⏵ Course guide · Free
The Megunticook Trail Festival is a coastal mountain race at Camden Hills State Park, and its flagship, the Megunticook 50, summits all six major peaks in the park, including Mount Megunticook, the second-highest peak on the Atlantic coast. I will walk you through the course first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for six summits and rocky New England singletrack. There are free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official race site. Check the current date, cutoffs, and aid stations in the race-day details before you commit. Race logistics change year to year.
The Megunticook 50 covers more than 90 percent of the trail mileage in Camden Hills State Park, rocky New England singletrack with brook crossings, summiting all six major park peaks: Battie, Bald Rock, Derry, Frohock, Cameron, and Megunticook. There is no single published total elevation gain figure, but six named summits in one race tells you what kind of day this is.
The course works through the park peaks in sequence, and the early summits set the tone: rocky singletrack, real elevation change, and coastal views that reward the climbing without making it feel any shorter. Nothing about this course is flat, so settle into a climbing rhythm from the start rather than waiting for a single big feature to show up.
Mount Megunticook tops out at 1,385 feet, the second-highest peak on the entire Atlantic coast, just 175 feet short of the tallest. It is the high point of the course both in elevation and in what it demands from you, rocky technical footing on the way up and a descent that asks for the same attention. The coastal overlooks from up here are a real payoff, but the rocky ground does not care about the view, so keep your feet under you.
The mile-25 Maiden Cliff aid station carries a hard cutoff of 4:30 PM, and it sits inside the toughest stretch of climbing on the course. Whatever summits you have left after that checkpoint have to happen on legs that already did the first five, on the same rocky, root-woven singletrack. Respect that checkpoint. It is there because the back-half terrain does not get any easier just because you are tired.
With six named summits and an 11-hour clock, Megunticook is about managing repeated climbing effort, not chasing a flat-ground pace chart.
Six separate climbs means six separate chances to go out too hard because the last descent felt easy. Hold a grade-adjusted effort on every climb instead of pacing off how you felt on the previous one, and you arrive at Maiden Cliff and the final summits with something left instead of running on fumes.
The 4:30 PM Maiden Cliff cutoff at mile 25 is the real constraint on this course, more than the 11-hour overall clock. A vert-aware finish estimate built around six summits tells you honestly whether your goal pace gets you to that checkpoint with margin, so you know where you stand well before you are actually there.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
Six summits in one race burns through fuel faster than a flatter 50K, and the 11-hour window means you need a plan that holds up for most of a day.
Aim for 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and start early rather than waiting until a climb makes you feel low. With six summits in sequence and 6 aid stations along the way (one of them hit twice), you have real opportunities to reset your intake, so use each aid stop deliberately instead of just topping off water and moving on.
Sodium in the 300 to 700 milligram per liter range covers most runners, leaning higher if September weather runs warm. The exposed summits can be windier and cooler than the trailhead, which can mask how much you are actually sweating on the climbs between them, so do not let a cool breeze up high talk you into drinking less than your plan calls for.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and six summits of climbing 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 Megunticook course profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for six summits of climbing, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
The Megunticook 50 is a genuinely tough coastal mountain 50K. It summits all six major peaks in Camden Hills State Park (Battie, Bald Rock, Derry, Frohock, Cameron, and Megunticook), on more than 90 percent of the park's trail mileage, over rocky New England singletrack with brook crossings mixed in. Mount Megunticook itself, at 1,385 feet, is the second-highest peak on the Atlantic coast, just 175 feet short of the tallest. With an 11-hour overall cutoff and six summits to hit, this is a climb-heavy day, not a fast one.
The organizers have not published a single total elevation gain figure for the 50K, but the course profile is defined by summiting all six major peaks in Camden Hills State Park in one push: Battie, Bald Rock, Derry, Frohock, Cameron, and Megunticook. That is repeated climbing and descending on rocky singletrack across more than 90 percent of the park trail system, so treat this as a serious vert day even without a confirmed total number, and pace accordingly.
Plan for up to 11 hours out on rocky, climb-heavy terrain, with 6 aid stations along the way (one of them hit twice). Most runners do well on 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour and sodium in the 300 to 700 milligram per liter range, adjusted up if September weather runs warm. The repeated climbing burns through glycogen faster than flatter courses, so stay ahead of your fueling early rather than trying to catch up on the later summits. Run your numbers with the free ultra fueling calculator.
The 50K has an 11-hour overall cutoff from the 6:30 AM start, and there is an intermediate cutoff at the mile-25 Maiden Cliff aid station of 4:30 PM. That intermediate cutoff means you need to have covered 25 of the 31 miles, across the toughest climbing on the course, well before the overall clock runs out, so pace the early and middle summits with that checkpoint in mind.
The course covers more than 90 percent of the trail mileage in Camden Hills State Park, rocky New England singletrack with brook crossings and coastal overlooks from the summits, including views out over Penobscot Bay. Mid-September in coastal Maine tends to bring cool mornings and mild, comfortable afternoons, though weather on the exposed summits can shift quickly, so pack for wind and temperature swings up high even if the trailhead feels calm.
Both the 20K and 50K are UTMB Index qualifiers, which makes this a legitimate goal race if you are chasing lottery points, not just a local trail run. The 50K is a demanding first choice for a brand-new ultrarunner given the six-summit climbing and the rocky footing, but for someone with some trail race experience looking for a coastal mountain challenge with a real cutoff and real vert, it delivers exactly that.
This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, cutoffs, and pricing 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.