack against a tree. I discovered this on night 3, and from this point on, my 1-hour naps were more refreshing than the 1.5-2.5 hour sleeps I took on nights 1 & 2.
I did not learn how many miles-per-day my muscles would be capable of achieving if my feet had cooperated… this has me really curious if I could have achieved or exceeded my 60-mile per day goal, and might mean another FKT, on a drier trail, is in my future…
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FROM THE BLOG
Hungry for more? Our blog has daily write-ups of my experience on the trail: https://thruhikers.co
RECENT VIDEOS
Our social channels and YouTube are full of videos from the trail, and some highlights worth checking out include a video of my foot condition immediately after finishing, and soon, a full-length video of the entire trip is coming to our YouTube!
