5K Detailed Trail Course Description

You will start and finish near the big tent in our Reclamation Area. You will be following WHITE ribbons. There will also be signs with white arrows at key intersections and turns. The 5k and 10k trail run together for the first 1.7 miles so you will see white and blue ribbons and arrow signs for the first 1.7 miles. Then for the last 0.4 miles to the finish they run together again. Be aware of the split at mile 1.7 and follow the white signs and ribbons! **DON’T ACCIDENTALLY GO ON THE WRONG COURSE AT THIS POINT!** From the starting point in the field, get your race kinks worked out with a short uphill climb into the woods and then a slight ascent for 0.3 miles on an old logging path. Make a hard left turn and take a reality check at “Reality Hill”. Here is where the “challenge” part of the trail starts. You will crawl up the brutally steep Reality Hill with the aid of 100 log steps. Take a right hand turn at the top and let your legs recover with a level jog and then a short descent down the gravel lane. After only 50 yards on the gravel lane, angle left behind the guard rails and drop down onto the Explorers Service Lane. Continue on for 0.3 miles and then turn right onto a single track trail leading to the Explorers Campsite. After a leisurely jog, you will arrive at the Explorers Campsite. Here you can either grab a drink and continue on or take a break and check out the campsite which the Explorer group built. Jog out the back of the Explorer Campsite and it is time to head uphill again. You will be on a winding footpath that isn't as steep, but will still make you puff for a tenth of a mile. Shortly after reaching the top you will see mile marker 1 as you head toward the Pine Forest. You will have a nice easy stint on the top of the ridge for 0.3 miles before angling across 2 open areas (the bottom open area is loaded with redbud trees and is the inspiration for the Redbud Trail Challenge name) and then sharply down hill for a little over 0.1 miles. Follow the ribbons right and you are heading through the most remote section of Camp property for the next 0.4 miles. Enjoy the beauty of nature as you meander alongside the creek for a short distance before crossing it twice and heading up and away from the creek. After a 100 yards or so, you will be overlooking Horseshoe pond on your left. Horseshoe Pond is a wildlife haven and here is a great place to take a breather and soak up the beauty. You will now come to the trail split. Follow the white ribbons and signs down to the beaver dam that you will cross on a new bridge. Curve right and follow the grassy lane toward the Nehemiah bridge. This is a nice level 0.2 mile jog with lovely views of Pine Pond and hundreds of Redbuds on the opposite side. You will arrive at the Nehemiah Bridge and cross it. Folks running the 10K will be crossing the bridge in the opposite direction, so keep left. Follow the ribbons up a short, steep hill and then turn left and cross another small log bridge over the drainage from “Frog Haven Pond”. You will pass mile marker 2. Continue up the hill and merge onto the Explorer’s “Chuckwagon Trail”. Follow this trail for about 0.2 miles and arrive at the gravel lane and cross it, passing “Peter the Rock” on your right. Here at the gravel lane, the 10K trail merges with the 5K trail and you will continue on together to the Finish. Shortly after passing “Peter the Rock”, turn right for your last climb. Follow the white ribbons up the single track trail to “Leonard Rocks”. This is your last major climb, so enjoy it. If you had any energy left, you will use it on this brutal climb. At the top you will pass between two immense boulders. Continue winding your way directly below Leonard Rocks on a technical single track trail with lots of small rocks for 0.2 miles or so and then you will angle down toward a grassy yard area and continue across it toward the finish line. You will again be on the same logging path as you started on for the last 0.3 miles of the course. Surge on with your last remaining strength and cross the finish line at last.

