RacesPacific Northwest
Cascade Crest 100
Demand
4 out of 5
How much it asks
Worth
4 out of 5
Worth the flight + fee
Easton, Washington, United States
Scorecard · is it worth it?
Worth the flight if the mountains match what you want.
The card
Cascade Crest is the Washington 100 that people name when they mean trees, not fourteeners. You start at the Easton Fire House, you spend a day and a night in the Cascades, you come back to a town that knows the line 'welcome back to Easton.' Demand is 4 because a hundred miles of steep, rooted, technical PNW trail is a real mountain 100 even when the high points would not impress Silverton. It is not 5 because altitude is not the weapon and because a 2026 fire course is, by the organizers' own framing, a version of the race rather than the eternal loop.
Worth is 4. The Cascades are worth the flight if you want this forest, this community, and a Hardrock/WSER-adjacent qualifier that still feels like a town event. They are not worth pretending 2026 is a vintage-year course: fire and the Okanogan-Wenatchee permit reality changed the line. We score the race that ran, not the GPX you downloaded in 2019. Organization confidence is medium. Date and fee stay on cascadecrest100.com.
If you wanted Colorado air, this is the wrong range. If you wanted a PNW destination 100, this is the one we put on the card, fire asterisk included.
Easton is an I-90 town with a firehouse start and a Forest Service permit. That is the right scale. The 2026 fire / Okanogan-Wenatchee course is not a secret we discovered; it is the version of the race that exists. Comparing splits to a pre-fire loop is a hobby, not a method. We are not inventing the calendar line or the entry fee. cascadecrest100.com is the document. If you wanted Rainier in the windshield and a 50 miler, White River is the other Washington card. If you wanted 100 miles of trees and a finish crowd that knows the script, this is still worth the flight, with the fire year written on the card, not in a footnote you skip.
Who it is for
Runners who want a Pacific Northwest 100 with community, technical trail, and a 2026 course honest about fire.
Who should skip
Altitude chasers and anyone who needs the historic loop unchanged. 2026 is the fire course.
Elevation
Tap or hover for miles, clock, and aidft
Night = sunset 8:54pm to sunrise 5:26am at the start (Jul 18), mid splits.
Bottom ticks are aid. Longest gap 8.1 mi.
Shape from public terrain data along the RD's course line. Gain per the RD: 22,001 ft (6,706 m).
Official course map ↗ · RD course-maps page (detailed course maps and elevation profiles)
Finisher pace · 2025
Median finishers (~50th percentile of 141 finishers). Not a predicted you. · retrieved 2026-09-06 (repo record)
Stampede Pass 36.2 mi
- Aid–aid
- 9.0 h
- Elapsed
- 9.0 h
- Clock
- 6:00 pm
2.5 h slack
Hyak 54.3 mi
- Aid–aid
- 5.6 h
- Elapsed
- 14.6 h
- Clock
- 11:36 pm
3.4 h slack
Lake Kachess 69.2 mi
- Aid–aid
- 4.1 h
- Elapsed
- 18.7 h
- Clock
- 3:42 am +1d
4.3 h slack
Finish 100 mi
- Aid–aid
- 11.2 h
- Elapsed
- 29.9 h
- Clock
- 2:54 pm +1d
4.1 h slack
Local clock derived from published start + finisher splits, not a forecast.
Finishers only (DNFs missing, so the real back of the field is slower).
- Start
- 2,167 ft661 m
- Finish
- 2,168 ft661 m
- Net
- +1 ft0 m
- Longest climb
- 2,828 ft862 m
Start and finish are within 400 ft. Treat net as a loop.
Weekend
Official handbook facts
- Start
- 09:00
- Crew
- 36.2, 49.1, 54.3, 69.2, 75, 96 mi
- Drop bags
- 25.4, 36.2, 54.3, 69.2, 75 mi
- Pacer from
- 54 mi
- Course file
- Open
Cascade Crest 100 course / pacers / drop bags · retrieved 2026-09-06 (repo record)
Field
Last editions · 100M scored distance
Field evidence: who showed up, who finished, how long. DNF is that evidence, not a difficulty score. Public results, scored distance only.
2025
- Starters
- 149
- Finishers
- 141
- DNF
- 5%
- Win
- 17:08:55
- Median
- 29:56:53
2024
- Starters
- 183
- Finishers
- 124
- DNF
- 32%
- Win
- 19:08:05
- Median
- 29:11:23
2023
- Starters
- 181
- Finishers
- 114
- DNF
- 37%
- Win
- 19:56:28
- Median
- 30:36:53
Overall field only. Not a pro or sponsored subset.
Climate
Typical July at the start area · historical race-week weather
- Typical high
- 78°F (26°C)
- Typical low
- 55°F (13°C)
- Typical precip
- 0.50 in (12 mm) / July
- Days with rain
- 12% of days
- High point
- 5,899 ft (1,798 m)
2015–2024 July means at the start / massif. · Open-Meteo ERA5 / climate · retrieved 2026-09-06
Dimensions
Ten 1–5 scores with a one-line why. Organization has a separate confidence tag.
Supporting dimensions · organization confidence medium
A 100-mile loop that returns to Easton. The format is classic; the 2026 line is a fire course.
Pacific Northwest climbing: steep, rooted, long. Not Colorado 14er vert.
Technical PNW trail, overgrown in places, fire-altered in 2026.
July Cascades: heat possible, night cold, snow possible high. Not tropical, not monsoon.
High points well under Colorado. Lungs are not the limiter. Roots and vert are.
Easton is a small I-90 town. Easy by mountain-100 standards, still a crew puzzle.
Hardrock and Western States qualifier culture. Respected, not iconic.
Community loop, Forest Service permit, public about the 2026 fire course.
A destination PNW 100 without a circuit wrapper.
Tall trees, Cascade crest, a finish that says welcome back to Easton.
| Dimension | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
Distance & format How much does the advertised distance and format actually ask? | 4 out of 5 | A 100-mile loop that returns to Easton. The format is classic; the 2026 line is a fire course. |
Vertical How serious is the climbing, not just the mile marker? | 4 out of 5 | Pacific Northwest climbing: steep, rooted, long. Not Colorado 14er vert. |
Technicality Hands, poles, route-finding, or just a long dirt road? | 4 out of 5 | Technical PNW trail, overgrown in places, fire-altered in 2026. |
Climate Heat, monsoon, ice, or a friendly summer afternoon? | 3 out of 5 | July Cascades: heat possible, night cold, snow possible high. Not tropical, not monsoon. |
Altitude Does the air change the race, or is it a talking point? | 2 out of 5 | High points well under Colorado. Lungs are not the limiter. Roots and vert are. |
Logistics How hard is the weekend around the race: travel, crew, lodging, rules? | 3 out of 5 | Easton is a small I-90 town. Easy by mountain-100 standards, still a crew puzzle. |
Prestige & field Does the start list and history change what the weekend feels like? | 3 out of 5 | Hardrock and Western States qualifier culture. Respected, not iconic. |
Organization From public evidence, does the event look competently run? | 4 out of 5 | Community loop, Forest Service permit, public about the 2026 fire course. |
Value Entry fee, travel tax, and lottery friction versus what you get on course. | 4 out of 5 | A destination PNW 100 without a circuit wrapper. |
Adventure & scenery Would you fly for the place even if nobody kept score? | 4 out of 5 | Tall trees, Cascade crest, a finish that says welcome back to Easton. |