I started at the gate in the Mt. Minsi trailhead parking lot, then ran up the A.T. to the vista sign. Touched the tree the vista sign is on and turned around back the same way. I think touching the vista sign tree is a good definitive landmark to understand where to turn when red lining. As soon as you link back up with the fire road, you take that all the way down to the gate.
I think this route is a beautiful short and sweet compliment to its neighbor across the Deleware river Mt. Tammany. A hard up on techincal terrain, then bomb the fire road down which is double wide, more runnable with some slightly techincal footing. I think descending the fireroad is the wiser, more attractive trail especially with more hikers out now a days. FKTs seem to be sketchy in certain areas with high human traffic in some cases.
Here is my strava data for proof. Gate to vista sign 20:57, Official time gate to gate 35:32
https://www.strava.com/activities/7165495489/overview
