50K
The HOKA Pacific Trails California by UTMB 50K course presents glimpses of the adjacent Pacific and offers an unfiltered sense of California’s coastal backcountry—wild, open, and alive with the layered stories of land and legacy.
Race Category
Running Stones
Finals Access
Course Description
The 50K course of HOKA Pacific Trails California by UTMB invites runners into a rarely accessed landscape of profound natural and historical significance. Traversing the storied terrain of Rancho San Fernando Rey—an active private ranch dating back to the Mexican land grant era—this point-to-point course winds through the rolling interior of California’s Central Coast, just inland from the Pacific Ocean. With approximately 5,000 feet of elevation gain, the route primarily follows historic ranching roads and wagon tracks, with sections of flowing singletrack that dive through oak-lined canyons and rise to sweeping ridgetops. Runners will pass through a mosaic of coastal sage scrub, live oak woodland, and wild grassland, all shaped by centuries of both natural forces and human use. Set in the Santa Ynez Valley with glimpses of the adjacent Pacific, the course offers an unfiltered sense of California’s coastal backcountry—wild, open, and alive with the layered stories of land and legacy. This is not just a race, but a rare opportunity to move through private lands steeped in heritage, surrounded by the elements that define the Pacific Trails experience: coastal breeze, chaparral, steep elevation, and time.
Mandatory Gear
- Mobile / Cell phone (smartphone strongly recommended)
- Mobile / Cell phone with international roaming that works in the United States of America
- Each runner should save the organization's safety phone numbers
- Personal collapsible cup (15 cl / 5 oz minimum)
- Minimum water supply of 1 liter
- Food reserve. (Recommendation of 800 kcal: 2 gels + 2 power bars each of 65 g)
Should the race management team add onto the mandatory gear due to weather conditions, please reference the cold and hot weather kits outlined in the Race Regulations Guide. You will be notified via email if either kit is required during race week. Runners are expected to pack both kits for race weekend in the event one of these kits needs to be implemented.
