Section 1 – Blue Knob All Seasons to Monument Aid Station (4.9 miles | +610 ft./-1597 ft.)

Starting at the Clubhouse at Blue Knob Four Seasons Resort at 2736 feet, runners will enter the trailhead at the Condos then follow Hink’s Delusion up to the summit and emerging out of the woods on Stoehr Climb below the summit before crossing the road. Runners will cross the road and then dips into the woods before a right turn down a gravel service road to the paved hairpin turn.

Marathon runners will cross the road and onto a blue-blazed connecting singletrack for 0.7 miles to Tower Road. Runners will turn right on the road and run toward the radio towers at the top of Herman Point at 3014 feet (3 miles in the race). Lost Turkey Trail will be on the left; racers will take this down the mountain and across Blue Knob Road (be careful of vehicle traffic). Runners will continue onto Lost Turkey Trail on the left just before the guard rail. The trail continues downhill until reaching an old logging trail. This section from Herman Point to the old logging trail, called Herman Steps and Blister Blaster, is one of the steepest descents of the race, dropping over 600 feet in 0.7 miles. Racers will turn left and continue on the logging road/Lost Turkey Trail for 0.7 miles to the campgrounds. This section is very flat and offers a chance for your quads to recover. Runners will go around the Blue Knob State Park Campgrounds before turning right on Lost Turkey Trail and down Conrad Ridge to the aid station on Monument Road.

Section 2 – Hogback Ridge Loop –  (3.6 miles | +1662 ft. / -662 ft.)

From the aid station, runners will run down Monument Road until taking a right turn onto Fisherman’s Path and cross Bob’s Creek – a Class A trout stream. Runners will go up the valley before again meeting with the Lost Turkey Trail and continuing up the valley and then crossing Bob’s Creek and then ascending the steep yet short Hogback Ridge. At the top and at the headwaters of Ciana Run, it is a two-mile downhill to the Lost Children of the Alleghenies monument. Soon, participants reach Monument Road and a short distance to the aid station.

Section 3a – The Pavia Navigator – Part 1 (3.7 miles | +725 ft. / -859 ft.)

You better fuel up at the aid station since this is the longest section between aid stations. Runner climb Conrad Ridge back the state park campground, turning right onto Chappelle Field Trail and cross the main paved road through the state park onto Crist Trail. The forest will vary from new growth, to damp pines, to high canopy of second and third-growth forest. The trail will eventually cross Pavia/Knob Road again about halfway down the mountain then runs atop the ridge until banking to the left. Crist Ridge Trail will make a last final drop into the valley – first a fast and straight section before banking to the right and then several switchbacks to Pavia/Knob Road. This downhill will be the fastest section of the course. Also this section is the longest single downhill of the race with a total fall of 859 feet in 2.6 miles.

Section 3b – The Pavia Navigator – Part 2 (3.8 miles | +1381 ft. / -1309 ft.)

Racers will cross Pavia/Knob Road and here will be a full aid station. Then racers will run up a section of single track with Pavia Run on the left before making sharp right up Rock ‘N Ridge Trail and up the spine of the ridge. Overall, there is a climb on both ends of this trail, at beginning and just before the turn to the right at the top. Runners will now run along the mountain before making a left and dropping down into Pavia Run for 0.8 miles. When you reach the bottom, it will be at mile 10 of the course. The course will turn make a sharp right and up the western fork of Pavia Run before making a slight left and then up out of the hallow. After making another sharp right, runners will be near Chappelle Field. At the top of the field is a water drop.

Section 3c – Deep, Short and Noisy (2.3 miles | +402 ft. / -600 ft.)

From the water drop, runners will glide on a flat double track a quarter-mile until an intersection with a paved service road and several trails. Take the uppermost trail – for the race we call it Upper Ridge Trail. Enjoy some flat yet mildly technical single-track (Clickity Clack) for a half-mile before going around a bend and then the course turns sharply up Deep Hollow. The course follows an abandoned trail to the top of the mountain. It’s steep yet short … 400 feet in 0.4 miles. At the top the course will merge onto a mountain bike trail and descend all the way to Sawmill Trail. The course will now be on Sawmill Trail, a double track, and will bear to the left around a parking area before emerging out of the woods. Runners will run down the field to Raven Rest Aid Station.

Section 4 – Raven Rest AS to Heavens Hairpin AS (3.85 miles | +1480 feet / -721 ft.)

This will be the most physically demanding and mentally challenging section of the course. Runners will climb the remote southeastern flank of the mountain. The first half mile is up the mountain to 2570 feet, then along the 2500 foot contour for about six-tenths of a mile, then down 500 feet in a half of a mile to Beaver Dam Run at 15.72 miles into the race. This entire section includes steep slopes requiring runners to be able to stop on a dime to avoid seriously technical and jagged rocks along the narrow single track.

