Bigfoot 200 race guide

Key dates for 2027

The 2027 lottery was drawn on 28 August 2026. These are the dates that matter now if you have a place or are on the waiting list.

1. 31 December 2026
   Last day at the lower price

   The fee rises from $1,795 to $1,895.

2. 31 March 2027
   Last day for a 50% refund

   Or a 75% transfer to 2028.

3. 31 May 2027
   Last day for any refund

   25% refund or 50% transfer from 1 April.

4. 30 June 2027
   Last day for any transfer

   25% transfer to 2028 in June.

5. 12 August 2027
   Check-in in Randle

   Medical, GPS and kit checks, drop bags by 5 p.m. and a mandatory meeting.

6. 13 August 2027
   Race starts

   Noon at Marble Mountain Sno-Park. Optional buses leave Randle at 7 a.m.

7. 17 August 2027
   Final cutoff

   11 p.m. on Tuesday, 107 hours after the start.

Source: official race website, checked 19 October 2026.

How to get a place

Places for 2027 went by lottery, open from 10 to 26 August 2026. The race is now sold out, and joining the waiting list on UltraSignup is free; you are charged only if you accept an invitation. Destination Trail says the waiting list usually closes about a month before the race. There is no qualifying race, but the organiser expects ultra and fastpacking experience and the ability to navigate with a GPX file. You must be 18 or over.

The fee is $1,795 until 31 December 2026 and $1,895 after that, plus UltraSignup fees. Payment plans have to be arranged before you register for the lottery. A Triple Crown entry covers Tahoe, Bigfoot and Moab in one year, skips the lotteries and saves $300.

Refunds and transfers step down through the year, and you cannot transfer your place to another runner. If the race is cancelled because of fire, fire danger or weather, there are no refunds.

• How race entry systems work

The course

The race starts by climbing the south flank of Mount St. Helens through forest, sand and a boulder field to Blue Lake. The next section, rerouted in 2025, includes a descent into a canyon on fixed ropes, a knee-deep river crossing, sand dunes and the climb past Johnston Ridge Observatory to Coldwater Lake. Then it climbs into the Mount Margaret Backcountry, the high point of the race, with the best views of the volcano, Spirit Lake and the 1980 blast zone.

From there the route heads east through old-growth forest, along ridges with views of Mount Adams, past Lower Lewis River Falls and up the Quartz Creek section, which hides far more climbing than the map shows. Later sections include several wet-foot river crossings, the out-and-back to Elk Peak, faint and overgrown trail near Mission Mountain, and the Klickitat Trail. The last 13 miles are mostly forest and paved roads into Randle, finishing on the school track.

• Finding the route with a GPX file

Aid and sleep stations

Every aid station has hot food, medical staff and radio, and you can send a drop bag to each one. Five have tents or canopies with mats and blankets for sleeping. Sleep time counts towards your finish time, and you are out if you arrive at a station at its cutoff.

• Plan your splits in the pace planner

From the 2027 runner manual. Sleep is limited to 6 hours at each sleep station. The manual's chart starts pacing at Elk Pass, though other parts of it still say Coldwater Lake, and it is unclear on crew access at Chain of Lakes. Check the final manual before race week. Source: official race website, checked 19 October 2026.

Rules and mandatory kit

You must carry a hooded jacket, gloves, a hat or buff, full-length trousers, a long-sleeve insulating layer, a headlamp with spare batteries, a whistle, a phone, a device with the course GPX, a water filter and 500 emergency calories. The race provides a SPOT tracker, an emergency bivy and a wag bag. Missing kit can mean a time penalty or disqualification.

• Pacers carry the same kit, one at a time, and may not carry your gear, food or water.
• Crews can help only at crew stations, with one vehicle and a pass.
• Human waste goes in a wag bag. Leaving waste or wipes on the trail means disqualification.
• An IV, or needing rescue services, means automatic disqualification.

• Check the ultra kit list
• Crew and drop bags

Results and fastest times

The 2026 race was the largest yet: 188 of 256 starters finished. Aaron Kubala won in 47:21:11, having won the Tahoe 200 in June, and Aimee Warnke was the first woman in 61:18:35. Brody Chisholm was second man for the second year running, aged 19.

The course has changed many times, so Destination Trail does not publish course records. On the current 200.1-mile course, the fastest times are Kilian Korth's 45:03:41 and Ashley Paulson's 57:00:08, both from 2025. Vernon Palm and Jessica Schiller ran faster in 2024, on the longer published course.

Fastest times

Times from UltraSignup results. The current course has been used since 2025.

Source: official race website, checked 19 October 2026.

History

Candice Burt of Destination Trail created the Bigfoot 200, and the first race started on 7 August 2015. The original plan was to finish 215 miles away in Cascade Locks, Oregon, but the race finished in Randle. Gavin Woody won that first edition in 64:12:35. The distance has varied since, from 209.5 miles in 2022 to the current 200.1 miles after a reroute in 2025. The 2020 race was cancelled because of COVID-19.

The Triple Crown of 200s

Bigfoot is the August race of Destination Trail's Triple Crown, between the Tahoe 200 in June and the Moab 240 in October. In 2025, 22 runners finished all three, and Kilian Korth set the men's Triple Crown record.

• Read the Tahoe 200 guide
• Read the Moab 240 guide

Running for good at Bigfoot

At each Triple Crown race, Destination Trail raffles a painting by a local artist for a local cause, including the White Pass High School athletics programme in Randle, and gives leftover race food to food banks such as the White Pass Community Food Bank. Volunteering can earn you partial or full entry to its races.

• Community and conservation
• Volunteer at an ultra

Getting there

Race headquarters and the finish are at White Pass High School in Randle, and optional buses take runners on the two-and-a-half-hour drive to the start on race morning. The organiser lists places to stay in Randle, Packwood and Cougar. Live tracking runs on TrackLeaders, with the link posted in race week.

Questions people ask