Wildwood trail in Forest Park, Portland, OR is quite magical, to say the least. Barred owls, woodpeckers, slugs and snails, dogs (on- and off-leash!), ultrarunners, hikers, walkers, neighbors, visitors, elite athletes, weekend warriors, and more can be found on the trail. Completing a Wildwood End-to-End (E2E) lets you see it all in one go, and it’s quite the experience. It’s not an easy task, though. If you want to do it, this is your guide.
LEARN THE WILDWOOD BASICS
Wildwood is (about) a 30-mile pedestrian trail that runs along the length of Forest Park from W Burnside Road (Veteran’s Memorial/Zoo) to Newberry Road.
Wildwood is a point-to-point trail (you start in one location and end in a different location) vs. out-and-back (you start and end in the same location).
You can do it in two directions. South (Veteran’s Memorial/Zoo) to North (Newberry Road) or North to South (vice versa). Lingo varies with this. You’ll hear people say “I started at the zoo.” or “I started at Veteran’s.” In my opinion, this is the classic route (South to North).
Learn elevation profile. Elevation profile is how much elevation gain, or “climbing” is on a trail and how much is lost. For Wildwood South to North, the total gain is around 3,000 feet. Google “Wildwood elevation profile” to plan this out. You will see that Pittock Mansion is a climb in BOTH directions!
A note on weather: If you’ve lived in Portland for a bit, you might know the weather patterns very well. I’ve been here since 2014, however, I’m still surprised sometimes when a snow dump happens or when temps reach over 100F! You can do Wildwood any time of the year, however, the spring, early summer, and fall are especially nice to avoid extreme weather conditions.
Wildwood has many connector trails and fire lanes. These are great to learn as you can easily “bail” on Wildwood, meaning, if you aren’t feeling it, you can just take a trail out of the park.
There are 3 sections of Forest Park and Wildwood: A, B, and C (South, Middle, and North). If you don’t think you can complete Wildwood in one go, maybe complete the 3 sections on different days! You can also consider completing multiple segments in multiple days. For example, Veteran’s Memorial to Stone House, Stone House to Saltzman, and more.
There are many landmarks on Wildwood trail including Burnside Bridge, Pittock Mansion, Stone House, Saltzman Road, Germantown Road, and more.
The south end of the trail is much more populated and busy than the north end. The middle of Wildwood is exceptionally quiet. It’s my favorite.
Wildwood has 1/4 mile markers on the trees (blue diamonds as seen in this blogs main picture).
RUNNING VS. WALKING
For experienced runners that have a “base” which is a set cardiovascular fitness level, this might be achievable sooner rather than later! Sometimes, only within 2-3 months of training or less. If you are currently running 20-30 miles/week, this might be you!
If you aren’t a runner and want to hike this, this is a great goal! However, hikers and walkers need a base as well. If you regularly walk and have experience hiking 10+ miles/time, this also might be sooner rather than later.
If you are new to both, I would recommend training over a 6-month period for this or more. People absolutely can do it sooner than that, including those that “wing it,” however, be wary of that as that leads to a HIGH injury risk and, also, it’s just not going to be as fun because it’s going to be extremely hard day-of.
GOAL SETTING
Are you going to hike or run? (see above to help decide)
Do you want to complete it in one day or multiple days? As mentioned, maybe you want to do the three sections in 3 different days.
Why do you want to do this? Write down why and share it with others. Maybe to improve your health and fitness. Maybe to see all of Wildwood in one go. Maybe to connect with nature. All of these are amazing goals.
When are you going to do it? (also see above!). When you decide, SET A DATE, or it might never happen.
If this is your first time hiking or running, I would advise NOT setting a completion time goal. Your goal should be to complete the end-to-end. Period! No “in under 5 hours” goals! If you get were to run it in under 5 hours, then, go you! Surprise yourself, but aim LOW for your first time.
RUNNING TRAINING
Wildwood is basically a 50K trail run. If you are planning on running this, you need to have the mentality that you are training for a 50K! The cool thing, though, is that it’s on your own time. No race day pressure (Although sometimes that adrenaline is a good thing, right?!)
How do you train for a 50K? You need a base as previously mentioned. Base training can last upwards of 12 weeks with the goal of gradually increasing cardiovascular fitness. This includes getting up to 3+ runs/week and progressing at least one long/week. If your goal is Wildwood in the springtime, base training is a great thing do to over the winter.
Base training and training after base (an 8-12+ week training plan) also includes cross training. Cross training is when you work on cardiovascular health and body strength while doing other activities that complement your main goal (running or hiking). This can include the stair climber, biking, walking, and hiking if you are running, swimming, and more. Incorporating some sort of cross training is a must.
