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2:55:59. Blank Space is a beast with 2:54:05.

Costly route-finding issues combined with high winds and low 30s summit temps didn’t help. I’ll upload a full trip report tomorrow.

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Attempting FKT found here (https://fastestknowntime.com/route/franklin-mountains-ridgeline-traverse-tx#comment-6531). Described south to north.

Start: I started by touching the flagpole on Scenic drive, since the original FKT description didn't provide a clear start point. I climbed up the ridge where I ended up on an asphalt path for about 50m before realizing I was off of the line set on the .gpx file I had uploaded to my watch. I was thinking, " Wow, this guy really followed the exact ridgeline the entire time". That didn't prove to be true and I will try to provide some heuristics at the end that simplify when to run the exact ridge and when not to.  I got to one of the large tram stations and did a good bit of fence hopping and r/urbanexploration to mosey on through (*read: definitely illegal *). Not long after that, white paint trail blazes appear sparsely along the right/east side of the ridge. This leads to my first major time loss of the attempt when I miss how the trail goes up through a draw over the ridge to begin to hug large features along the left/west side of the ridge. I should point out that at this point temps were low 40s/high 30s and the wind was annihilating on the east side, and I was underdressed, mainly sad to not have gloves. A little more scrambling and low-use trails bring you to the trail system above McKelligon. 

Middle: The trail system here is more well-marked with blue, red, and yellow paint (and the occasional hiking man coin glued to a rock) which is nice. It also begins the long ascent to 6,555 ft. Switching metabolic gears from running into rock climbing is very odd as you pull yourself up the chains. It was nice to have protection from the wind as most of this section is on the west side of the ridge. Although these 'sections' are made up in my head, I think of this as ending when one hits the little river-bed that gets crisscrossed several times just as the mountain begins to look more plateauy.

End: The trail then goes up a mini flatiron formation where it peaks out at 6,555 feet. The decent is where I really missed the trail. Blue spray paint will take you down into this gully that doesn't look like a trail. It isn't! Just follow the trail past the cave to your left. If you want to see what I am talking about, it is at 7.1 miles on my course below. This cost me 4 minutes but also a lot of lactic burn sprinting out of a scree gully. 

The rest is pretty self explanatory if you have the .gpx file. If not there are a few sneaky left turns, but I have missed them before and you can get back on trail by cutting down the mountain without too much trouble. 

Much love and thanks again to Blank Space for setting this up on fastestknowntime.com !

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Gabe S. Kimbro Fuhrman

Franklin Ridgeline FKT Attempt

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