Day off run: Wilson River Trail

By Susan Kelley - June 03, 2021

Susan, Cedar the dog, and Ann on the North Fork bridge

Selfie on the North Fork bridge

For our "day off run" at the end of April, we struggled to find something without snow, and ended up on the Wilson River Trail. We started at Elk Creek with the intention of doing the classic route up Elk Mountain. I didn't relish the traverse between Elk and King Mountains after our snowy debacle in April 2018, so we decided to just do an out and back up Elk.

Cloudy background and foggy view of steep hill and trees

Cloudy views

We started up Elk, and were transported back to that cloudy, wet day. Ann had some misgivings, and-- unlike last time when I dismissed them-- I heartily agreed with her and we turned around. We continued on the Wilson River Trail.

Cedar the dog in front of a foggy view of evergreen forest

Cedar loves the Wilson River Trail

We ran to the trail up King Mountain and tried again. And once again, we just weren't feeling it. We decided, just this one last time before we got serious with our training for the Backcountry Rise 50 miler, to let ourselves have a day where we didn't push ourselves too hard, and just enjoyed it. So that's what we did. It was a fun, relaxing day and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly in the vibrancy of spring.

First paintbrush of the year

We only came across a few other people, and we spotted a bald eagle twice in the same spot: just past the bridge at Diamond Mill, swooping at nearly our head level above the river. It's the closest either of us have been to an eagle in the wild, and it was a thrilling experience. All in all, it was another great day on the trails.