On January 27, 2016, I decided to run the WRT from Keenig Creek parking to Idiot Creek Loop Rd and back to Keenig. Starting at about 5:20 am, I would be running in the dark for more than 2 hours. Sunrise wasn't until I hit Diamond Mill. The rest of the day though would be in daylight with mostly cloudy skies with temps in the mid 40s to mid 50s. My shoe for the day would be Altra Olympus to give my knees a break from all of the climbs I would encounter, although stability was somewhat lacking with these shoes. For the day I used 4 strawberry Clif Shot blocks, 1 rice burrito, and 8 bottles of 20oz Gatorade. One drop was placed at Kings TH crossing and was accessed twice. I placed Merrell Trail Glove shoes in this drop, picked them up when I got there, packed them the 4 miles to the Creek Ford and than packed them back.
Here is are some segment details of the run:
Keenig-Footbridge: Starting at 5:20 am, it was dark, but I was able to run the switchbacks up to the ridge. I didn't notice the trail closed sign that I saw on Jan 1, but I saw it on the way back. Three slides were still there along the ridge but were passable. No snow remained on the trail, but the trail was very soft, making it easy to roll an ankle on the Altra Olympus shoes. I also had to be careful on the slick bridges on these shoes. Upon crossing the gravel road, I saw many logging trucks heading up that road.
Footbridge-Jones Creek: This is a relatively flat section and it was nice to lengthen the stride a bit. There were still a few hills though.
Jones Creek-Diamond Mill: Dawn was coming and soon it would become lighter outside making travel a little faster I hoped.
Diamond Mill-Kings: The long ascent up to the ridge is always a challenge and I always look for that rock face to tell me I have reached the ridge. I saw deer in the forest on this section and that was nice.
Kings-Elk: I accessed the drop bag, dropped my headlamp off, filled hydration bottles, grabbed shot blocks and got Merrell Trail Glove shoes for the Elk creek fording. The climb up from Dog Creek never fails to challenge me.
Elk-Idiot Creek Loop Rd: It was nice to have some relatively gradual uphill running before I reached the Elk creek fording experience after 1/2 mile. There is a sign that you can't miss for the crossing. This time of year, the water is deep and you can't hop rocks. Since I didn't to soak my socks (prevent blisters) and didn't want to soak my Altra shoes, I switched out to my Merrell Trail Glove shoes and forded Elk Creek to knee deep icy water, trying not to scrape against rocks too much or fall and soak my gear. I switched into Altra shoes again.
From there it is 3 miles up, up, up to the top of a ridge. It surprised me how the switchbacks kept going up and up. The highest middle peak on the first picture of this page tells the story!
I reached Idiot Creek Loop road with a time of 5:34.
Idiot Creek Loop Rd-Elk: This was a realy fun section, tearing 3 miles down the switchbacks to Elk Creek. Again I switched out to my Merrell shoes and forded the Creek. I saw a forest working hiking the lower section inspecting some small slides. Then I switched back to the Altra shoes.
Elk-Kings: The wall came quickly on this section, so I got shot blocks and gatorade, although I had to hike more than I would have liked.
Kings-Diamond Mill: Here I dropped off my Merrell shoes, picked up my headlamp just in case I were to slow down a lot, and picked up rice burritos. The rice burrito were great for giving me energy for the rest of the run--the complex carbs lasted hours. After than it was just gatorade. Sure the climb to the ridge was tough but I power hiked up and teared down to the bridge. It started to sprinkle on this section, but not enough to put on a rain jacket.
Diamond Mill-Jones Creek: I enjoyed taking a peak at the short waterfall visible along the first part of this segment.
Jones Creek-Footbridge: More light rain and sprinkles happened on this segment. This was a fast section do to few short hills. The Wilson River was full and impressive, giving a welcome distraction to the muscle and Achilles soreness.
Footbridge-Keenig: I heard more logging trucks up ahead during the first mile, but a didn't see any trucks. It shounded like they were logging in the hills above the trail somewhere. I alternated running/power hiking for the uphills and ran everything else. My finish time was 11:24, with 5:34 for the first half and 5:50 for the second half. I stopped my GPS watch at 11:25 when I got to the car. Strava only gave me 9:56 for the 51 miles it logged with 12,278 ft elevation gain. I felt the 51 miles and 12,278 ft gain were accurate though. The 11:24 includes a 5 min aid stop at Kings1 and 6 min aid stop at Kings 2, and two 10 minute stops to trade shoes and navigate the fording of Elk Creek. I guess the 9,734 calories burned explained by I had supper at 6:00 pm, then again at 8:30 pm, then again at 9:15 pm!
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