10K Detailed Course Description

You will start and finish near the big tent in our Reclamation Area. You will be following BLUE ribbons. There will also be signs with blue arrows at key intersections and turns. The 10k and 5k trail run together for the first 1.7 miles so you will see white and blue ribbons and arrow signs for the first 1.7 miles. Then for the last 0.4 miles to the finish they run together again. Be aware of the split at mile 1.7 and follow the white signs and ribbons! **DON’T ACCIDENTALLY GO ON THE WRONG COURSE AT THIS POINT!** Mile 1-3. From the starting point in the field, get your race kinks worked out with a short uphill climb into the woods and then a slight ascent for 0.3 miles on an old logging path. Make a hard left turn and take a reality check at “Reality Hill”. Here is where the “challenge” part of the trail starts. You will crawl up the brutally steep Reality Hill with the aid of 100 log steps. Take a right hand turn at the top and let your legs recover with a level jog and then a short descent down the gravel lane. After only 50 yards on the gravel lane, angle left behind the guard rails and drop down onto the Explorers Service Lane. Continue on for 0.3 miles and then turn right onto a single track trail leading to the Explorers Campsite. After a leisurely jog, you will arrive at the Explorers Campsite. Here you can either grab a drink and continue on or take a break and check out the campsite which the Explorer group built. Jog out the back of the Explorer Campsite and it is time to head uphill again. You will be on a winding footpath that isn't as steep, but will still make you puff for a tenth of a mile. Shortly after reaching the top you will see mile marker 1 as you head toward the Pine Forest. You will have a nice easy stint on the top of the ridge for 0.3 miles before angling across 2 open areas (the bottom open area is loaded with redbud trees and is the inspiration for the Redbud Trail Challenge name) and then sharply down hill for a little over 0.1 miles. Follow the ribbons right and you are heading through the most remote section of Camp property for the next 0.4 miles. Enjoy the beauty of nature as you meander alongside the creek for a short distance before crossing it twice and heading up and away from the creek. After a 100 yards or so, you will be overlooking Horseshoe pond on your left. Horseshoe Pond is a wildlife haven and here is a great place to take a breather and soak up the beauty. You will now come to the trail split. At the Pine Tree, follow the blue ribbons right and up the hill. After a short climb, you will turn right onto an old logging path. Smell the fresh scent of pine needles as you run through another stand of Pine trees. After your 0.2 mile ascent, turn right, pass mile marker 2, and run another 200 yards before taking a sharp left to start the gentle 0.4 mile jog to Nehemiah Bridge at the Pine Pond. You will have an easy flat run on the logging path before angling right onto a single track trail that takes you on a steep descent. Finally you reach the “Pine Pond Peninsula” and get to cross the Nehemiah Bridge. Folks running the 5K will be crossing the bridge in the opposite direction, so keep left. After crossing Pine Pond, you are just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Discoverers Campsite where there is another refreshment station. Refuel and get ready for the arguably hardest climb of the day as you leave the Discoverers. After a fairly short but steep climb up out of the Discoverers you hit the 3 mile marker as you catch your breath on a 0.2 mile fairly level jog. Mile 4-6.2. Now you arrive at the base of “Heart Attack Hill”. Straight up the hill you go through “Briar City”. After 0.2 miles that seems like twice that, you finally reach the top and cross the ridge into a lovely grove of White Pines. Now you get to use your quivering muscles to brake as you coast down an equally steep hill. After descending about 0.2 miles, you turn left and follow a logging path with some rolling swells for 0.3 miles before turning up hill again. This time it is a very steep, but relatively short ascent to “Maple Way” where you follow the ridge for a few hundred yards before starting down the other side. You are at Mile 4 as you squeeze through the briars again and make your way down below a huge rock outcropping. Over the next half mile you will wind your way in a large semi-circle toward Bobcat Rocks and Split Rock Passage. Enjoy the magnificence of the enormous rocks and scramble up between two boulder slabs which look like they were once together and then split apart far enough for you to walk up through. You get a sharp downhill run from there and end up in a grassy picnic area below Chuckwagon. Trudge up the hill to the third and final refreshment station at Chuckwagon (our dining hall). At Chuckwagon, you are only a mile from the finish line! From Chuckwagon, follow the campsite trail down across McBride Run on a small bridge, cross the gravel road, and then merge onto the Explorers Chuckwagon Trail to begin your final and longest (0.3 miles) climb of the day. Climb two-thirds of the way up the hill and you will arrive at a gravel lane and “Peter the Rock”. Here is where the 10k and 5k merge and you will continue together to the Finish. Shortly after passing “Peter the Rock”, turn right and climb up the last third of the hill toward “Leonard Rocks”. This is your last major climb, so enjoy it! At the top, pass between two immense boulders which marks the end of your climb. It is mostly downhill or level from here to the finish. Use caution as you wind your way directly below Leonard Rocks on a brutal single track trail littered with small rocks for 0.2 miles or so and then you will angle down toward a grassy yard area and continue on toward the finish line. You will again be on the same logging path as you started on for the last 0.3 miles of the course. Surge on with your last remaining strength and cross the finish line at last.