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⏵ Course guide · Utah ultra

Wasatch Front 100 Course Guide

The Wasatch Front 100 is Utah’s oldest 100 miler and one of the toughest in the country, a point-to-point run from above Kaysville to Soldier Hollow that locals call "100 Miles of Heaven and Hell." You get a brutal early climb up to the ridge, miles of high crest near 10,000 feet, valley heat early and real cold up high at night, a long night out, and a fast-feeling 36 hour clock on roughly 24,000 feet of gain. I will walk you through the course, then give you pacing and fueling strategy built for exactly those conditions, plus free tools to dial in your own numbers.

⏵ Quick facts

Wasatch Front 100 at a glance

Date
Fri to Sat, Sep 11 to 12, 2026 (first Fri/Sat after Labor Day)
Location
Wasatch Range, Utah (Kaysville to Midway)
Start / Finish
East Mountain Wilderness Park above Kaysville to Soldier Hollow, Midway
Distance
About 100 miles, point to point
Elevation
Roughly 24,000 ft of climb, about 23,300 ft of descent
High point
The high Wasatch crest, near 10,480 ft
Start / cutoff
5:00 AM Friday start, 36 hour limit (finish by 5:00 PM Saturday)
Qualifier
Grand Slam of Ultrarunning final race · a Hardrock 100 qualifier

Note: the exact date, the course, aid-station spacing, cutoffs, and crew and pacer rules can shift year to year, and entry is by lottery. So before you plan your race, confirm the current date, route, cutoffs, and entry rules on the official Wasatch 100 site.

The course

Wasatch runs point to point along the Wasatch Front, starting at East Mountain Wilderness Park above Kaysville and finishing at the Soldier Hollow pavilion in Midway. It is about 100 miles of rugged mountain singletrack, scree, game trails, and jeep road, climbing roughly 24,000 feet and descending about 23,300 feet. The high point sits up on the Wasatch crest near 10,480 feet, and the course swings from a hot valley start to cold, exposed high country and back down. This is a mountain 100 in every sense.

Chinscraper and the climb to the ridge

The race goes up almost immediately. From the start above Kaysville you head toward Bair Canyon and grind up to the ridgeline above the valley, a long sustained climb that gains thousands of feet in the first handful of miles and finishes with the steep, hands-on pitch runners call Chinscraper. It is a gut check this early in a 100, and it is so easy to overcook it because the legs are fresh and the adrenaline is high.

Be patient here. Hike the steep parts efficiently, keep your effort honest, and do not race anyone up Chinscraper. You want to top out on the ridge with your legs intact, because the day is barely getting started and the altitude up high is going to make every later climb feel worse than its grade.

The high crest: altitude, exposure, and the long middle

Once you are up, the course lives on the high Wasatch crest for a long stretch, rolling along ridgelines and through aid at places like Big Mountain and Lambs Canyon, then down and back up Mill Creek toward the lakes. You climb again past Dog Lake and Desolation Lake along the Wasatch Crest trail toward Brighton, which sits high around mile 69 and is the emotional heart of the race. Pace this whole middle by effort and breathing, not by your sea-level splits, because up near 9,000 to 10,000 feet the thin air taxes you the entire time.

This is also where the weather turns. The exposed crest can be windy, cold, and even snowy at night in early September, and afternoon storms are possible. Plan your layers and your aid-station clothing swaps in advance so you are adding a jacket and gloves before you are shivering, not after.

Over the top and the long descent to Soldier Hollow

From Brighton the course climbs to its highest passes up on the crest, then tips over the back side toward the Heber valley. The back third is a lot of steep, rocky descending down toward Pole Line Pass, the Pot Bottom area, and Little Deer Creek before the final push to the finish at Soldier Hollow. It is runnable if you saved your legs, and it is a slow painful shuffle if you trashed your quads on Chinscraper and the crest.

These late miles are where badly paced people fall apart and patient people pass them. Practice controlled, runnable downhill on tired legs before race day, because the difference between a strong finish and a death march at Wasatch is almost always quad durability on the long drop home.

