WILD GOOSE
Generous cut-offs, unending trail beauty, rockin' aid station and sweet swag....Join us at Wawayanda State Park in Hewitt, NJ on Friday September 19, Saturday September 20 and Sunday September 21, 2025 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 have panels and a film screening on Friday followed by events on Saturday and Sunday that range from 1 mile all the way up to 100+ 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!
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: Bigger Than the Trail to provide cost-free therapy for folks in need.
100 MILER
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 92.5 gives 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.
TRAIL PARTY DETAILS
You can find all of the information for this event on our website sassquadtrailrunning.com as well as the detailed
Trail Party Schedule:
Friday September 19:
2:00pm - participants, crew, volunteers can start setting up camp
3:30pm - 4:30pm "Crewing 101" panel led by Chaos Crewing
4:15pm - 4:45pm "Women in Trail & Ultra Running" Panel
5:00pm - 6:00pm Check-In, Bib/Swag Pick-up
6:00pm - 7:00pm - Pre-Race Meeting
7:15pm - 8:15pm - Trail Running Film Screening
Saturday September 20, 7am start time with a 36 hour cutoff:
36H
100 Miles
100K
50 Miles
Sunday September 21, 7am start with a 12 hour cutoff
50K
9am start with a 10 hour cutoff:
Half Marathon
10K
Kids 1M
Any participants who are on the course after sunset can have a pacer with them and 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.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Course Maps and GPX files and elevation profiles are available on our website. The Wild Goose course has a little bit of everything - doublewide trails, rolling singletracks, technical sections with rocks and roots, wood plank boardwalks and a bit of road. There are rocks and roots. The entire course is not technical, but there are definitely stretches that are tech-y. Here is the feedback we hear from runners who have gone on the course and live in the northeast–if you live in Northern NJ or the Hudson Valley area, these trails are not super duper technical. For folks coming from NYC, Long Island, Brooklyn etc these trails are much more technical than city-trails and rail trails. For anyone not used to running in the Jersey Highlands or Hudson Valley, unless your home turf is on very mountainous terrain, you will likely find these trails to be challenging in spots with the rocks and roots while runnable in many others with gravel-y trails. There is an average of around 112 ft elevation 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 between September 19, 2024 - September 20, 2025. 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
Before you start driving, look through the route in the app that you are using and make sure that it is bringing you to the park through the main entrance on Warwick Turnpike. It is critical that you take a minute to look at the route before driving. You want it to bring you into Wawayanda at the Park Office; this entrance will always be open. Please use these gps coordinates for the Park Office: 41.198038, -74.397315 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.
Some gps apps will want to take you to the Main Entrance by cutting through the Auxiliary Gate; but this gate will be closed on Saturday and Sunday Morning. AGAIN, PLEASE look at your phone GPS to make sure it is taking you to the main entrance via Warwick Turnpike and not through the park via the Auxiliary Entrance. If you end up at the Auxiliary Gate, it will take another 20 minutes to drive around to Warwick Turnpike. Please read through our Trail Party Handbook to see detailed driving instructions and maps!
SQUATCH KIDS CLUB
We are excited to offer a FREE one mile kids race this year! This family-friendly event will kick off at 9am on Sunday morning. All kids will receive a squatchy medal and a sticker. Ages 3-12; parents/guardians are welcome to join!
.... We want the WHOLE family to come out to our events! Kids under the age of 19 can score 15% off their registration with the code SQUATCHKIDSCLUB. We also have some free entries available for youth athletes; email us to learn more! 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! We recognize and celebrate our young adventurers by giving out wooden star medallions to kids who are registered AND to kids who come to spectate with their families. It's our way of saying thank you for being a part of our community and for embracing the spirit of adventure! We want families to come to our Trail Parties! We have a range of fun games that your family can enjoy: corn hole, connect four, a giant rainbow parachute and the Squatch Hunt. Don't be shy, head on over to the Finish Line and join in on the fun! Learn more about our Squatch Kids Club!
RUCKING DIVISION
Introducing the new Rucking Division for the 36H! We've got two divisions for Rucking based on weight: Lightweight (15 lbs) and Heavyweight (30 lbs). Both divisions are open to men, women, and nonbinary athletes. You gotta use a pack or ruck for carrying the weight (no weight vests!). The 15 lbs or 30 lbs is your pack's "dry weight", so that's weight before you add water, snacks, your umbrella and poncho etc etc. All rucking participants will receive a GoRuck patch!
SQUATCH DISCOUNTS
Sassquad Trail Running is proud to offer 20% off all events to all active duty military and Veterans, teachers and hospital workers. 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 Squatchy Leftovers, Squatchapple, Big Bear North & South, and the 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 21 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 21 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 are able to fill your spot: 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.
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!
Event's current local time: 4:19 PM ET