Pick a training plan. 50K training plans are very easy to find on the internet. Look around for one. If you are a beginner to ultra-distance, I would recommend a 12+ week training plan. If you are intermediate or advanced, 8 weeks could work at the minimum. However, if you are intermediate or advanced, you already get the gist of what I’m saying.
Training plans should include gradual increases in weekly mileage. For intermediate to advanced plans, this can go up to 50+ miles/week. They generally have 1-2 “rest days” which are frequently on Mondays and Fridays.
Rest days and active recovery days need to be followed strictly to prevent injury.
Wildwood is known to be a “flat” trail if you have ever heard somebody say “Wildwood flat” before. However, as mentioned, there is actually 3K total vert in it if S to N! Hill training doesn’t have to be serious, but definitely incorporate it. Don’t run on flat roads or Leif for all training runs. Work on getting a few weeks of total combined elevation of 3K or more.
A note on speed work: some training plans don’t include it. If this is your first time attempting Wildwood, I mentioned to not go for time, however, I would still incorporate speed work in training to work on running economy and form. Running economy is basically how efficient your running is.
HIKING/WALKING TRAINING
Walking and hiking are less repetitive stress to the body than running, however, if you choose to hike Wildwood, this is still a LARGE amount of load to your body that you need to prepare for.
Please reference the “RUNNING TRAINING” above to get a general sense of the hiking plan. I would say that with hiking, you won’t have to get up to the same miles as running. For example, 50K running plans go up to 22+ mile runs. I would recommend that you have quite a few 10+ mile hikes under your belt. 15+ mile hikes are even better.
With walking and potentially with running (depending on preference), you might do better with going off of time or “time on feet” which is a training concept that means that you are monitoring time rather than miles. For example, if you predict that a Wildwood will take you 11 hours and 42 minutes (the average hiking time), you should start getting used to being on your feet for (I would say) at least half that time or more as a goal.
OTHER PLANNING
SHOE WEAR: Make sure you have broken-in shoes you are going to wear. Don’t wear new trail running shoes for any race or long run like Wildwood. If you are hiking, my recommendation is still trail running shoes, but this is a personal preference.
START TIME: Early. If the average time to hike Wildwood is 11-12 hours, this means start EARLY! With running, you could start later, but make sure you consider the heat.
GEAR: A running vest is a must if you are running Wildwood unless you are doing it assisted. Assisted means that you will have people help you along the way. For example, you could tell a friend to hang out at Saltzman Road with water and snacks. If you are hiking, you need a backpack. Make sure to bring things like a headlamp.
SAFETY: Wildwood is an urban park which means that there are usually people close by! However, there are stretches of Wildwood that are very isolated feeling. If you are doing this unassisted and alone, you need to tell people details of your run despite having service. An awful scenario would be having a health condition mid-run and no one knowing that you’re even doing the run.
TRANSPORTATION: Because Wildwood is a long end-to-end trail, you need to plan carpooling or other transportation. For higher level athletes, some people leave a bike at one end that they lock up and then they drive to the start and ride the bike back. A Lyft or Uber is a nice option. Newberry Road (the North end) has limited cell service, though, so make sure to plan ahead. Lyft, Uber, or a friend to call is a great option when you need to “bail” on the trail (i.e. you can’t finish and end up on Skyline or somewhere like Highway 30). If you are doing it with a friend, drive two cars to the end then ride together to the start.
NUTRITION: This is such a fun topic when it comes to endurance adventures, but it’s a complicated one that takes a little more reading than what I can tell you here! You need a bladder if this is unassisted to get regular water intake. You should never feel thirsty when running or hiking, so make sure to start water intake early. Bring electrolyte tabs. Salt Sticks are great to pop in your mouth. You should also never feel hungry. I recommend that calorie intake should be 150-300 or more/hour. This depends on your size. Gels, energy bloks, and “real food” work well. Like shoe wear, never experiment with this day-of. Test this on long runs or hikes prior to your Wildwood day.
WATCHES: Having a high-tech watch is great for something like this because you can monitor things like pace, total moving time vs. elapsed time, elevation gain, and more. These watches usually are able to link up to Strava which is my favorite activity tracker app. Garmin is my favorite watch brand. Don’t be disappointed if your total mileage of elevation is not exact. GPS as many of us know is not 100% accurate on these.
CONCLUSION
There is so much more information that you need to know about completing this, but these are the basics. If you want more help training or planning a Wildwood E2E, feel free to reach out to me, Brooke, at brookecarmen@wholebodyhealthpt.com, and I’ll get you going! I’d love to have you come in for an evaluation prior so that we can talk about your specific goals, what is realistic for where you are now, how to prevent injury, and more. My coworker, Chloe Hallyburton, PT, DPT is also an excellent resource as she also has E2E under her belt. Wildwood is such a beautiful experience, and if you think you are able to do it, it’s a must for the Portland bucket list.