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I highly recommend this race for the incredible scenery! This was a great first 50 miler for me, in part due to the well organized race and fantastic course. The first 20 miles of the 50 mile course are through rolling meadows with the spring flowers in full bloom and snow capped peaks in the background. Some of these trails are little used, so the route may not look like much but it was well flagged and I had not problems staying on course. Then the 50 mile course joins up with the 50k course and the two groups were together the rest of the day. The 25k course is mostly along the 50k course, but the two do split and rejoin once- which led me to momentarily panic thinking I might have made a wrong turn somewhere. The trails of the 25k/50k course were better used than the ones the 50 mi folks saw in the morning. Although this is a reasonably hilly course, most of the hills were "runnable," though there is, of course, a difference between "runnable" and what an ordinary mortal would choose to run in the middle of a 5 to 12 hour race. It did seem to me the hills got steeper as the race progressed, but it's tough to say if the hills actually got steeper or if it just seemed that way. I wish I'd had a little more energy to enjoy the views from the ascent and descent or Patterson Mtn between the last aid station and the finish. The race provided pizza, beer, and bluegrass music at the finish, but you might want to BYO camp chair. This is the ideal season and environment for ticks so do a thorough check for them once you get home in the evening.
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