Wild Wild West Marathon & 50 Miler, 50K, 10 Miler Lone Pine, CA USA May 7, 2022 Course Description All races start at Horseshoe Meadows Road and include plenty of up and down and a few creek crossings. The first third of the course runs mostly uphill on fairly steep jeep roads and trails contouring below the mighty Sierra Nevada Mountains, including Mt. Whitney. 50 mile and 50k runners have additional climbs to the Tuttle Creek Trailhead and along Hogback Creek. A steady 9-mile descent on a wide graded dirt road leads to the north end of the famed Alabama Hills. Winding and rolling Movie Flat Road takes runners southbound through this unique geological formation of huge rounded oblong rocks. The marathoners and 50k runners split at roughly mile 22 and 28 respectively from the 50-mile course and head downhill to the finish in Lone Pine. The 50-mile race continues onward for 18 more miles before returning to this point and descending to the finish. Many wildflowers, including Indian paintbrush, lupine and Mojave asters, and desert dandelions, bloom along the course. Also, don’t be surprised if you see bear, Tule elk, deer, badger, raccoons, coyotes, skunks, numerous native birds, or rattlesnakes. |