Bonners Ferry resident hikes over 40 miles in less than 14 hours

BONNERS FERRY — Over the weekend of Sep. 12-13, Benjamin Phillips and Weston Grillo sought out to achieve a fastest known time (FKT) record for the roughly 40-mile hike from McArthur Lake to Priest Lake.

Setting out to climb through the Selkirk Mountains between McArthur and Priest lakes along the 900-mile Idaho Centennial Trail from Nevada to Canada, Phillips, who lives in Bonners Ferry, and Grillo, from Sandpoint, anticipated covering at least 36 miles; they ended up trekking for 41-and-a-half miles.

Alternating between running, walking and climbing as they maneuvered through and around running and hiking trails and treacherous mountain climbs, the ambitious duo completed their journey in just shy of 14 hours, clocking in at 13:56:41.

Some notable landmarks Phillips and Grillo went through or around include White Mountain, Dodge Peak, Fault Lake and Hunt Lake. By the time the two got all the way through, they were covered in cuts and gashes along their arms and legs.

Phillips and Grillo are currently in the process of submitting their time and evidence of completion to the FKT database, and hope to hold the record for a long time to come.