Centennial Trail FKT Record
Route
Starting at Wind Cave National Park, the Centennial Trail shoots north through Custer State Park, Black Elk Wilderness, and the Black Hills National Forest, finishing at Bear Butte State Park near Sturgis, South Dakota. It’s been recorded as 111 to 130 miles long (we recorded 127)
Plan
This trip was thought up while hiking the Colorado Trail a week prior. I was 400 odd miles in, and worried the fun would be over in Durango. This whole summer started with a map of hiking trails in the U.S.:
The Centennial Trail caught my eye since I’d only done shorter day hikes in South Dakota. More importantly, it was on the way home driving from Colorado back to Minnesota. How could I not hike it? After some quick research, I saw that the Unsupported FKT was just established a few months ago. In the days leading up to our hike, the record was broken twice, going from 4 ½ days to 2 ½ days.
Fastest Known Time (FKT) is a website that tracks speed records for runners and hikers on all kinds of trails. Unsupported means you take everything with you besides water, and can receive no help during your attempt. Teams are allowed, as long as the whole team finishes. Our team consisted of myself, Darrin “Dad” Commerford and Ryan “Radar” Charter.
Darrin “Dad” Commerford and Ryan “Radar” Charter
Day 1 - 52 miles over 19 Hours
We Started headlamp hiking at 4:55am at the Norbeck trailhead in Wind Cave National Park. It took an hour for the sun to rise, and we were lucky enough to share the morning with a few bison that let us pass at a safe distance through the prairie. Custer State Park was full of wildlife with deer, turkeys, and coyotes all out and about. We pushed through Custer quickly and into Black Elk Wilderness in the early afternoon. It was a fun but technical section of elevation gain, switchbacks and rocky terrain. Black Elk had lots of boulders to scramble up, and spur trails to explore, if only we had the time. We finished the day at midnight just north of Sheridan Lake.
Day 2 - 75 miles over 30 hours
When we broke camp at 5:30am, the 5 hours of sleep we had felt like a blink of the eye. Waking up to the thought of the 75 mile day ahead, mixed with the fatigue from the day before did not make for the most pleasant morning.
The trail followed an off road 4x4 section that was a rocky technical road that challenged us with pain management. Every rock felt like a personal attack on the balls of my feet. There were some beautiful views that could barely be acknowledged. This section was a head down, headphones in, no fun zone. The heat was constant and we were cameling water at every source. Near Dalton lake it started to get dark and we went headlamp hiking again. Lightning was in the sky, but luckily we had little rain. Swarms of bugs around our head were a source of dreadful companionship as we trekked through the night. Around 4am was the peak of zombie walking. Eyes couldn’t focus, and the Harry Potter audiobook was getting hard to listen to (to be fair Harry gets pretty whiny in Order of the Phoenix). Hallucinations started coming on, and the forest felt haunted with all sorts of creatures watching us. Sticks on the trail looked like they were moving. Wait, that stick was actually a rattlesnake. I almost just stepped on a rattlesnake. I stopped a few paces ahead and tried to communicate to Radar that that stick was in fact, a rattlesnake. All I could muster were pointing and grunts. He got the message and we had a quick freak out and some snacks. With the help of some music, a second wind hit to help overcome the foot pain. We saw the sunrise just south of Alkali Horse Camp.
Resting at Alkali felt too good. We both wanted to just lay down forever. The fatigue of hiking for the past 25 hours was catching up. We were bonking hard, Radar was dehydrated. I was still riding that rattlesnake adrenaline. Got some electrolytes in and forced some snacks down.
Leaving Akali was our first glimpse of Bear Butte peak which was energizing. It would all be over soon. The maps on the trailhead put Bear Butte 12.5 miles away, but other FKTs showed the finish closer to 18 miles. After hiking some time and Bear Butte not looking any closer, the 18 mile estimation seemed, depressingly, more accurate.
Hiking through some cow pastures we finally hit Bear Butte Lake where we were desperate for water. We skipped Bear Butte Creek to keep pace, but it was turning into a scorching day. No shade or clouds to keep good company. Sunscreen was buried in the bottom of the backpack, and we suffered without it with the singular goal to summit Bear Butte and finish. Hiking up Bear Butte was exhausting, but getting past the parking lot gave a final burst of energy to get up that mountain. Nothing mattered until we finished.
We reached the top and made the final step onto the platform holding hands at 11:29am. We did 75 miles over 30 straight hours for our second day. The wave of euphoria hit. We finished hiking, and 3.5 hours under the current record. Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. A new wave, this time of relief washed over us- The first time in over 50 hours we could actually relax. Coming down Bear Butte took three times longer than going up. The majority of the trail was loose rocks and steep steps that wanted to be intimate friends with our swollen, tired feet. It felt like we were barefoot and the trail was made of legos. The adrenaline subsided after some Oreo Blizzards, and moments from pulling into a friend’s driveway naps on the lawn became our victory prize.
This was a wonderful and cruel taste of fastpacking. Coming off 31 days of hiking in Colorado, and taking only the essentials from your backpack of already curated essentials was an intriguing exercise into what is actually needed to complete your goal. Our goal was to walk a lot, sleep a little, and walk some more. Sleeping bag, first aid kit, water bottle, and enough food to not bonk.
Day 1 - 52 miles, 19 hours hiking
Day 2 - 75 miles, 30 hours hiking
127 Miles - 2d 6h 34m
