WILD GOOSE
Generous cut-offs, unending trail beauty, rockin' aid station and sweet swag....Join us at Wawayanda State Park in Hewitt, NJ on Saturday September 21 and Sunday September 22, 2024 for the Wild Goose! The 36 hour cutoff for our 100 miler make this a squatchtastic event for those chasing after their first buckle. We will have several events running on Saturday and Sunday, camping at the beach plus local vendors to make this a true Trail Festival! Free camping is available to all participants, pacers and crew on Friday and Saturday evening. We are supporting our non-profit partner, Bigger Than The Trail with this Trail Party!
TRAIL PARTY DETAILS
You can find all of the information for this event on our website sassquadtrailrunning.com as well as the detailed runners handbook.
Events offered:
100 Miles, 7am Saturday-- 36 hour cutoff.
100K-- 7am Saturday 36 hour cutoff.
50 Miles, 7am Saturday-- 36 hour cutoff.
36 Hours, 7am Saturday-7pm Sunday
50K, 7am Sunday-- 12 hour cutoff
Half Marathon, 9am Sunday--10 hour cutoff.
10K, 9am Sunday--10 hour cutoff
1 Mile Kids Run, 9am Sunday (ages 3-12)
Wild Goose 100 milers and 36H runners/hikers can have a pacer join them at mile 63 or at 12AM Sunday (whichever comes first). 100K runners/hikers can have a pacer join them after 12AM if they are still out on the course. As with all of our events, Squatchers over the age of 60 and AWD (athletes with disabilities) can have a pacer/guide at any time.
Free camping is available on Friday and Saturday evening; you can begin setting up camp at 5pm on Friday. Early Check-In is available from 6pm-7pm on Friday at Squatch HQ.
RUNNERS MANUAL
Check out the Wild Goose Runners Manual for all of the deets! After you read through the manual, don't hesitate to reach out to us at trailpartydirector@sassquadtrailrunning.com with any questions you may have.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Course Maps and GPX files are available on our website. The Wild GooseTrail Festival course has a little bit of everything - mellow doublewide trails, rolling singletracks, boardwalks and a bit of road. Here is the feedback we hear from runners who have gone on the course–if you live in Northern NJ or the Hudson Valley area, these trails are very mellow, not technical and relatively flat. For folks coming from NYC, Long Island, Brooklyn ect these trails would be considered moderate and much more technical than city-trails and rail trails. So in the context of northern/NJ - the trails that we are using at Wawayanda State Park are mellow, rolling and not very technical. For anyone not used to running in the Jersey Highlands or Hudson Valley, you’ll likely find these trails to be more challenging than a tow path. There is around 100 ft of elevation gain per mile. The course is made up of three different loops: Checkered 4.75M, Blue 6M and Pink 7.75M. Each event will follow a specific sequence of the loops in order to reach their distance. Please refer to our Runners Handbook for the loop order, elevation profiles and maps.
WILD GOOSE 100
Okay, so what’s with the name, Wild Goose? We’re so glad you asked... One of the possible meanings of the park name Wawayanda is… WAWA= “wild goose” and YANDA= “the way of”.... “The way of the wild goose.” We couldn’t think of a better name for this hundo. You’ll no doubt see plenty of wild geese hanging out at Wawayanda Lake! This is a GREAT first hundo for newbies chasing after their first buckle. With a generous overall cutoff of 36 hours you’re not going to be chasing cutoffs – we only have one cutoff for mile 92.5! We don’t care how long the first 92.5 miles takes you and we don’t want you to be stressed about your pace. A lot can happen over the course of 36 hours; only having 1 cutoff at mile 92.5gives you every opportunity to finish this race and recover if any setbacks come your way. You’ll be well-supported at this hundo with a rockin’ aid station that will be open all 36 hours. Our Volunteer Dream Team will help you get that FINISH, so don’t feel like you have to have a Crew with you. There is 11,275 ft gain and 11,239 ft loss over the 100.25 miles giving you an average of 112 ft gain per mile.
VOLUNTEER REQUIREMENT
All 100 miler and 36 hour participants are required to complete 8 hours of trail work or trail race volunteering. Volunteering must be completed before our Trail Party on September 21, 2024. If you are unable to complete the volunteer hours, you can make a donation to our Charity Partner Bigger Than The Trail for $100. Please use this form to fill out your volunteer hours. You can use this link to make the $100 donation to Bigger Than The Trail if you choose to not complete the volunteer hours.