Aid stations, crew, drop bags, and pacers

You have around 15 aid stations including the finish, with water, electrolyte fluids, food, and medical support, and drop bags allowed at roughly seven of them (Bountiful B, Big Mountain Pass, Lambs Canyon, Upper Big Water, Brighton, Pole Line Pass, and Little Deer Creek in recent years). Some gaps between aid run long, past 9 to 11 miles, so carry enough fluid and calories to cover them instead of assuming the next station is close.

Crew access is limited to a few road-accessible points such as Big Mountain, Lambs Canyon, and Brighton, and pacers can join from designated exchange points starting around Big Mountain, with more pacer points later in the race. Having a pacer through the night on the crest and the descent is a real advantage here. Confirm the exact crew, drop-bag, and pacer rules in the current race materials, since the access points and policies change year to year.

Pacing strategy for the Wasatch Front 100

A high-altitude, big-climb, big-descent 100 miler rewards patience, quad durability, and effort discipline far more than raw speed. Pace Wasatch by grade and effort, respect the altitude, and treat the long descent as the real test.

Bank patience, not time, on Chinscraper

The worst mistake at Wasatch is racing the first climb. Chinscraper and the long grind to the ridge come when you feel great, and burning matches there to "bank time" is exactly how people end up walking the back half. Run the early climb at a conversational, sustainable effort and hike the steep pitches without guilt, because the clock you really need to beat is the one in the last 30 miles.

Use the grade-adjusted pace calculator to turn your flat fitness into honest effort targets for the climbs and the descents. Then you actually know whether you are climbing sustainably or cashing in legs you are going to want at Brighton and beyond.

Respect the altitude and build a vert-aware finish goal

The middle of this race lives up near 9,000 to 10,000 feet, and if you live at sea level that thin air makes every grade feel harder and slows your whole engine. Pace the high crest by breathing and effort, not by your home splits, and do not panic when your pace looks slow up there. It is supposed to.

Do not guess your Wasatch finish off a road 100 or a flatter trail race. The 24,000 feet of climbing, the altitude, the technical footing, and the night all add real time. Build a vert-aware finish prediction that accounts for this course, then work backward into the Cheetah, Cougar, and Badger cutoffs so you know how much buffer you have at each checkpoint instead of guessing.

Run your race in two halves around the night

Treat the climb to the crest and the high traverse as the first half, where the job is to arrive at Brighton with fresh legs, a fueled body, and warm enough layers for the cold. The second half is the long descent to Soldier Hollow, where a disciplined runner who saved their quads can really move while everyone who overcooked the climbs falls apart.

If you want to reality-check your goal time before you commit, use the race equivalent calculator to see how a recent race lines up against a mountain 100 like this. It will not flatter you, which is the point.

⏵ Free tools to pace this course

Fueling strategy for a long mountain day

Most runners are out on the Wasatch Front 100 for the better part of a day and a night, from under 24 hours up to the full 36, with valley heat early and cold up high. That makes carbohydrate, sodium, and fluid matter as much as fitness.

Carbs: steady, trained, and through the night

For an effort this long, target roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, leaning toward the high end once your gut is trained to handle it. Use a glucose-plus-fructose blend so you can absorb more than a single sugar allows, and rehearse your exact hourly carb number on long training runs so 80-plus grams an hour feels normal, not like an experiment.

The hard part at Wasatch is the night, when your appetite vanishes and your stomach gets fussy on the cold crest. Keep eating anyway. Lean on things you can get down when you feel rough, and do not let a couple of low hours turn into a calorie hole you cannot climb out of before the descent.

Sodium and fluid: built for the heat and the long gaps

The early valley and canyon miles can be hot and dry, so bias your sodium toward 500 to 700 milligrams per liter of fluid, higher if you are a salty sweater, and carry enough to cover the long, exposed gaps between aid stations rather than rationing to the next one and arriving empty. Cramping, a sloshy stomach, and that hollow wrung-out feeling are usually fluid and sodium problems, not fitness problems.

Weigh yourself before and after a hot long run to find your real sweat rate, then build the plan around your own number instead of a generic chart. Up high at night your fluid needs drop as it cools, so adjust rather than force the same intake you needed in the afternoon heat.

⏵ Build your fueling plan

Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and the Wasatch heat and altitude 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 Wasatch course profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for the big climbs and the altitude, rehearses your fueling for the long night, and tracks how your legs and gut handle the load, so race day is something you execute, not guess at.

