⏵ Course guide · Cascade foothills season finale
Grand Ridge closes out the Evergreen Trail Runs season with 5,600 feet of climbing on the 50K, stacking two roughly 14-mile loops and one 5-mile loop through Cascade foothills forest near Issaquah. I will walk you through the loop structure and cutoff ladder first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for repeated technical climbing. There are free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official Evergreen Trail Runs event page. Check the current year details and cutoffs before you commit. Race logistics change year to year.
All distances start from the Highpoint Way Trailhead and follow the Issaquah-Preston Trail for half a mile before the climb begins. From there, the course splits into a 5-mile lollipop loop and a longer loop, closer to 14 miles than 13, that the race calls its "half marathon."
Rocky, technical switchbacks bring you up to the 5-mile course junction almost immediately. The 5-mile runners peel off onto their lollipop loop, while Half, Full, and 50K runners continue up Grand Ridge, detouring out to the Flowing Fir Trail before rejoining the main trail toward the Duthie Aid Station.
Full Marathon runners complete two loops of the half-marathon course. 50K runners complete two loops of the half-marathon course plus one loop of the 5-mile course, which is how the 50K reaches 5,600 feet of gain against the half marathon's 2,200 feet. Each repeat means facing the same technical early switchbacks again with accumulated fatigue.
The 50K has aid stations at approximately miles 2.5, 8, 12, 14, 16, 22, 25, and 27, stocked with water, Tailwind, Clif product, PBJ sandwiches, fruit, cookies, crackers, and pretzels. This is a cupless race, so bring your own refillable container. The trail stays open to hikers and cyclists throughout the event, so stay aware on the shared sections.
The 50K's four intermediate cutoffs, at mile 13.1, 20, 24, and 26, mean you need to stay ahead of pace throughout the race, not just at the finish.
Starting at 7:30 AM, you have 4 hours 15 minutes to complete the second loop by 11:45 AM. A grade-adjusted pace target for the technical early switchbacks gives you an honest sense of whether your first loop pace can repeat, rather than banking on adrenaline to carry a second identical climb.
With cutoffs at Duthie Hill (mile 20, 1:30 PM) and Grand Ridge Aid (mile 24, 2:45 PM) before the final-loop cutoff at mile 26, a vert-aware finish prediction checked against each of these gives you room to adjust effort early rather than discovering a problem at the last possible checkpoint.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
Early November in the Cascade foothills usually runs cool and damp, so plan your fueling around sustained effort rather than heat.
Aim for roughly 50 to 75 grams of carbohydrate per hour. With eight aid stations on the 50K spaced fairly evenly, you have frequent chances to top off Tailwind and Clif product, PBJ, and other snacks, so plan your own supply for the gaps between rather than carrying everything at once.
Sodium in the 300 to 500 mg per liter range covers most runners for a typical cool, wet November day in the Cascade foothills. Adjust upward only if conditions run unusually warm or you sweat heavily on the technical climbing sections.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and a cool Cascade foothills day with the free ultra fueling calculator. Browse the rest of the free running tools at the tools hub.
⏵ Train for it with Summit Line
Get a race-day plan built around YOUR fitness, this exact Grand Ridge loop profile, and your projected splits against each cutoff. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for repeated technical climbing, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
The 50K climbs 5,600 feet across three stacked loops, two trips around a roughly 14-mile "half marathon" loop plus one 5-mile lollipop, on rocky, technical switchbacks up from the Highpoint Way Trailhead. As the season finale for Evergreen Trail Runs, it draws their largest field of the year, and the four-stage cutoff ladder (mile 13.1, 20, 24, and 26) shows the organizers expect the back of the pack to need real pacing discipline to stay ahead of the 5 PM close.
The 50K gains 5,600 feet, built from repeating the same loops used by the shorter distances: the 5-mile lollipop gains about 1,200 feet, the roughly 14-mile half-marathon loop gains about 2,200 feet, the Full Marathon (two half-marathon loops) gains 4,400 feet, and the 50K adds the 5-mile loop on top for 5,600 feet total. Rocky, technical switchbacks off the start account for a meaningful share of that climbing right from the gun.
Early November in the Cascade foothills usually means cool, wet fall conditions. Aim for roughly 50 to 75 grams of carbohydrate per hour and sodium in the 300 to 500 mg per liter range for typical late-fall Pacific Northwest temperatures. The 50K has eight aid stations, at approximately miles 2.5, 8, 12, 14, 16, 22, 25, and 27, stocked with water, Tailwind, Clif product, PBJ sandwiches, fruit, cookies, crackers, and pretzels, but this is a cupless race, so bring a refillable container to use at each stop. Build your numbers with the free ultra fueling calculator before race day.
The 50K has a staged cutoff ladder: 11:45 AM to complete the second loop (mile 13.1), 1:30 PM at the Duthie Hill Aid Station (mile 20), 2:45 PM at the Grand Ridge Aid Station (mile 24), 3:15 PM for the final-loop cutoff (mile 26), and a 5:00 PM overall course closure. Starting at 7:30 AM, that gives you 4 hours 15 minutes to clear the second loop and 9.5 hours total, but the intermediate cutoffs mean you need to stay ahead of pace throughout, not just at the finish.
The course starts with rocky, technical switchbacks climbing from the Highpoint Way Trailhead, then follows the Issaquah-Preston Trail before splitting into the shorter 5-mile lollipop or the longer route up Grand Ridge, with a detour to the Flowing Fir Trail before reaching the Duthie Aid Station. It runs through deep Cascade foothills forest, with ferns and mossy trees showing off late-fall color, and the trail stays open to other users, including hikers and cyclists, during the event.
The layered cutoff structure actually helps newer ultra runners here: hitting the 11:45 AM second-loop cutoff and the later aid-station cutoffs gives you clear checkpoints to gauge whether you are on pace, rather than discovering a problem only at the finish. At 5,600 feet of gain across repeated technical switchback climbs, this is a real ultra with real vert, so come in with hill training and some experience managing repeated loops before treating it as a first ultra.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/grand-ridge-trail-run">The Grand Ridge Trail Run course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/grand-ridge-trail-run" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Grand Ridge Trail Run course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, cutoffs, and aid stations come from public sources and can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics with the official race before you register or run. The fueling and pacing advice is general and not medical advice.
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