Cascade Crest 100: A Complete Course Recon Breakdown Using HARDN
Tags: race recon, course guide, 100 miler, washington, cascade crest, ultra running, cascades, pct, western states qualifier
---
Most hundred-milers break you somewhere in the middle. Cascade Crest waits.
You get 69 miles of honest mountain running — big climbs, PCT singletrack, a tunnel in the dark — and then the course turns. The Trail from Hell at mile 69. A 2,800-foot climb at mile 75. Six climbs called the Cardiac Needles from mile 81 to 89. And a 3,200-foot descent at mile 89 on quads that have nothing left.
100 miles, 23,000+ feet of climbing, 34 hours, and a course that saves its worst for when you are least able to answer it.
Here is the whole thing — aid station by aid station, cutoff by cutoff, and every piece of crew logistics that decides whether your day works.
---
The Numbers
| Stat | Value |
|------|-------|
| Distance | 100 miles (loop) |
| Elevation Gain | 23,000+ ft |
| High Point | 5,840 ft (Thorp Mountain lookout, mile 86.4) |
| Low Point | 2,140 ft (Easton) |
| Time Limit | 34 hours |
| Start | 9:00 AM Friday — Easton Fire Station, 180 Cabin Creek Rd, Easton, WA |
| Finish cutoff | 7:00 PM Saturday |
| Month | July |
| Field size | 180 runners |
| Entry | Lottery, $350 |
| Qualifier for | Western States 100 (34-hour standard) |
[Race Website →](https://www.cascadecrest100.com/)
---
Elevation Profile
[COURSE_ELEVATION:cascade-crest-100]
---
Three Things To Know Before Anything Else
1. It runs in July now, not August. The race moved in 2022, and moved from Saturday to Friday at the same time. Every recent edition has been mid-July: July 17, 2026, and July 16, 2027 next. If you are reading an August date somewhere, that listing is stale by four years.
2. Getting in takes work before you ever toe the line. The lottery caps the field at 180. You need either a lifetime trail 100-mile finish or a trail 50-miler under 16 hours with at least 6,500 feet of climbing, run between January 1 and June 14 of race year. On top of that: eight hours of trail work with an organized crew between August 1 and June 14, or a $150 donation instead. Volunteering at a race, crewing and pacing do not count toward it.
3. The course changes in some years. Cascade Crest has run a reroute in 2017, 2023 and 2026, and the race files those results under a separate out-and-back course. Everything below describes the standard loop that the Runner's Manual and aid station chart document. Check what the race director announces for your year before you build a plan on it.
---
The Cutoffs — And What They Actually Demand
Eight aid stations carry a cutoff. Nine do not, and that is deliberate — the official chart marks them with a tilde, meaning nothing is enforced there. Do not read a blank as missing information.
The race publishes clock times. Elapsed times below are just those clock times minus the 9:00 AM Friday start.
| Aid Station | Mile | Cutoff | Elapsed | Avg pace required to here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cole-Blowout Saddle | 12.5 | 1:30 PM Fri | 4h30 | 21:36 /mi |
| Tacoma Pass | 25.4 | 5:00 PM Fri | 8h00 | 18:54 /mi |
| Stampede Pass | 36.2 | 8:30 PM Fri | 11h30 | 19:03 /mi |
| Olallie Meadows | 49.1 | 2:00 AM Sat | 17h00 | 20:46 /mi |
| Hyak | 54.3 | 3:00 AM Sat | 18h00 | 19:53 /mi |
| Lake Kachess | 69.2 | 8:00 AM Sat | 23h00 | 19:56 /mi |
| No Name Ridge | 81.6 | 12:30 PM Sat | 27h30 | 20:13 /mi |
| Silver Creek | 96 | 6:15 PM Sat | 33h15 | 20:47 /mi |
| Finish | 100 | 7:00 PM Sat | 34h00 | 20:24 /mi |
Read that column again. The required average barely moves — roughly 19 to 21 minutes per mile the entire way. That looks generous on paper and it is not, because the terrain is not evenly distributed. The cutoff that ends most days is Lake Kachess at 23 hours, because what comes after it is the Trail from Hell, and nobody moves through that at 20-minute pace.
If you arrive at Kachess with 30 minutes of margin, you do not have 30 minutes of margin. You have a deficit you have not paid yet.
---
Aid Stations
[COURSE_AID_STATIONS:cascade-crest-100]
Seventeen aid stations plus the finish. What matters is which ones your crew can reach, and the answer is fewer than you would expect.
Crew can reach five: Stampede Pass (36.2), Hyak (54.3), Lake Kachess (69.2), Mineral Creek (75) and Silver Creek (96). Olallie Meadows at 49.1 is a maybe — the race asks crews to consider skipping it, and its own sources disagree about whether crew may come at all. Treat it as no.
Tacoma Pass at 25.4 has no crew access. The race states this twice, and it is the single most common crew mistake on this course. There is a drop bag there, maximum twelve inches square. Use it.
Drop bags go to exactly five places: Tacoma Pass, Stampede Pass, Hyak, Lake Kachess and Mineral Creek.