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Wasatch Front 100 FAQ

How hard is the Wasatch Front 100?

It is one of the hardest 100 milers in the country, and it earns the nickname "100 Miles of Heaven and Hell." You climb roughly 24,000 feet and descend about 23,300 feet over the full distance, on rugged mountain singletrack, scree, and jeep road, with a high point up on the Wasatch crest near 10,480 feet. The day starts with a huge climb up Bair Canyon to the ridge (the infamous Chinscraper), runs the high crest where the altitude makes everything feel harder, then drops you off the back toward Soldier Hollow. Add a low desert valley that can bake in the early miles, real cold up high at night, a long night out, and a 36 hour clock, and you have a race that asks for mountain legs and patience, not speed.

How much climbing is in the Wasatch Front 100?

The course climbs roughly 24,000 feet and descends about 23,300 feet across the full 100 miles, so it finishes a touch lower than it starts but the up and down are both enormous. The signature climb comes early, the long grind up out of Bair Canyon to the ridgeline above Kaysville, often called Chinscraper, which gains thousands of feet in the first handful of miles. From there it stays high along the Wasatch crest, climbing again past Dog and Desolation Lakes toward Brighton, then up over the high passes before the long descent to the finish. The climbs are relentless, but the steep, rocky descents late in the race are what wreck quads that are not ready.

How should I fuel for the Wasatch Front 100?

You are fueling a very long mountain day, anywhere from sub-24 hours for the fast end to up to 36 hours for most of the field, so plan in hours, not miles. Most runners target 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, leaning toward the high end once the gut is trained, plus sodium that climbs with the heat, often around 500 to 700 mg per liter of fluid or more for salty sweaters. The early valley miles can be hot and dry, so carry enough fluid to cover the long gaps between aid (some sections run past 9 to 11 miles), then keep eating through the night when your appetite disappears but your engine still needs fuel. Run your own numbers for your weight, goal time, and the conditions with the free ultra fueling calculator.

What are the Wasatch Front 100 cutoffs?

The overall limit is 36 hours, from a 5:00 AM Friday start to a 5:00 PM Saturday finish at Soldier Hollow. There are also intermediate cutoffs at the aid stations, and the official table lists target departure times in three tiers: Cheetah for a sub-24 hour run, Cougar for a sub-30 hour run, and Badger for a sub-36 hour finish. Those checkpoint times are strictly enforced, so you cannot bank all your buffer for the end, especially through the high crest in the middle of the night. Pull up the current cutoff and drop-bag table on the official site and build your plan backward from those times with margin.

What is the terrain and weather like at the Wasatch Front 100?

The footing is rugged: rocky mountain singletrack, scree, game trails, and stretches of jeep road, with real exposure up on the high crest. Weather is the wild card, and the name says it all. The lower valley and the early canyon miles can be genuinely hot and dry in the afternoon, then up high at night it can turn cold, windy, and even snowy, so you have to be ready for both heat and cold in the same race. Afternoon thunderstorms are possible up on the ridge in early September too. Pack layers, plan your aid-station clothing swaps, and treat the weather as part of the race rather than something you react to.

How do crew, drop bags, and pacers work at the Wasatch Front 100?

It is a fully crewable, pacer-friendly race, which helps on a course this hard. There are around 15 aid stations including the finish, with drop bags allowed at roughly seven of them (Bountiful B, Big Mountain Pass, Lambs Canyon, Upper Big Water, Brighton, Pole Line Pass, and Little Deer Creek in recent years). Crew access is limited to a few road-accessible points such as Big Mountain, Lambs Canyon, and Brighton, and pacers can join from designated exchange points (Big Mountain on, with more pacer points later). Confirm the exact crew, drop-bag, and pacer rules in the current race materials, since access points and policies change year to year.

This guide is for planning and training, and it reflects publicly available information about the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run. Race details, including the date, course, weather, aid stations, cutoffs, and crew, drop-bag, and entry rules, can change year to year. So always confirm the current specifics on the official Wasatch 100 race website before you train, register, or travel. The fueling and pacing advice is general and not medical advice.