pilot mountain every single trail

At 2,421 feet, Pilot Mountain juts up prominently from the piedmont north of Winston-Salem, NC. Pilot Mountain State Park encompasses more than just this peak. It has a postman route of 32 miles and 4,300' climb thanks to trails along the Yadkin River linked by corridor trail.

A 30 minute drive separates the southern and northern termini of this route. There's also a 19-mile gap between potable water. So it's more practical to do the run with some support. Thankfully, my parents and son agreed to help. They'd meet me at the corridor and at the finish.

My goal was to average better than 10 minute pace, but there'd be speed bumps along the way: trail navigation and sightseeing (per usual), a warmer day, river ford and sustained 1,500' climb. First up would be the Yadkin crossing. The park site lists Yadkin Islands Trail as follows:

Hikers may cross the river at your own risk to explore the islands in the river, which are unmarked and unblazed. Do not attempt to cross the river if you cannot see the bottom. 

The Elkin gage was about 2.5 ft when I started from Ivy Bluff TH on the south side of the Yadkin River at 8:32 am. The water was up to my upper thighs and the current was gentle on all three crossings. But I lost the overgrown trail multiple times on both islands, making for slow going.

The well-groomed trails across the river were a joy to run. I tried to make up for lost time to my first and only aid 10 miles in at the start of the corridor. I filled water and swapped out wet shoes and socks for dry ones. There was plenty of room in a new prototype postman pack for other stuff.

I didn't have to worry about navigation for a good 6 miles along the corridor, which was nice. I passed three friendly groups of equestrians along this roller coaster of a trail. Once in the mountain section, I could feel the heat of this sunny day get seemingly amplified by recent wildfire.

The number of hikers (and climbers) increased dramatically along Grindstone and Ledge Springs. Turkey vultures soared around panoramic Jomeokee. I reflected on my first and only official(?) race that I directed 19 years ago in these beautiful mountains: the Sauratown Trails 50-miler.

My pace picked up on the descent to Mountain Trail, but I could tell that my target time of 5:23 was no longer in reach, the speed bumps had taken their toll! I finished at the Pilot Creek TH in 5:40:12. I'm pretty happy with this and besides, I'm still a work in progress ;-)

NC state park postal runs:

2/5/2022	Umstead	35	2,885	5:15:34
3/6/2022	Umstead	36.6	3,072	5:30:02
3/20/2022	Eno River	34.8	3,203	5:23:30
4/1/2022	Morrow Mtn	35.2	4,291	6:06:50
4/10/2022	Medoc Mtn	30.9	1,534	4:55:44
4/24/2022	Pilot Mtn	32.3	4,219	5:40:12
5/1/2022	Raven Rock	37.1	4,038	6:51:06
5/21/2022	Stone Mtn	28.6	5,972	5:55:40
6/11/2022	Hanging Rock	44.6	8,406	9:55:19
9/9/2022	South Mtns	70	14,000	16:06:23
10/22/2022	Umstead	36.6	3,072	5:10:48