Running Wild on Virginia's Wild Oak Trail

At 26 Miles and with over 7,500 ft of elevation change the incredible Wild Oak Trail is enough to prepare even the tamest of city dwellers for any of the rugged Ultras the East Coast has to offer.  The trailhead is a bit of a haul from the DC area, it took me over 2 hours to drive there on an early Friday morning, though time went by fast.  After circling up with my fellow runners, we headed out right on time.

The Parking area and trailhead at North River Gap.

The trail starts off unassumingly but within a mile or so starts climbing up up up on Grindstone Mountain.  It would soon turn into a pattern of hiking up, a bit of flat area to run across, and then a steep decent back down.  While you need to stay focused on the trail immediately ahead of you, its also worth taking the time to stop and take in the vistas on your left and right.  We were approaching Little Bald Knob at this point, featuring some of the best views on the trail.

The weather was great out, dry and in the 70s, a far cry from the typical hot and humid summers Virginia experiences.  We only had 1 water fill up spot on the entire run, so despite having a 2 liter camelbak full of fluid with me I was careful to conserve.

After the first set of up and down we came to our first stream crossing.

We soon came to a low point where we had our first creek crossing.  Had the water level been higher we would have gotten our feet wet, but a fairly dry summer made for some easy tip-toeing across the stream.

Soon after this we started another significant climb.  These climbs made for great training, easily a mile or 2 of sustained uphill at a time which all required hiking.  The trail was overgrown with brush on the sides which made it tough to get through unscathed.  Now I can see what a lot of people wear leg sleeves - I will wear my calf sleeves for future runs here.

Several of us, myself included, were running out of water which was of concern, but we soon arrived at our mid-point aid area.  After filling up I knew I needed to ration my water out more slowly, however this is tough since I feel like I sweat and drink more than most runners.

Back up on the ridge before Little Bald Knob there were incredible views all around.
The border between Virginia and West VA is in there somewhere.

Plenty of steep sections, some quite rugged and rocky.

We continued on up the climb to Big Bald Knob, steep and rocky, but worthy of a resting stop at the top.  We had another decent down Dividing Ridge, and then a hike back up Hankey Mountain to enter a service road.  Here we began a long steady descent that made for some great downhill running where I was able to average 8 minute miles in some sections.  The trail would become technical again and very rocky in some sections, but also give way to a side trail with an overlook offering a panorama of the valley.  I think this spot was referred to as something like "Lookout Point" (very original).

I was again almost out of water but with only a few miles left I wasn't too worried.  I rejoined the trail and continued on downhill, soon making one last water crossing via a pedestrian bridge.

A panoramic view off the official Lookout Point.

While I knew I was at most a couple miles out, I still checked and rechecked the map to make sure I was making the right turns.  I did, and soon could here some road traffic.  I popped out in the North River Gap parking area to join a group of runners who started the trail earlier in the day and in the opposite direction.  While the run was by no means "easy", I felt strong throughout, even after a week of high mileage; given more aid stations and water fill-ups I would have felt comfortable pushing it harder, or doing another loop at a slower pace.  I'll welcome the cooler, drier fall weather for this type of terrain as well.

The last stream crossing had a convenient suspension
bridge for pedestrians to keep their feet dry!

What an awesome run! I can see why hardcore Ultra-Runners come out here to run, even for multiple loops of the Wild Oaks Trail.  The Virginia Happy Trails Club offers a couple of low-key 50k races and an almost unheard of 100 miler here.  I can now look forward to at least some familiarity with the Grindstone course.

Looking back, past the farmlands to the mountains.