THEN reaching what some call “Beaver Dam Canyon” or what others call “I’ll Nettle Do That Again…”, runners will climb up the hollow up Beaver Dam Run to the top of the mountain with “rock step climbing” almost the entire 971 feet in 0.79 miles out of the hollow. The biofilm-covered rocks on this entire climb are very slippery. Be sure to enjoy the waterfall you will cross – some years it is a trickle, sometimes a raging torrent. Eventually you will cross a dirt road (Three Springs Trail) but the climbing is not over.

Runners will cross Three Springs Trail (at 16.6 miles) and continue up the mountain for just two-tenths of a mile. At the top is a beautiful section called the ‘Stone Pads’, a flat section of stone stepping on the singletrack. Then the trail will become less technical and will follow the trail along the edge of the summit (clockwise), past Pavia Overlook on the left. After a section of straight singletrack, runners will make a hard left, down a short hill and then bear to the right before arriving at the dirt state forest road. Here you will make a left turn. The road will end at Pavia Road where the aid station will be setup.

[Map and Elevation Profile Maps and Charts]

Section 5 – Heavens Hairpin AS to Resort (2.55 miles | +891 ft. / -1190 ft.)

Runners will run to the lodge via a powerline, cross a service shed and up to the ski area parking lot. Runners turn right and around the south side of the lodge (right side of the lodge) and will be offered a tremendous view toward the northeast at the top of the ski lifts. Runners will then proceed down Upper Mambo ski slope then continue down Lower Mambo until your jaw drops when you gaze at the face of Eurus. Eurus or ‘The East Wind’ is terrifying force that lays waste to all in its path. It seeks out the unworthy and plucks them from the Earth. At Eurus, you will climb more that 400 feet at a 20% to 40% grade until you reach the condos and make a left. Here, it is a short reprieve until you yield left and down a steep slope called Edgeset. After a short break, runners will go down Stembogen ski slope before running toward a “hole in the forest” and down an old logging road. Then it is a steep scramble up the mountain called “I Need a Sherpa!”

Now on top of the ridge, we give you another short rollercoaster down a service road and a sharp right up another steep, yet shorter scramble up the hill, up some rattlesnake switchbacks back to the top and toward the resort before making a left through some “small rock potatoes”, past the maintenance shed and to the Ouitters Row aid station. Here, so close to the finish, you’d might be tempted to drop.  

Section 6 – Final 10K Challenge: Part 1 (3.55 miles | +39 feet / -1032 ft.)

Runners will start on the last 10K from Quitters Row. The next 2.5 miles is narrow but a true gem of singletrack trail as you take a left turn onto Black Bear Trail. The singletrack is “surprisingly technical” in some places and twisty and turny throughout. Black Bear Trail is a gradual downhill amid Pennsylvania hardwoods and ferns. You will take a left onto Lost Porcupine Trail which offers even more twisty turns on singletrack. Then you make a right turn onto Tree-odge – “get it”  – then Code Blue Trail. On the northeastern side of Spruce Knob, these trails with its pine, lush moss, mushrooms and mountain laurel, is reminiscent of the great trails in the northern PA Wilds or Catskills. Not to give away any secrets but you might end up doing a little bit of “wilderness parkour” before you are done.

Afterward, you will find yourself on a grassy double track. The downhill fun is about to begin. It’s the first half of Devils Hairpin! Part one is a 630-foot descent in three-quarters of a mile! What makes this even more exciting is that the downhill is wide-enough for two, maybe even three runners wide! If you are brave enough and good at finding a line, this is the place you can pass.

At the bottom, there will be an aid station, then the second half of the Devils Hairpin is on deck…

[Map and Elevation Profile Maps and Charts]

10K Challenge: Part 2 (2.6miles | +1210 ft. / -236 ft.)

Hyner has Humble Hill and the Megatransect had Raw Trail. Every great PA trail race has its own signature section. We call ours “Throat Punch”! It’s the second half of Devils Hairpin. (Imagine the shape of a hairpin with one zigzag-shaped side and a straight side.) It’s time to go up, my friends. Throat Punch scrambles up Spit Hollow to almost the top of the mountain. 

At the end of the climb, it’s a right turn onto an old logging route and about eight-tenths of a mile downhill through the Needle Patch. Imagine you are a flea on the back of a dog. The dog hair would look like giant needles sticking out of the ground. Well, the trail, with its tall, thin saplings, would be as if you were a flea running on a dogs back.

Then it’s the final climb – a combination of ATV trails, a logging flune and logging roads – it is a mile climb of 600 feet we call The Soul Sucker Slopes. Once at the top, Not Fairway is a splendid runnable singletrack to the intersection of Oak Hill Lane and Summit Way before going back onto the singletrack to the finish.