The wait is over. Ragnar Tetons Trail, the unofficially rated #1 most beautiful trail race among Ragnar staff, is finally back this July.
Teams begin the relay adventure, once again, at the fabulous Grand Targhee Resort, where you’ll have access to spacious camping, included catered dinner (and food for purchase), convenient parking, as well as optional resort rooms and condos on site, available for reservation.
Experience the challenge of three equally awesome single-track trail loops over two days and one night as you run through jolly green giant trees, massive hills, meadows of wildflowers, rocky ridges and streams. You’ll even get a spectacular view of the Tetons themselves, arguably one of the most incredible sights in North America.
And if the views aren’t breathtaking enough, the challenging course and elevation (we’re talking 2,500 ft!) will definitely take your breath away. As the sun sets, the race doesn’t stop. Runners keep going beneath a canopy of (about) a billion stars overhead and watch the moon rise.
When you’re not running, you can rest your legs next to the campfire at Ragnar Village as you listen to music and chow down on s’mores with the rest of your team.
The 3.2 mile (easy) Green Loop leaves the Village with the Yellow and Red Loops, runs past the horse corral (it is the Wild West after all), and into the trees. A quick right on a single-track trail splits you away from the Yellow and Red Loops to barrel you down a half mile of buffed out trail through the trees (jolly green giants). At a half mile the trail spills into a broad meadow as you start a slow climb to a bald hill with a great view of nearly the entire course as well as Teton Valley below. On a clear night, the stars will be spectacular and the headlamps bobbing along through the trees below and on the ridgelines above will give glimpses of what’s in store for you. Then, it’s back into the trees on plush single-track with just the right decline. This might be your fastest mile ever. Near mile two the trail hits a few switchbacks as you skirt the edge of the camping field, the laughs (and maybe a few snores) from your fellow racers at camp trickle through the trees. A right turn just before mile three merges you with the Yellow and Red Loops and brings you back home.
The 5.3 mile (intermediate) Yellow Loop is a nice cruiser, the uphill stretches are never as long as your mind might tell you and they are quickly broken up by flats or downhills. Go ahead, push yourself and run it out. You leave the Village with the other loops and soon a left turn with Red Loop carries you uphill, away from the Green Loop. You climb past the entry drive to the Resort, back of Teewinot Lodge, and to a trails-merge point where the outgoing Yellow and Red Loops cross themselves as they return to the Village. Sound confusing? Don’t worry, we’ll have a volunteer there to point you in the right direction. At this point you have a few hundred feet of dirt road before a right turn puts you on a great single-track. This is where the fun starts in earnest. The trail heads up a draw and before mile one crosses a stream to start a short climb up and out of the gulley. When the trail turns a corner, the views open up and you start to cut across a contour of ski runs. You can imagine how much fun it would be to shred downhill here in a few months. The next mile is fast with wide open views of some killer ski terrain that until recently was cat access only. Just after mile two you go back into the tress and tackle some short switchback climbs. Just get ready, around mile three you come around a corner, and if it is clear, you will be granted a spectacular view of The Grand and Middle Teton. Not to mention the trail in this section will have a smile plastered to your face. Near mile 4 you jump onto a dirt road for a steady half mile climb and then a left turn puts you on a GNARLY downhill mountain bike single-track. Be careful here, there are some steep drops and rock ledges. It is not your grandmother’s trail but you mountain goats out there you will be in heaven. After half a mile of the grin and bear it section, the single-track joins the Red Loop on a dirt road for the final dash. From here you loop around the main base area, join with the Green Loop, and race back to the Village.
The view from the top of the 6.5 mile (hard) Red Loop is A-M-A-ZING! Problem is… you have to get there first, and we’re not going to lie, you have to earn it. Red leaves the Village with the other three loops and climbs past the main base before diverging from the Yellow Loop. Just after crossing under the Dreamcatcher chair, a right turn puts you onto single-track, this is where things starts to get hard. For the next mile, the trail surface is buffed out single-track and the cut crosses ski runs as it climbs north across the resort, passing underneath Blackfoot lift. At mile two, the trail turns to climb up a rocky ridge and this is where things get really hard. A look down to the right will give you a view of the Village and Green Loop below and Teton Valley beyond. A look left will find the terrain dropping away from a sheer rock cliff with the Tetons looming in the distance. Straight ahead, a mean ridgeline, yes, that is where you are going. At mile three the trail turns to a cat-track dirt road and you get a momentary relief from the climb…momentary, as you push on, climbing again towards the summit of Fred’s Mountain. Once you get to the top of Dreamcatcher chair you know you are steps away from one of the most spectacular views on the continent. Most people take a chair lift for what you just earned, not you, although you may be wish you had. A short little loop to the true summit provides you with what you came here for, a truly Grand view. And then, it is all downhill. Back down the dirt road of your final approach and then a left to continue your bomb downhill for a mile. This is where you can turn your brain off and recover you lungs and turn loose. Then, at mile 5, a left turn takes you off of the dirt road and back onto a sick single-track for nearly a mile. This section is a bit bi-polar, alternating from a soft plush ribbon of single-track to jagged rocky technical trail. All of it, however, is amazingly beautiful. Green grass, colorful wildflowers, black rock cliffs, and the picturesque Teton Valley below. Just before mile 6 you turn right onto a dirt road for the final mile. You did it. You conquered the hardest loop in Ragnar Trail history!
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