Wildwood Trail (OR)

[yassine]

I know this isn't the longest or most difficult trail but on 11/20/11 I set out to lay down a time for a point-to-point record on the well-known Wildwood Trail in Portland's Forest Park. The trail is just over 30-miles and I ran it from Newberry Rd. to the zoo.

You can read my report and view the gps data, etc. here.... yassinediboun.com/yassinediboun/blog/item/wildwood-end-to-end-speed-record?category_id=379

***Update--- On Easter Sunday 2012 I set the out-and-back speed record starting from the zoo--to Newberry Rd.---then back for 60.5 miles in 8 hours 48 minutes.

Report/GPS data/Video can be seen on the following link: yassinediboun.com/yassinediboun/blog/item/wildwood-end-to-end-to-end-speed-record-605-miles?category_id=379

[Meaghan McCluskey]

Like Yassine a few years ago, I realize this is not the longest or even the most difficult, but I have been inspired by many and after a disappointing run a couple weeks ago, I intend to lay down a time. Who knows what the women's time is?
I'll update my time post run.
I intend to set out from the north end of the park on Newberry Road and head south along Wildwood trail to the zoo/ Vietnam Memorial at just past 7 am tomorrow, Monday the 28th of September.

[Meaghan McCluskey]

Not the day I wanted, but had a great day in the woods. Relaxed and controlled was the name of the game from the start. All HR based. Didn't look at time or anything. Fell HARD at about 26- Limped into the finish to be under 5 hours. Ready to tackle it again in a few months. But a nice confidence booster, knowing I was on pace for a super day until the fall. But hey, that's the nature of the trail sometimes.

[duncanhoge]

First time posting. Joined after FKT came up on a search. I went for this last year but went for the Strava time, not the actual FKT.

I'm announcing an attempt that I'll be making:

DATE: May 20, 2017, 7 or 7:30am start.
ATTEMPT TYPE: Self-Supported (I will be carrying everything, but a few friends may drop in and run with me while I am on the trail)
ROUTE: North to South, end-to-end, Newberry Road to where to trail stops at the Zoo parking lot.

Route Note: There is a slight deviation I know of already - I will have to detour across the Pittock Mansion parking lot since the trail near that area was lost in a slide. According to GaiaGPS the difference is negligible (116 feet), but I do recognize that this does involve some pavement that wouldn't normally be there. 

Normal Route
Detour Route

Was going to attempt this in June, but saw that there will be trail closures starting June 1 and I do not want to deviate from Wildwood (besides the aforementioned detour).

We'll record with the following:
- Photo at Start/Finish with possibly a few en route.
- GPX from my Garmin Fenix 3

Hope it will be a nice day and I'll see some folks out there!

[duncanhoge]

I am not going to be attempting Wildwood today after all. I've been nursing an injured hamstring after Smith Rock Ascent this past weekend and haven't been able to get over it in time. I hope to make an attempt later this summer if the closures on Wildwood aren't too bad.

[Tyler Green]

I've had a Wildwood FKT attempt on my list for a while now, and finally got down to doing it today! Had a great time in the forest despite worrying that I'd taken it out too hard. Figured I'd build up a surplus of time in case the climbs at the end got to me. My goal was 3:30, but I pushed the whole day and finished in 3:22:01!! Totally unsupported, had a Nathan Waistpak with three soft hydration flasks and held another one. Perfect amount of fluids. Consumed 3 gels and 1 package of shotbloks. Weather was a little warm so I started early at 6:10am. Still some mud on the trails and few trees down, but for the most part it's fast and ready for summer training. Jumped the barrier that's block the trail near Pittock to make sure I was on the trail the whole time. Had Rachel Drake drop me off and shuttle the car to Washington Park...I'm encouraging her to set a mark for the women's FKT.

Now that I read about Duncan's attempt, I wish he'd made his attempt yesterday to make things interesting!

GPS data: www.strava.com/activities/999482412

[Rachel Drake]

Hello trail friends!

I set out to run a fast Wildwood End to End (North to South) today, and after a Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat Pancake breakfast I got started around 9 AM. Tyler Green dropped me off at the Newberry trailhead before church and I told him I'd try to be to the zoo between 1:15 and 1:45 PM as I was shooting for sub-4:30 (Melissa Cox's current record on Strava from Dec 31, 2015). It was a great misty magical morning in Forest Park and there were lots of people out playing! I ended up seeing (I think) the WyEast Sisterhood, Desiree Marek, Chris Derrick and so many tiny puppies!

I went through the halfway point in 1:52, and was at 2:30 with 10 miles to go. I carried a backpack and a bladder of water, but ended up drinking only a quarter of a liter (yikes, sorry kidneys) and consumed two huma gels and a sleeve of shotbloks. Tyler was at Germantown and offered me water and encouragement, I accepted the encouragement but not the water.. because unsupported! But full disclosure, he did take my longsleeve and gloves which I decided I didn't need, so you can be the judge on my unsupported/supported purity there. I struggled to get some sideaches under control in the early miles and suffered up the latter climbs up to Pittock mansion and the zoo, but hey it wouldn't be a proper adventure without some suffering, right? The trail was in decent condition considering the time of year, but the classic muddy spots were slick as expected. I ended up with a final time of 3:52.11! Tyler scooped me up from the zoo and then we serendipitously ran into Jordan Carey and the three of us went out to Ramen. It was a great day! I'd love to see some more speedy ladies lower the Women's FKT, I'm happy to chat with anyone interested! Happy trails!

GPS data: www.strava.com/activities/1346112295