Fire closed the second half of the loop three days before the 2026 race, so the course became an out and back: the normal route to Hyak, skipping the Blowout Loop, then back the way it came. It is a little longer than the loop and has more climbing. In the race's own words, you get the Pacific Crest Trail in reverse, the tunnel twice, and the ropes section going up instead of down.
The out and back is slightly longer than the standard loop and has more climbing. The race did not publish a figure for either. It runs the Pacific Crest Trail in both directions, passes through the 2.5 mile Snoqualmie Pass Tunnel twice, and takes the ropes section as a climb rather than a descent.
A hundred miles through Washington's Cascade Mountains, starting and finishing at the fire station in the small town of Easton. The loop runs about thirty miles of the Pacific Crest Trail and passes through the 2.5 mile Snoqualmie Pass Tunnel, with more than 23,000 feet of climbing. It happens under a special use permit through the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and Washington State Parks. Runners line up at the Easton Fire House hoping to come back to a crowd cheering “Welcome back to Easton” as they cross the finish line.
Randy Gehrke founded the race and directed it from 1999 to 2005, setting the course and the low-key atmosphere. Charlie Crissman directed from 2007 to 2012. Rich White directed from 2013 to 2021, fine-tuned the course and worked through several wildfire years. Jess Mullen has directed since 2022. In 2016 the course was changed to wrap around and over Blowout Mountain, which added about 3.2 miles and 1,000 feet of climbing to the original route. In some years fire has closed the back half of the loop and the race has run as an out and back instead.
| Mile | Station | Cutoff | Crew access | Bag | Pacer | Med | To next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 |
Start / Finish
2,140 ft
|
? | ● | ? | ? | ? | 4.50 |
| 4.50 | Goat Peak 1 | ? | · | · | ? | ? | 8.00 |
| 12.50 | Saddle 1 | 1:30pm | · | · | ? | ? | 3.90 |
| 16.40 | Little Bear 1 | ? | · | · | ? | ? | 5.70 |
| 22.10 | Tacoma Pass 1 | 4:15pm | · | ● | ? | ? | 6.50 |
| 28.60 | Snowshoe Butte 1 | ? | · | · | ? | ? | 4.30 |
| 32.90 |
Stampede Pass 1
3,680 ft
|
8:00pm | ● | ● | ? | ? | 7.00 |
| 39.90 | Meadow Mtn 1 | ? | · | · | ? | ? | 5.90 |
| 45.80 | Olallie Meadows 1 | 12:30am | · | · | ? | ? | 5.20 |
| 51.00 |
Hyak
2,550 ft
|
2:15am | ● | ● | ● | ? | 5.20 |
| 56.20 | Olallie Meadows 2 | 4:00am | · | · | ? | ? | 5.90 |
| 62.10 | Meadow Mtn 2 | ? | · | · | ? | ? | 7.00 |
| 69.10 |
Stampede Pass 2
3,680 ft
|
8:30am | ● | ● | ● | ? | 4.30 |
| 73.40 | Snowshoe Butte 2 | ? | · | · | ? | ? | 6.50 |
| 79.90 |
Tacoma Pass 2
3,460 ft
|
12:15pm | ● | ● | ● | ? | 5.70 |
| 85.60 | Little Bear 2 | ? | · | · | ? | ? | 3.90 |
| 89.50 | Saddle 2 | 3:45pm | · | · | ● | ? | 8.00 |
| 97.50 | Goat Peak 2 | 6:30pm | · | · | ? | ? | 4.50 |
| 102.00 |
Finish
2,140 ft
|
8:00pm | ● | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Exit 71 off I-90. Head south off of the exit. At the stop sign, cross Railroad Street and continue onto Cabin Creek Road, curving left up and over railroad tracks to see a big red fire station. Follow parking attendant instructions.
drive.google.comZero your odometer from the south side of Exit 62 overpass. 0.0 miles: leave the south side of Exit 62 interchange, heading W up Stampede Pass Rd (NF-54) for 1.1+ miles; 1.1 miles: stay straight (left fork) on NF-54 at the intersection with NF-5480 for 1.4 miles; 3.5 miles: stay straight (right) on NF-54 at the junction with NF-41 for 1.1 miles; 4.6 miles: arrive at Stampede Pass, aid station on the left (south) side of the road.
Parking. Parking is tight at every aid station. One vehicle per runner.
drive.google.comZero your odometer from Exit 54 underpass. State Park area, so a Washington State Discover Pass is required and there is a fee to park. 0.0 miles: head SSW on SR-906 towards Hyak Drive E for 0.1 miles; 0.1 miles: turn left to stay on SR-906 for 0.4 miles; 0.5 miles: turn right onto NF-906 for 230 feet; 0.5 miles: turn right onto the access road for Snoqualmie Tunnel / State Park Parking for 0.1 miles; 0.6 miles: arrive at a huge parking lot, aid station in the NW corner.
Parking. A Washington State Discover Pass is required and there is a fee to park. Ample space in the state park lot.
drive.google.comSame approach as the outbound stop. Zero your odometer from the south side of Exit 62 overpass and head west up Stampede Pass Rd (NF-54) for 4.6 miles.
drive.google.comZero the odometer from the south side of Exit 62 overpass. If using phone navigation, drive to Exit 62 and follow the NF-52 / NF-41 option: NF-41 is washed out and not passable 5 miles from Easton. 0.0 miles: leave the south side of Exit 62 interchange, heading W up Stampede Pass Rd (NF-52) for 3.5 miles; 3.5 miles: left onto NF-41 for 1.6 miles; 5.1 miles: stay right on NF-41 for 1.8 miles; 6.9 miles: stay left on NF-41 for 0.1 miles; 7.0 miles: stay left on NF-41 for 4.3 miles; 11.3 miles: turn slight right on NF-52 for 1.3 miles, there should be a sign for PCT 1 mile; 12.6 miles: arrive at Tacoma Pass, aid station on the left (south) side of the road.
drive.google.com11 people have been out there with a camera or a microphone.
+ 3 more.
These are other people's work and we link straight to them. Watching costs nothing and needs no account. More of them: every race we hold, on film.
Nobody sees it until we have read it. No account, no sign-in.
This changes nothing on the page on its own. Somebody checks it against the race first.
Somebody watches it before it goes anywhere near this page. What we are after is footage of this course, on the ground. If it would be just as true of any other race, it is not this.
We want the address of the file the race publishes, not the file. We download it from there so the page can say where the line came from.
We read every one of these and we write back. Every fact here carries the source it came from, and the way a wrong one gets fixed is a person checking it against what you tell us.
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