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⏵ Course guide · Oregon ultra

Oregon Cascades 100 Course Guide

The Oregon Cascades 100 is Alpine Running’s marquee point-to-point hundred, run on mostly singletrack through the high Cascades from Bend to Sisters. The climbing is stacked into the first 100K, then the course tilts downhill all the way to the finish, so this race is really about climbing smart early and saving your legs for a long descent and a full night. I’ll walk you through the course first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan that fits the profile. There are free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.

⏵ At a glance

Oregon Cascades 100 quick facts

Date
July 25 to 26, 2026 (Saturday start)
Location
High Cascades, point to point from Bend to Sisters, Oregon
Distances
100 miles and 50 miles
Elevation gain
100M: about 10,900 ft gain / 11,400 ft loss · 50M: about 4,000 ft gain / 6,500 ft loss
Start
100M: 6:00 AM (Bend) · 50M: 10:00 AM (Swampy Lakes Sno Park)
Cutoff
100M: 32 hr 1 min 18 sec, with intermittent aid-station cutoffs · 50M: 16 hr
Surface
About 78% singletrack, 20% gravel/dirt road, 2% pavement
Qualifier
The 100 mile is a Western States qualifier

These facts come from the official race site and UltraSignup. Check the current date, cutoffs, and aid stations in the race-day details before you commit. Race logistics change year to year.

The course: where the Cascades 100 is won and lost

The 100 miler runs point to point from Bend to Sisters, roughly 100 miles with about 10,900 feet of gain and 11,400 feet of loss on mostly singletrack. The official course notes the climbing is concentrated in the first 100K, so you do the heavy lifting up high early, then the course trends downhill toward Sisters. There are 12 full aid stations on the 100, and the gaps between them are long.

The front half: climb high, but climb patient

The day starts at 6 AM in Bend and heads up toward the high country around Swampy Lakes and Dutchman Flat, smooth flowing singletrack in the shadow of Mount Bachelor. Almost all of the race’s climbing lives in this first 100K, and this is where it gets won or lost. The trap is obvious once you know it: the trail up here is runnable and you feel fresh, so it is tempting to bank time on the climbs. Do not. Hike the steep pitches efficiently, keep your effort even, and get to the high point with your legs intact, because the bill for pushing early comes due on the long way down.

Up high you are in classic Cascades terrain, pine and volcanic rock with big mountain views. The footing here is mostly forgiving compared to a lot of mountain hundreds, but you are also covering a lot of ground before the heat of the afternoon, so settle into a rhythm you could hold for hours. The race is not decided in the first 30 miles, but it can absolutely be lost there.

The long descent: where careless legs fall apart

After the climbing is done, the course tilts down and stays down, dropping off the high Cascades toward Sisters country. It gets more rugged on the way down before you turn north, cross Tumalo Creek, and run the lower trails into Sisters. This descent is the real test of the day. Long downhill on tired legs cooks your quads, and the back half is where badly paced runners come undone. If you trashed your legs on the early climbs or you never trained descending, those final miles into Sisters turn into a slow, painful shuffle in the dark.

Train controlled, runnable downhill before race day, and a lot of it. Being able to keep your legs turning over on the descent late in the race, when your quads are shot and you have been moving for 20-plus hours, is honestly what separates a strong finish from a survival march here.

The night, the lows, and the long gaps between aid

Almost everyone is out here after dark, and most people are out for two nightfalls’ worth of fatigue even if they only run through one night. The hours after midnight are where the lows hit: the cold creeps in, the appetite vanishes, the brain gets foggy, and the trail shrinks to the cone of your headlamp. This is normal. Plan for it instead of being surprised by it. Keep eating on a schedule even when you do not want to, layer up before you get cold, and if you truly fall apart, a short reset at an aid station beats quitting.

The 100 has 12 full aid stations, and from Rock Creek on there is night service with hot food, which is a real lifeline in the small hours. But the spacing is long, so treat every aid station as a place to leave fully stocked on calories, fluid, and warmth. Drop bags at the designated stations let you stage your headlamp, spare batteries, warm layers, and the specific food you know you can stomach late. Crew access and a pacer for the back half, where allowed, make a huge difference when the wheels get wobbly. Sort all of that out before race week, not during it.

Pacing strategy for a front-loaded, net-downhill 100

With about 10,900 feet of gain crammed into the first 100K and a long net descent home, the Cascades 100 is about managing effort and saving your legs, not chasing a pace chart. Run the early climbs by feel, then ration your quads for the way down.

Pace the early climbs by grade, not by the watch

Your flat-ground pace means nothing on the front-loaded Cascades climbing. What matters is grade-adjusted effort, so hold a steady output you can keep up the grade and hike the steep pitches without feeling bad about it. The classic mistake here is running the runnable early climbs too hard because they feel easy on fresh legs, then paying for it on the long descent and through the night. Use a grade-adjusted pace to turn your real fitness into honest climbing targets, and you will get to the top of the course with something left.

Build a vert-aware finish prediction and work back into the cutoffs

Do not guess your Cascades 100 finish off a road or flat-50K time. The 10,900 feet of climbing, the long descent, the night, and the time on feet all add up. A vert-aware finish prediction that accounts for this course’s profile gives you a realistic window, and then you can work backward into the 32 hour cutoff and the intermediate aid-station cutoffs around miles 26, 33, 48, and 63. That way you know how much buffer you actually have at each checkpoint instead of guessing in the dark, literally.