Mineral Creek has a parking rule that will catch your crew out. They park about two and a half miles uphill and walk down. Nobody is permitted up the road toward No Name Ridge.
Hyak needs a Washington Discover Pass for crew vehicles. You can buy one on site, but knowing beforehand saves an argument at 3:00 AM.
Pacers: Hyak at 54.3 is the primary pickup. Stampede Pass at 36.2 is available only to runners 60 and over. Olallie Meadows works only if you leave it after 11:00 PM. Lake Kachess and Mineral Creek are allowed, though the race discourages Mineral Creek. From Silver Creek, crew may join the pacer to the finish.
One hard restriction: crew and pacers may not enter the Snoqualmie Tunnel. It is a permit condition, not a preference. You go through it alone.
---
3D Flyover
[COURSE_FLYOVER:cascade-crest-100]
Run it once at speed to see the shape of the day: a big opening third, a long flat gut through Hyak, then the sawtooth from mile 75 to the end. Then go back through miles 69 to 89 at normal speed. That is the part that decides your race.
---
[COURSE_SEGMENTS_TABLE:cascade-crest-100]
---
Segment by Segment
Segment 1: Start → Tacoma Pass — Miles 0–25.4
Effort: Conserve | Terrain: Climb | Elevation: +7,735 ft / -6,459 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:0]
A third of the day's climbing lands in the first quarter, and you do all of it without crew.
Goat Peak comes at 4.5 miles and takes 1,800 feet out of you. The race compares it to the Escarpment climb at Western States, with rougher footing, in the heat of mid-morning. It also says plainly that many of its DNFs start on this climb. That is a warning about pacing, not about fitness.
Goat Peak is water only. Little Bear at 19.7 is a hike-in station with minimal supplies.
How to race it: Hike the climb from the first steep pitch, and be comfortable being passed. You are 4 miles into a 34-hour day and the people going by you are making a decision they will pay for near Kachess.
Nutrition: Start eating in the first hour, before you feel like it. This is the hottest part of the course and the first cutoff at Cole-Blowout gives you 4h30 for 12.5 miles — enough room to eat and walk.
---
Segment 2: Tacoma Pass → Stampede Pass — Miles 25.4–36.2
Effort: Steady | Terrain: Rolling PCT | Elevation: +2,821 ft / -2,598 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:1]
The friendliest stretch of the course. Rolling PCT with Snowshoe Butte at 31.9 in the middle of it — a hike-in station at the end of a three-quarter-mile bushwhack for the volunteers who staff it.
Stampede Pass at 36.2 is your first crew contact of the race, roughly 11 hours in.
How to race it: This is where you make time, carefully. Run the runnable, keep the effort flat, arrive at Stampede in control.
Crew note: Get your headlamp here. The race tells you to, and the next crew stop is 18 miles away at Hyak.
---
Segment 3: Stampede Pass → Olallie Meadows — Miles 36.2–49.1
Effort: Steady | Terrain: Rolling PCT | Elevation: +3,283 ft / -3,119 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:2]
Darkness arrives in here. Rolling terrain again, but now you are alone in it with a light.
Meadow Mountain at 43.2 was water only in 2026. Plan to carry real calories through this stretch.
How to race it: Settle. Night running rewards rhythm over pace. Eat on a timer now that hunger has stopped being reliable.
---
Segment 4: The Ropes and the Tunnel — Miles 49.1–54.3
Effort: Caution | Terrain: Technical descent | Elevation: +169 ft / -1,441 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:3]
The strangest five miles in American ultrarunning.
After Olallie Meadows you take about a mile of rocky PCT descent, then a marked hard left off the trail, then a half mile of steep gravel road — and then you drop into the woods on the right and slide down the hillside. There are fixed ropes to get you down the tricky sections. It is steep and it can be slippery, and most runners do it in the dark.
That deposits you on the Palouse to Cascades Trail and into the Snoqualmie Tunnel — somewhere between 2.3 and 2.5 miles of it, depending which official page you read. It is cool and damp and pitch black. Your crew and your pacer cannot come in. Hyak is less than half a mile past the far end.
How to race it: Fresh batteries before Olallie. The tunnel is flat and straight and it is the easiest running on the course — a good place to eat, drink and get your head right, because Hyak is the gateway to the second half.
---
Segment 5: Hyak → Keechelus Ridge — Miles 54.3–62.4
Effort: Grind | Terrain: Sustained climb | Elevation: +2,197 ft / -327 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:4]
Eight miles of climbing that starts with two and a half miles of pavement and then goes to dirt road and keeps going up. 2,200 feet of gain and 327 feet of relief in the whole thing.
It is not technical. It is just relentless, and it arrives right after the best aid station on the course, which makes leaving Hyak harder than it sounds.
How to race it: Power hike with intent. Set a cadence and hold it. No crew vehicles are allowed between Hyak and Lake Kachess, so whatever you leave Hyak with is what you have for 15 miles.
