On Tue, Dec 29, 2015, Janessa Taylor and myself set out to attempt a new FKT on the Wilson River Traverse. As posted before, the route is 45.2mi with 7,900ft of elevation gain if you do it in a yo-yo fashion (out-and-back). The following OregonHikers page has a lot of useful info about the traverse: http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Wilson_River_Traverse_Hike. Note that there is also a great race on parts of the route: https://gobeyondracing.com/races/elk-kings-25k-50k.
Wilson River Traverse overview map.
We started at 6:30am from the Elk Creek Trailhead. It was snowing, but the temperature was about 35F. Our biggest worry was the snow levels higher up, the weather forecast showing a winter advisory, and the possibility of a very wet day. We packed plenty of layers, gloves, food, and headed out in good spirits.
6:30am start at the Elk Creek Trailhead.
The first ~4mi are pretty easy, then the first big climb starts. We hit snow rather soon. It was the wet-and-heavy-kind-of-crappy “cascade concrete.” There were about 4 inches only, but running was hard and put a lot of strain on both the feet and legs. The hope to bomb down on the other side into Diamond Mill was quickly destroyed. On the positive side, the snow and rain had stopped by then, yet, our feet were soaking wet and cold from the snow.
We also saw a bunch of impressive elk and what we think were cougar tracks. That made us move a little faster.
Grinding up in the crappy snow.
After 4h38min we reached the halfway point at Keenig Creek (also called Jordan Creek, it seems). Sadly, we were not exactly on record course. We had exactly 5h22min left for the way back if we wanted to beat the current record of 9h30min.
At the Keenig Creek Trailhead, the halfway and turnaround point (22.6mi). We lost precious minutes by using the fancy bathroom in the back of the image.
Unfortunately, there was more snow on the shady uphills on the way back, which further slowed us down. Some of the snow on the sunnier parts had melted out, but it was mostly on the downhills, which were faster anyway.
It’s a slippery slope!
At the Wilson River-Kings Mountain Trail Junction, 3.5mi before the finish, we had about 38min left and thought we could possibly make it under 9h30min. Yet, that was overly optimistic because there is still a fair amount of climbing to do. Despite a strong finish, we only reached the Elk Creek Trailhead in 9:39:24. So, to the best of my knowledge, my 2014 time of 9h30min (solo, unsupported, see Strava entry) still is the current fastest known time (FKT). Who’s next?
The GPS track.
Elevation profile. The GPS logged short by about 5mi.