Beacon Rock 50k and 25k

Sunday, June 12, 2011 A weekend long running party! Registration: http://www.databarevents.com/brock50.asp

Early June is a great time to be in the Columbia River Gorge and at Beacon Rock State Park. The snow has melted, everything is bright green and the wildflowers are putting on quite a show. The sun should be out and warming the temperatures into the 70s or 80s by the afternoon. From the high point in the race there are sweeping views of the Cascades, including Mt Hood and Mt Adams and the entire Columbia River Gorge. And at the Finish we'll soak in the sunshine as we eat, drink and merrily listen to live music all while lounging on grass lawn of the Park's Group Campsite.

The 50k is two loops of the 25k course which covers nearly all of the cool trails in Beacon Rock State Park including Hardy Ridge, Hardy Creek and Hamilton Mountain. From Hamilton Mountain the runners will be treated with great views of the Columbia River Gorge and the surrounding Cascade Mountains including Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams. The 25k(3700ft of elevation gain) has two big climbs Hardy(mostly gradual) and Hamilton(mostly steep) and two long gradual downhills and the 50k(7500ft of elevation gain) does both climbs and downhills twice. The trails, except when they're on the steep uphills, for the most part are very runnable and are in really good condition. There's a tiny bit of pavement at the beginning and end of each 25k loop.