⏵ Course guide · Southern Utah red-rock desert
Red Mountain builds its 50K, 30K, and Dirty Hurty Half Marathon out of four loops on the Santa Clara Reserve near Ivins, all of them radiating from the same central Cove Wash aid station. It is an old-school wheel-and-spoke design that makes crewing simple and the Red loop's 1,768 feet of climbing anything but. I will walk you through the loop breakdown first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for red-rock desert singletrack. Free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official Underground Runner race page. Race logistics, exact cutoffs, and shuttle times change year to year, so confirm the current specifics before you commit.
Red Mountain uses a wheel-and-spoke design: four distinct loops, Green, Blue, Red, and Orange, all start and end at the same central Cove Wash Trailhead aid station.
Every race distance opens with the Green loop, 7.7 miles clockwise on Rim Ramble, Rim Reaper, Rim Runner, Rim Rock, and BLM roads, gaining 687 feet. The 50K and half both follow with the Blue loop, 5.7 miles on the Barrel Roll trail, gaining another 547 feet. These two set the tone before the course gets more serious.
Only the 50K runs the Red loop, 10.2 miles counter-clockwise on Precipus, Sidewinder, and Suicidal Tendencies trails, gaining 1,768 feet, more than any other single loop on the course. The trail names alone are a fair warning. This is where the 50K separates itself from the 30K and half.
Every distance finishes with the Orange loop, 6.88 miles on Upper Grave Yard, Tempi'po'op, and Tava'arts trails before finishing on Santa Clara and Ivins city roads, gaining 634 feet. There is an unmanned aid station roughly midway through this loop, useful to know since it is your last stretch before the finish at Unity Park.
All distances start in Santa Clara and finish at Unity Park in Ivins, and due to limited vehicle access to the start venue, participants are asked to ride the shuttle from the finish-line area. Plan your morning around that shuttle rather than driving directly to the start.
With four distinct loops of different lengths and gain, your pacing plan should treat each one differently rather than targeting one flat number for the whole race.
It is tempting to push the Green and Blue loops early since they are the gentlest on the course, but that Red loop, with more gain than the other three combined per mile, is coming. A grade-adjusted pace target for the Red loop specifically helps you plan an effort you can actually sustain on Precipus and Sidewinder rather than one you borrowed from the easier laps.
Because every loop returns to the same aid station, you get a genuine, repeatable checkpoint to compare against a race-time prediction. Check your splits there against the 9-hour cutoff after the Red loop specifically, since that is where a slow day is most likely to show up.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
Southern Utah desert weather in early March can swing widely from cold mornings to warm afternoons, so plan your fueling and clothing together.
Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and take real advantage of the wheel-and-spoke design: because every loop returns to the same Cove Wash aid station, you can stage exactly what you want there instead of guessing what to carry for the whole race.
Sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range covers most runners, and given the average swing from a 43F morning low to a 68F afternoon high, plan your clothing drop at the central aid station alongside your fuel so you are not stuck carrying extra layers on the Red loop's exposed climbs.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and a swinging southern Utah desert 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 and this exact four-loop desert profile. Summit Line reads your real training, builds the climbing legs the Red loop demands, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
Underground Runner pitches this as an approachable trail race for runners of varying experience, and the wheel-and-spoke design backs that up: every loop returns to the same centralized aid station, so fueling and drop bags are simple to plan. That said, the Red loop alone brings 1,768 feet of gain over 10.2 miles on trails named Precipus, Sidewinder, and Suicidal Tendencies, so "approachable" does not mean flat. Across all four loops the 50K totals just over 4,000 feet of climbing on red-rock desert singletrack.
Four different loops, Green (7.7mi, 687ft), Blue (5.7mi, 547ft), Red (10.2mi, 1,768ft), and Orange (6.88mi, 634ft), all start and end at the same central point. The 50K runs all four loops, the 30K runs three (skipping Red, the toughest one), and the Dirty Hurty Half Marathon runs two (Green and Orange). That means every runner passes through the same Cove Wash Trailhead aid station repeatedly, an old-school layout that makes crewing and pacing math much simpler than a point-to-point course.
Early March in southern Utah desert can swing widely, the published average high runs around 68F with lows near 43F, so plan layers as much as fuel. Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and keep sodium in the 300 to 700 mg per liter range. Because the course loops back through the central Cove Wash aid station repeatedly, you have far more frequent access to your own drop bag supplies than most desert ultras allow, use that to your advantage instead of overloading your pack for the whole race. Build your numbers with the free ultra fueling calculator before race day.
The most recently published race guide sets a 9-hour cutoff (3:30 PM) from a 6:30 AM start across the 50K, 30K, and half marathon distances. Confirm the current year's cutoff on the official page before you commit, since race logistics can shift between editions.
Underground Runner markets it directly at "new and seasoned trail runners," and the repeated-loop, central-aid-station design genuinely does simplify a first ultra: you are never far from your own gear, and the shorter individual loops (5.7 to 10.2 miles) break the distance into digestible chunks. If you can handle red-rock desert singletrack with some real climbing on the Red loop, this is a reasonable early-season proving ground.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/red-mountain-trail-races">The Red Mountain 50K, 30K & Trail Half course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/red-mountain-trail-races" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Red Mountain 50K, 30K & Trail Half 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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