---
Segment 6: Keechelus Ridge → Lake Kachess — Miles 62.4–69.2
Effort: Controlled | Terrain: Descent | Elevation: +308 ft / -2,237 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:5]
A fast descent, and a trap. These are the last straightforward miles of the race and it is tempting to spend everything you have on them because it finally feels good.
How to race it: Run it, but protect your quads. You have 3,200 feet of descending still to come at mile 89, and a technical six miles immediately ahead. Arrive at Kachess with legs, not just with time.
Cutoff check: 8:00 AM Saturday at Kachess, 23 hours in. This is the cutoff that matters most on the course.
---
Segment 7: The Trail from Hell — Miles 69.2–75
Effort: Survive | Terrain: Technical | Elevation: +2,162 ft / -2,290 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:6]
Just under six miles along Lake Kachess on trail #1312, and it earns the name.
The trail is narrow with a steep drop to the right. There are washouts with precarious footing. There is a creek crossing where a bridge used to be, and the race says plainly that your feet are going to get wet. A runner has gone into the lake here. At 4.6 miles along the lake trail there is a sharp right onto trail #1331 that is easy to miss when you are tired, and you will be tired.
How to race it: Time goals end here. Budget far more than the distance suggests, keep your feet under you, and look up for markers at every junction. Nothing good comes from racing this section and a lot of bad things can.
---
Segment 8: Mineral Creek → No Name Ridge — Miles 75–81.6
Effort: Grind | Terrain: Sustained climb | Elevation: +2,787 ft / -271 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:7]
You come out of the Trail from Hell and immediately climb 2,800 feet with essentially no break in it. At mile 75. In the heat of a second afternoon.
Your crew is at Mineral Creek, parked two and a half miles uphill and walking down to meet you. No Name Road at 78.6 is an unmanned water stop in the middle of the climb.
How to race it: This is a maths problem, not a heroism problem. No Name Ridge cuts off at 12:30 PM Saturday. Work out at Mineral Creek what you need for the climb and start moving.
---
Segment 9: The Cardiac Needles — Miles 81.6–89.2
Effort: Survive | Terrain: Repeated steep climbs | Elevation: +2,849 ft / -2,757 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:8]
Six climbs in seven and a half miles. The aid station chart at No Name Ridge says "Prepare for the Cardiac Needles!!" and the course description tells you the first one is the worst of the bunch.
Thorp Mountain at 86.4 sits in the middle of them, and it comes with a mandatory out-and-back to the lookout at 5,840 feet — the high point of the course. You punch your number at the top and hand it in at the bottom. The lookout is staffed, so you stop just short of the summit. Thorp is a hike-in aid station with about 20 ounces of fluid per runner, so top off at French Cabin plans, not here.
How to race it: Count them. Six. Knowing the number is worth more than any pacing advice at mile 85, because the thing that breaks people here is not the climbing, it is not knowing when it ends.
---
Segment 10: French Cabin → Finish — Miles 89.2–100
Effort: Controlled | Terrain: Long descent | Elevation: +709 ft / -3,521 ft
[COURSE_SEGMENT:cascade-crest-100:9]
3,200 feet down in six and a half miles to Silver Creek, on quads that have absorbed 89 miles and six Needles.
Silver Creek at 96 is the last aid, cutoff 6:15 PM. From there your crew may join your pacer for the run in to Easton, and the last four miles are flat.
How to race it: If your quads are gone, shorten your stride and use the whole trail rather than fighting the fall line. Four flat miles at the end is a gift — make sure you still have something to spend on them.
---
What This Course Asks For
Quad durability over climbing fitness. 23,000 feet up is matched by 23,000 feet down, and the descents are back-loaded: 2,237 feet into Kachess, then 3,521 feet in the last eleven miles. Train downhill or the last quarter picks your finishing time for you.
A tolerance for technical ground while tired. The Trail from Hell arrives at mile 69, not mile 20. Practise technical footing at the end of long runs, not the start.
Night discipline twice over. You start at 9:00 AM Friday. Almost everyone runs one full night, and slower finishers see a second dusk coming. Two headlamps, two sets of batteries, and a plan for eating when nothing sounds good at 4:00 AM.
A crew who has read the rules. No crew at Tacoma Pass. Uphill parking at Mineral Creek. A Discover Pass at Hyak. No one in the tunnel. A crew that turns up at the wrong trailhead costs you more than a bad climb.
---
Where This Data Comes From
Every number on this page comes from the race's own material: the July 2026 Runner's Manual, the official aid station chart, the detailed course description, and the course GPX the race publishes. The elevation profile and the per-segment gain and loss figures are computed directly from that GPX rather than estimated.
Two honest gaps. The race publishes no official finisher rate, so we do not print one. And the aid station elevations come from the official GPX rather than a published chart — where the race does publish elevations, at Stampede Pass, Hyak and Lake Kachess, ours agree within 20 feet.
Cutoffs shift. Aid stations change. Reroute years happen. Verify against the race's current manual before you build your plan on anything here, including this.
---
Building a plan for Cascade Crest? HARDN turns the course profile into a pacing plan against the real cutoffs, and gives your crew a sheet that says where they can actually be.