The trip to Wolf Den Run went rather well this year. We had perfect weather and the park was generally really dry. Several of the trails do have puddles or wet sections that are spring fed and therefore are almost always at least damp. But the trails that are often slippery such as 2103 were really dry so there was lots of traction.
Friday I got to the park a bit earlier than expected. I checked in at the ranger station and talked to the folks there to see if anything had changed in the park since last time I was there. They said that they hadn’t been opening new trails recently.
I met up with jbartels and we set off to scout a bit so I could come up with a plan for Saturday. I was also curious about his Subaru, so after discussing it, there was a little bit of “can the Subaru do this or this or that” as a way to judge what would make sense for the group Saturday and what didn’t, since I do try to avoid something that I know will get a bunch of people stuck. We did all the blue trails I was planning with the group, and he really only struggled on one hill in the 1200 section, and that wasn’t a problem, I just planned to do it in the opposite direction so we’d go down instead of up in that section. We also checked out a possible lunch spot for Saturday in North Hill, but the creek that runs through there was barely moving and there was too much stagnant water and a lot of bugs, so I decided it wasn’t going to be suitable for this trip.
Friday night camping was good, the weather was perfect for camping.
Saturday everyone was ready to go on time, so we started with the North Hill area of the park. We went in on 1102 which is a nice low-blue trail, then up 1101 and then picked up 1110. I think 1110 is one of the most fun trail segments in North Hill, but since it’s not on the park maps it doesn’t seem to get a lot of traffic, so it hasn’t eroded or gotten torn up since I last drove it. We did the 1106 climb, then looped around the green outer loop of 1104, which is a nice trail. We then went down on 1103, which is technically a black trail, but it’s not hard going down hill.
We then headed down Coal Haul Road and did the 1200 trails. While small, this area of the park is becoming my favorite set of trails. There’s some interesting spots, fun climbs and/or descents, depending on which way you drive some of the loops, and a fun off-camber section on 1204 that can really feel sketchy depending again on which way you go. This section is also not heavily traveled since it’s also not on the park maps and has only been open a couple of years now. Some parts of it were even getting a bit grown in, though still not quite causing the kind of pinstripes that Wolf Den used to be known for. 2101 is a fun loop in that section with a really fun steep climb that kind of snakes up the hill and between a couple of boulders. I caused a little confusion when we had some people skip the 1204 loop with the off camber and some people do it. It worked out fine, but I need to think that bit out again in the future. Also someone managed to drive off leaving his wife behind in the woods (she did catch up pretty quickly).
We then left the 1200 area and drove the rest of the way down Coal Haul and ate lunch at the picnic tables in the Potomac River section. I’m not sure, but I think the park has changed up the access to the tables and made it easier to get to several of them, even if they still don’t allow driving back to the furthest spot.
After lunch we drove 2103, the Jeep badge of honor trail, then looped up 2105 to the slag pile. The slag pile offers a bunch of short hill climbs that vary from gentle to scary steep. They all end in the same area, so it’s a driver’s choice thing. From there we drove around to 2202, which is a green trail but has an amusing off-camber section. From there we headed back down the hill on 2101 and out for the day.
Camping again was really nice, perfect weather.
Sunday morning Ken and I set out to do some of the black trails, with Matt riding with Ken, so just two trucks. We started with 2400, the fun black climb from Coal Haul road up to the green loop of 2401. On the way up this trail, I didn’t try to straddle a deep gully in one of the switchbacks. This has gotten deeper than the last time I did it. As a result, my truck slid sideways a little and I got hung up on a rock step that is a lot bigger than it used to be. I was very off camber and was seriously worried about flopping the truck onto its side. The ball indicator on my dash showed that I was a bit beyond 30 degrees to the side as well as being nose up, and unable to drive forward. Matt and Ken came up and put some rocks behind my downhill rear tire, which allowed me to roll gently back a couple of feet and raise the tire, which leveled the truck enough for me to get out and we rigged my winch. We also put a few rocks in front of my tire to keep the truck from leaning back downwards. With the rocks in place, the winching itself was uneventful.
After getting to the top, we drove around the loop and came back down the same way. On the way down Ken and I both straddled that spot and it was uneventful. From there, we drove to Potomac River to do the black trails there. While I’ve done the black trails in that area before, we did a route that was partly new to me and I really liked for the future. We started on 2301 then took the one-way climb up 2302. From there we went around on 2301 in a clockwise direction which made most of the tricky spots downhill. I was a bit tired, so doing it the easier way was good, I think. We then turned right and went up 2305 and then out 2304 back to the green trails and out of the park for the day. This route avoids the deepest mud on 2301 as well, which is nice since the Wolf Den mud is really sticky and always seems hard to wash off the truck.
Overall, a really successful trip, and I hope everyone had a good time
Trail Report written by Kirk Adams. Pictures contributed by Jesse Bartels, Steve Schueler, Viran Senevirathe, Brett Gearing, Matt Malone, and Ken Kyler . GPS Tracks provided by Jendra Rambharos and Ben Dunkerton.