⏵ Free tools to pace this course

  • Grade-adjusted pace calculator to turn your flat fitness into honest targets for the early climbs and the long descent.
  • Race-time calculator for a vert-aware finish prediction on this course’s profile, so you can plan against the 32 hour cutoff and the intermediate ones.
  • Race-equivalent calculator to turn a recent race result into a Cascades 100 goal you can actually hold over 100 miles.

Fueling strategy for 100 miles and a full night

Most runners are out on the Cascades 100 for the better part of a day and a night, with long gaps between aid. That makes carbohydrate, sodium, and fluid just as important as fitness, and it makes eating in the dark a skill you have to practice.

Carbs: steady, trained, and kept up after dark

For a 100 mile effort, aim for around 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and only push the higher end if your gut is trained for it. The hard part on a hundred is not the daytime, it is keeping that rate going through the night when your appetite is gone and everything tastes wrong. Use a glucose-plus-fructose blend so you can absorb more, and rehearse your exact race-day carb rate on long runs, including some in the dark, so 80 grams an hour feels normal instead of like a chore at mile 75.

Sodium and fluid: cover the long gaps and the temperature swing

Bias your sodium toward the high end, often around 500 to 700 milligrams per liter of fluid, and more if you run hot in the warm afternoon or sweat salty. Just as important on this course, carry enough fluid to get across the long stretches between aid stations instead of rationing to the next one and arriving empty. Central Oregon swings warm in the day and cold at night, so your fluid needs change through the race. Weigh yourself before and after a long hot run to find your real sweat rate, then build the plan around your own number.

⏵ Build your fueling plan

Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and 100 miles in the Cascades 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 Cascades 100 course profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for the front-loaded climbing and the long descent, and rehearses your fueling for the night so race day is something you execute, not guess at.

Start free →Explore the demo

Oregon Cascades 100 FAQ

How hard is the Oregon Cascades 100?

It is a real mountain 100, so treat it that way. The 100 mile course runs roughly 100 miles point to point from Bend to Sisters with about 10,900 feet of climbing and around 11,400 feet of descent, almost all of it on singletrack high in the Cascades, and the climbing is packed into the first 100K. That front-loaded vert plus a long net descent into Sisters is the whole puzzle: you climb early when you feel great, then you have to protect your legs for a long downhill grind to the finish. Add a full night out there and the 32 hour clock and you have a genuinely hard day, just not in the same way a high-altitude monster like Hardrock is hard.

How much climbing is in the Oregon Cascades 100?

The 100 miler has roughly 10,900 feet of gain and about 11,400 feet of loss, and the official course notes that the elevation is concentrated in the first 100K. So the climbing is front-loaded: you do most of the work up high in the first 60-some miles around Swampy Lakes and the Mount Bachelor area, then the course trends downhill toward Sisters. The 50 mile is gentler on the uphill at about 4,000 feet of gain but loses around 6,500 feet, so it is even more of a descending race. On both, the descent does as much damage as the climbs.

How should I fuel for the Oregon Cascades 100?

Plan for a long day and, for a lot of people, a long night. Most runners do well on roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, leaning toward the higher end if your gut is trained for it, and that target should hold even when it gets dark and your appetite disappears. Sodium goes up with how much you sweat, often the high end of 300 to 700 mg per liter of fluid, more if you run hot or salty. The course has 12 full aid stations on the 100, but the gaps are long, so carry enough to cover them. Build your own per-hour plan with the free ultra fueling calculator.

What are the cutoff times for the Oregon Cascades 100?

The 100 mile overall cutoff is 32 hours, 1 minute and 18 seconds, and there are intermittent cutoffs at aid stations along the way, so you cannot save all your buffer for the end. Published examples include checkpoints around mile 26 at roughly 8 hours, mile 33 at about 10.5 hours, mile 48 at about 15 hours, and mile 63 at about 21 hours into the race. The 50 mile has a 16 hour limit. Always confirm the current intermediate cutoffs in the official race-day details before you start.

What is the terrain and weather like at the Oregon Cascades 100?

The course is about 78% singletrack with some gravel and dirt road and a little pavement, point to point through the high Cascades. The Bend side is smooth, flowing singletrack in the shadow of Mount Bachelor up toward Swampy Lakes and Dutchman Flat, then it gets more rugged as you descend toward Sisters country and cross Tumalo Creek heading north. Late July in the central Oregon high country is usually dry with warm afternoons and cool nights, and the race tells runners to be ready for anything because mountain weather flips fast. The altitude is moderate, but the day-to-night temperature swing is real, so pack for it.

Is the Oregon Cascades 100 a good first 100 miler?

It can be a smart first 100 for a well-prepared runner. The vert is moderate for a mountain 100, the trail is mostly runnable singletrack rather than gnarly technical scrambling, and the 32 hour cutoff gives committed runners real room. That said, it is still 100 miles with a front-loaded climb, a long pounding descent, and a full night, so it rewards specific prep: train the downhills so your quads survive, practice eating and moving in the dark, and sort out crew, drop bags, and a pacer ahead of time. Do that work and this is a fair, beautiful place to go after your first hundred.

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.