DIRECTIONS TO WAWAYANDA
Okay, here’s where you really need to read the fine print and pay attention. The address to the main entrance is 885 Warwick Turnpike, Hewitt, NJ. This will bring you to the entrance on Warwick Turnpike, where the park office is located. This entrance will always be open. This is the only way you can enter the park before 10am and after 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. PLEASE look at your phone GPS to make sure it is taking you to this entrance and not the Auxiliary Entrance. If you are unsure, you can also plug in the "Warwick Drive-In Theater" to make sure you get on Warwick Turnpike. The park entrance is a few miles from the Theater.
The Auxiliary Entrance is located at 120 Wawayanda Road, Highland Lakes, NJ. This entrance is ONLY open from 10am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday (the gate is not open during the week). When you enter the park through the main entrance on Warwick Turnpike, follow signs to Wawayanda Lake/The Beach. It will take about 5 minutes to get there from the entrance on Warwick Turnpike.
If you enter the park through the Auxiliary Entrance (remember, that’s only open from 10am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday), continue straight through the gate and then make your first right, following the signs to Wawayanda Lake/The Beach.
The park charges a $5 parking fee per vehicle. We will collect the fees during check-in. Please have exact change or pay via Venmo.
BIGGER THAN THE TRAIL
We are proud to partner with Bigger Than The Trail . BTTT is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that is using trail running as a platform to advocate for mental health. BTTT's mission is to enrich the lives of individuals struggling with mental health. Through their fundraising efforts, BTTT provides free therapy to those in need! Please consider making a donation to BTTT when you register for this squatchy trail party.
SASSQUAD TRAIL RUNNERS
We are a community of SASQUATCH-lovin' trail runners and hikers. Our goal is to provide FUN and challenging events for runners of all ages and paces. We like to think that we have a good sense of humor, a full arsenal of sarcastic wit, useless trivia facts and a deep appreciation for cinematic masterpieces (as evidenced multiple times already). Follow us on Instagram , and like us on Facebook to get all of our Squatchy updates. You can also join our Facebook group, "Sassquad Trail Runners" to connect with other runners and hikers!
FAMILIES, SENIORS, MILITARY, FRONTLINE & CLUB MEMBERS
We want the WHOLE family to come out to our events! We have a special discount code for families registering 3 or more Squatches in the same household. Please email trailpartydirector@sassquadtrailrunning.com before you register so we can give you the code! Sassquad Trail Running is proud to offer 20% off all events to all active duty military and Veterans. Must provide proof of service. Please email trailpartydirector@sassquadtrailrunning.com before you register for an event so we can provide you with a discount code. We extend a 10% discount to our Wise Elder Squatch Squad (folks who are over the age of 60); email us for the the code! New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Members and South Mountain Conservancy members can receive 10% off of registration; please email us for the discount code!
TRAIL MIX FUND
Do you want to race but can’t afford the entry fee? Are you a part of the BIPOC or LGBTQ+ community?
"Apply to the Trail Mix Fund to have your registration fee waived!" Sassquad Trail Running is proud to partner with the non-profit the Trail Mix Fund for the Squatchapple, Big Bear North & South, Sterling Squatch and Wild Goose. Founded in 2020 by our friends in Oregon at Go Beyond Racing, the Trail Mix Fund uses donations to help people who are under-served, under-resourced, and under-represented. This includes people of color and LGBTQ+, but is not restricted to those communities.
SKRATCH
We are excited to share that our friends over at Skratch Labs are official Sassquad sponsors! We will be proudly serving Skratch Hydration at our aid stations. Sassquaders can save 20% by using the code SASSQUAD24 at skratchlabs.com
REFUNDS/DEFERRALS
Like many other race organizations, we do not offer refunds for our events. Please take the time to double check your calendar before registering for a Trail Party. Please understand that we do not offer refunds under any circumstances. If you notify us via email (not through social media, text or phone call) more than 45 days from the date of the Trail Party, we will extend a deferral to any of our events that fall within one calendar year of the Trail Party that you were registered for. If you sustain an injury less than 45 days from the race date, we will extend a deferral if you come to that race to volunteer for at least 4 hours. If the race that you want to drop from is sold-out with an active wait-list and if you notify us via email (not through social media, text or phone call) at least 3 days before the race, we will extend a deferral to any of our events that fall within one calendar year of the Trail Party that you were registered for. The race credit is the amount that you paid for the race (not including UltraSignUp fees) so you will need to cover any difference in fees; refunds will not be issued if the deferred event costs less than your race credit. You can only defer one time so please doublecheck that you can make the race you're deferring to.
Event's current local time: 9:45 PM ET
