Rainshadow Beacon Rock

The race starts and finishes at the Beacon Rock State Park group campsite. For this run, you’ll cover all the best trails in Beacon Rock State Park, including Hardy Ridge, Hardy Creek, and Hamilton Mountain. From Hamilton Mountain you’ll have great views of the Cascades (especially Mt Hood and Mt Adams) and the entire Columbia River Gorge. The 25K gains about 3700 feet, with two big climbs – Hardy (mostly gradual) and Hamilton (mostly steep) – and two long downhills. The trails, with the notable exception of the steep climbs, are generally very runnable and in great condition. There’s a bit of pavement at the beginning and end of each 25K loop.

You’ll have 7 hours for the 25K and there will be two full aid stations (Hardy Ridge at miles 5.5 and 11.8). NO DROP BAGS FOR THE 25K.

All of Rainshadow Running’s races are fun, but we take it to a new level at Beacon Rock. The start/finish is set at a group campsite with enough free camping for everyone! We kick things off Friday evening with a group BBQ/potluck, a bit of running on Saturday, and then when you come across the finish line, we will have cold craft beer and all the wood-fired pizza you can eat. We will break out the slip ‘n slide, set out lawn games, and sprawl out on the grass in the sunshine, cheering our fellow runners to the finish. You can expect a bonfire, late night hangs, and a mini film festival before crawling home to your tent. Hope to see you at the summer party!

Why no 50K? Why the price increase?
We are doing away with the 50K option at this race and only offering a 25K and a kids 1K. The 50K was never super popular as it was just two loops of the 25K course. There is very limited road access for aid stations in this park, so the one location served as 4 aid stations for the 50K and 2 for the 25K. It became very logistically complicated and confusing for our amazing volunteers. As a staff we all decided to offer just a 25K distance, but turn the weekend into an even bigger party than before. We will be hiring two bands instead of just one and will have an extra dinner option on Saturday evening (all free for you, of course). We will also be showing a short film festival once the sun goes down and will have fun “summer camp” type games all day on Saturday.