Western States Trail — Foresthill to the River
Auburn / Foresthill (American River canyons) · near Auburn / Foresthill · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Trail Running
At a glance
- Difficulty
- expert
- Distance
- 16 miles
- Elevation gain
- 2,500 ft
- Best season
- Spring & fall · brutal summer heat (race day tops 100°F in the canyons)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit to run the trail itself (public USFS/BLM land). The Western States 100 (last weekend of June) is a lottery capped at 369 runners — grandfathered into the Granite Chief Wilderness — with a years-long qualifying and lottery odyssey to earn a bib.
What is here
- Features
- The Foresthill Divide & the infamous canyons · Middle Fork American River crossing at Rucky Chucky · Cal Street descent — the sport's most famous 16 miles · Birthplace of the modern 100-miler
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Trail Running detail
- Surface
- technical
- Race
- Western States 100 — the world's oldest & most iconic 100-miler
- Intl tip
- Auburn is the hub — the Western States Endurance Run finishes at Placer High School (finish line open to all, free, during the race). The Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB (April) also start here and offer a Western States 'Golden Ticket.' No. Cal running shops in Auburn can point you to current trail conditions and the best canyon access points.
- Nickname
- The birthplace of the modern 100-miler
The guide
To run the Western States Trail through the American River canyons is to run the most storied ground in the sport. The full rac…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Western States Trail — Foresthill to the River — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.018, -120.818