223 Miles in 2 Days, 16 Hours: Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy Sets JMT FKT

Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy set a new supported Fastest Known Time on California’s John Muir Trail (JMT) today, reaching the 223-mile trail’s northern terminus early this morning, a mere 2 days, 16 hours after he started. This was his third attempt to wrest the supported speed record from ultrarunner Francoise D’Haene, who completed the trail in 2 days, 19 hours, 26 minutes in 2017.

McConaughy also briefly held an unsupported Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the JMT in 2022 after finishing the trail in 3 days, 1 hour with no outside support (in contrast to the supported record he just set), but that record fell to Jeff Garmire weeks later. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Joe McConaughy 🌱Stringbean (@thestring.bean)

McConaughy has set numerous supported and unsupported FKTs on long trails over the years, and is perhaps best known to readers of this site for his 2017 unsupported record on the Appalachian Trail (45 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes) and his 2014 supported record on the PCT (53 days, 6 hours, 37 minutes). 

Today’s record is still pending verification on FastestKnownTime.com.

The John Muir Trail features roughly 47,000 feet of elevation gain along its 223-mile length, which includes the 14,505-foot summit of Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous United States. McConaughy averaged roughly 83 miles per day to finish the trail before dawn this morning. 

Featured image: Bernadette Rankin