Jeff Garmire dreamed about going after the unsupported John Muir Trail FKT for three years. In fact, he got three permits for the trail just this summer. Each time, self doubt led him to cancel the next day.

But then Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy shaved three hours off of four-year-old record in the beginning of August.

“[Stringbean] setting the record was really the push I needed to go give it a shot,” Garmire says. “[The record] just seemed untouchable since it hadn't been broken since 2018. And Joe breaking it was like, all right, I'll just go out there and give it my best shot. And so [Stringbean breaking the record] just made it feel more attainable even he made the time more difficult to attack.” 

Armed with his newfound confidence, Garmire set out from Yosemite Valley three weeks after Stringbean. And three days and 223 miles later he proved himself right—with a whopping 13 minutes to spare. 

Both Garmire and Stringbean traveled southbound along the JMT, also called the Nüümü Poyo, or “the People’s trail” in homage to a centuries-old Indigenous trade route through the Sierra. Ending with summiting 14,505 feet tall Mount Whitney, traveling north to south is generally considered the “harder” direction. Yet both Garmire and Stringbean broke not only the southbound record but the overall record as well. They didn’t pick the “harder” as part of their speed strategy.

Tune into the FKT Podcast to find out why, along with the rest of Garmire’s insight into his award-winning outing. Get the full story on all the things that went wrong, including why he only ate about half of his food. And last but not least, get the answer the one question host Heather Anderson–and us all–are dying for him to answer. 

Read Garmire’s full JMT report—along with those for his 18 other FKTs—on fastestknowntime.com. And follow along with his adventures on Instagram.