Willapa Trail Festival

The Willapa Trail Festival starts and finishes at Owl and Olive Cafe near Chehalis, in southwest Washington. This trail running weekend offers distances from 5K up to 100 miles, organized by OlyTrailRunners, a nonprofit that supports local trail running and recreational trail preservation around the greater Olympia area. The longer races begin Saturday morning, the 5K runs on Sunday, and the start-finish area remains open until Sunday night for the final runners. The route follows the Willapa Hills Trail beside the upper Chehalis River, using an old rail grade with wide double track and mostly hard-packed gravel. Runners proceed east to a turnaround and return to Owl and Olive; the 50-mile and 100-mile races include an additional out-and-back section to the west. The course is unusually flat for a Pacific Northwest trail race, suitable for personal-best attempts and first ultras. Aid stations vary by distance, with seven on the 100-mile route, and participants can camp at the venue or at nearby Rainbow Falls State Park. Race profits support maintaining the Willapa Hills Trail and the communities along it.