The 50 mile's ground as far as See Canyon, then home from there. The race calls it over 90 percent singletrack.
The 50K is over 90 percent singletrack and shares the 50 mile's ground as far as See Canyon, which means the same rocks: "This may be the most rugged trail you will ever run." Christopher Creek comes in the first mile and can be calf deep. The race calls this distance a 50K, and its own aid station chart puts the finish at 29.7 miles. Trekking poles are allowed.
The Zane Grey races are run on the Highline Trail, below the Mogollon Rim in Arizona's Tonto National Forest, and both distances start and finish at Mountain Meadow Ranch in Christopher Creek. The 50 mile is about 86 percent singletrack, crosses Christopher Creek in the first mile, turns around at the Tonto Creek Fish Hatchery and climbs the Military Sinkhole Trail onto the Rim itself before dropping back down. The 50K covers the same ground as far as See Canyon and comes home from there. The race's own guide is plain about what is underfoot: rocks, fallen trees, overgrowth, erosion, river crossings, and more rocks.
Pat McKenzie founded the run after learning that the Highline Trail, which runs from just south of Pine to several miles east of Christopher Creek and was made a National Recreation Trail in 1979, is almost exactly fifty miles long. Six runners covered the whole trail in a day on 5 May 1990. Shortly after that first running, a lightning fire destroyed Zane Grey's cabin near the trail, burned 24,000 acres and 21 miles of the trail, destroyed 63 homes and killed six firefighters. For most of its life the race started at the Pine Trailhead and ran east. There was no edition in 2020. In 2021, 2022 and 2023 it was run as a 100K, point to point from Pine to the Rim Top Trailhead. In 2024 it came back to fifty miles, moved its start and finish to the 70 acre Mountain Meadow Ranch property in Christopher Creek, took in more of the maintained Highline Trail and left out the Hell's Gate burn area. A shorter second distance has run alongside it ever since: a marathon in 2024, 27 miles in 2025, and the 50K in 2026.
| Mile | Station | Cutoff | Crew access | Bag | Pacer | Med | To next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | Mountain Meadow Ranch | ? | ● | ● | ? | ? | 8.20 |
| 8.20 | Upper Tonto Creek Campground | ? | ● | · | ? | ? | 7.30 |
| 15.50 | Hatchery Trailhead | 12:00pm | ● | ● | ? | ? | 4.30 |
| 19.80 | Horton Springs | ? | · | · | ? | ? | 8.00 |
| 27.80 | See Canyon Trailhead | ? | · | · | ? | ? | 1.90 |
| 29.70 | Mountain Meadows Ranch | ? | ● | ● | ? | ? | ? |
The hamlet of Christopher Creek is 20 miles up Highway 260 from Payson. Once in Christopher Creek, take Mountain Meadows Drive, which is right next to the Creekside Steakhouse. Follow the dirt road and take a left at all the Y intersections. It is about a half mile up the road.
zanegrey50.comParking. Park at the Derrick Trailhead parking lot or at Lower Tonto Creek Campground. Vehicles should drive with care: runners cross the road to and from the trail.
From Highway 260, turn left onto Zane Grey Highway / NF289, across from Kohl's Ranch. Continue 4.3 miles up the hill to the aid station.
zanegrey50.com10 people have been out there with a camera or a microphone.
+ 2 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.
Cutoffs move, races get postponed, lotteries open and close. We read the race's own sources and record where every fact came from. Put your email in and we will send you what changed, and where we read it.
No account, and nothing to cancel.
What happens to your email. Nothing else. I do not sell it, and I will not send you anything except this race changing. One click gets you out.
I keep this catalog because the information is scattered and hard to trust. Telling you when it moves is the same job.
NavRun builds your pacing from your own training, then turns it into a plan your crew can follow: when to leave and where to park.
Start free
