Meredith Hughes had never run a race before establishing a new fastest-known time (FKT) on the Colorado Trail this summer.

When I met Meredith, or Tortuga as she’s trail-named, she was sipping a coffee and eating a breakfast burrito in a small café off trail in Lake City.

We chatted for a while about the trail — I could tell she was a thru-hiker from the ultralight backpack at her side — before I learned that she was on a mission to join a list of professional athletes on the FKT website.

But Tortuga wasn’t beating anybody else’s FKT, she was out to establish one.

Making of an FKT 

An FKT is essentially a speed record, and the records are recorded online at fastestknowntime.com.

There’s a cacophony of ways to hold an FKT on the Colorado Trail.

Some hikers travel the trail from north to south, starting in Denver and ending in Durango. Others go south to north. Around the middle of the trail, there is a trail split, and hikers can choose to take one of two routes: Collegiate East or Collegiate West.

Then, there are different support levels hikers can choose to use to set an FKT: supported, or accepting as much support from outside sources as necessary; self-supported, or accepting as much support as the hiker can manage to find, as long as said support is equally available to anybody else; and, unsupported, or not accepting any external support of any kind.

As such, there are FKT possibilities for every combination of routes and support levels listed, making spots in total for 24 possible FKTs on the Colorado Trail.

Trailblazing a new FKT

Tortuga thru-hiked the Colorado Trail for the first time in summer 2023.

During her hike, she ran into Tara Dower, who was actively setting the female supported FKT on the southbound Collegiate East route. Dower hiked the trail’s entirety in eight days, 21 hours and 59 minutes.

“(Dower) was hiking through a hailstorm while I was huddled up to a tree cooking ramen,” Tortuga recalled. “I was like, ‘Wow, she’s a bad***,’ and I started looking into FKTs.”

As she went through the list of FKTs set for women, she discovered that there were a few route and support combinations for that didn’t have a record established yet.

“There wasn’t a women’s supported, self-supported or unsupported record for going northbound through Collegiate West,” she said. “So, I was like, ‘Well that’s unfortunate, because there’s a men’s supported, self-supported and unsupported time, and it’s not like women aren’t doing the trail.'”

Tortuga knew it probably wouldn’t take long for her record to be beat. Unlike many FKT-setters, she wasn’t an ultrarunner. In fact, she has never run a single race — not even a 5K, she said.

But as long as she finished the route and recorded it, her name would be added to the FKT list, since nobody had recorded an FKT for that route before her.

In fact, the faster Tortuga’s FKT gets beaten by another woman, the more accomplished she’ll feel, she said. The goal isn’t to be the fastest person out there, but rather to add another woman’s name on a list dominated by men.

“I thought, why not? I’ll probably be the slowest fastest-known time on there, but I can go out and do it, and then I’m sure some bad*** ultrarunner woman will see my time of like 17 days or something and say, ‘I can beat that,'” she said. “The quicker my time gets beat, the more accomplished I’ll feel.”

Fast and fun

Tortuga’s priorities were a little different than those of many who set out to set FKTs. While she was on a mission to do the route quickly, she also knew she wanted to enjoy the trail, which is what led her to Lake City, where we met.

When she told me she was establishing an FKT, I was shocked. Not because she didn’t seem capable, but because she was having a slow, relaxing morning at a café in a resupply town. From what I understood about FKT-setters, I thought they took no breaks, ran every mile and didn’t sleep or rest.

It struck me as especially bad*** that Tortuga was actively enjoying her hike, while simultaneously establishing an FKT.

“That was a weakness of mine,” she said, also reflecting on the day she stopped in Leadville and bought a Melanzana hoody. “I just love Colorado and I love all of the towns along the trail. I wanted to spend more time in them.”

What she called a “weakness,” I thought, made the feat even more impressive.

Even with town stops, full nights of sleep, and a shoe issue toward the beginning, Tortuga still finished the trail’s entirety in less than 18 days.

From thru-hiker to athlete

When Tortuga thru-hiked the Colorado Trail the first time around, her biggest day on trail was 21 miles, she said. The route took her 34 days.

Her FKT set in September cut her previous time in half. The second time around, her average mileage per day was over 28 miles, and she completed the route in under 18 days.

Her shortest day was the day I met her, coming out of Lake City. She walked through hail, cold wind and rain, finally deciding to camp after 16 miles.

“That was my shortest day by far, and I was kind of feeling sad for myself,” she said. “I’d been hiking by myself for a while, I got out of town late, there were storms, and I saw more rain coming.”

Whatever time she lost, however, she made up for with a 40-mile day to Gunnison, then an overnight push through the Collegiate Peaks — a notoriously difficult section of trail.

Seeing the Collegiate West route in the dark was incredible, she said, recalling moments she spent atop mountain passes under a sea of stars.

Finish line

Tortuga reached Waterton Canyon, the end of the trail, on Sept. 14, officially establishing the women’s self-supported northbound Collegiate West FKT at 17 days, nine hours, 58 minutes and 45 seconds.

“It was pretty surreal,” she said.

Her friends met her at the end with a tiara and with heaps of delicious food as she reflected on the journey.

It certainly wasn’t easy, she said, with rough weather, injury and other hurdles often throwing themselves her way. But she did it — because she believed that she could.

“There’s a lot to be gained from just pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone and really going for it,” she said. “I could see myself doing something like this again in the future, establishing an FKT that hasn’t been established by women, yet to attract more attention to it and see who can go crush it after.”