Dark Divide Trail Races

Prepare your soul for what will likely be the most beautiful and wild races you will ever run! Wonderland Running is thrilled, honored, and humbled to announce the Dark Divide Trail Races! The Dark Divide 100 Miler will take place Friday & Saturday starting and finishing at the Cispus Learning Center. On Sunday, the Dark Divide 50k and 15 Mile Fun Run will take place, also starting and finishing at the Cispus Learning Center.

These races take place in the one of the most wild and beautiful places you will ever race… the vast, rugged, and remote 70,000+ acre Dark Divide Roadless Area. Expect to run one of the hardest races you will ever run as you travel on steep technical trails with long stretches in between aid stations. Also expect to run in one of the most stunningly beautiful places you will ever run.

The Dark Divide Trail Races will take you to seldom-traveled places that are unspeakably beautiful, soul-stirringly remote, and uncommonly rugged, in the heart of the Central Washington Cascades. Located in the center of Gifford-Pinchot National Forest, the Dark Divide is a land of deep, solitary valleys filled with centuries-old trees; stunning, serrated sub-alpine ridges that are painted by wildflowers and punctuated by peaks; wild streams tumbling unfettered over waterfalls into sparkling pools; viewscapes that feel like you can touch Pahto (Mount Adams), Tahoma (Mount Rainier), and Loowit (Mount Saint Helens) with your fingers… and a treasure of glimpses into the world as it once was.

We are grateful to be hosting the start/finish and race headquarters at Cispus Learning Center near Randle, WA. These full facilities have plenty of parking and camping available for runners, right at the doorstep of the Dark Divide. There is also plentiful nearby car, tent, and RV camping.

The Dark Divide Trail Races take place upon lands of people who have called this home for thousands of years prior to colonization. Tribes with historic ties to the area include the Cowlitz (Mishalpam, Táytnapam, Sλpúlmx), Xwáłxwaypam (Klikitat), and Yakama people. Wonderland Running fully supports and respects the restoration of rights of indigenous peoples from whom these lands were taken.

Much love and light, happy trails, and we look forward to seeing you in August in the heart of the Central Washington Cascades!