course description.

Both distances will start at the Community Shelter at Highland Forest County Park.

The trails at Highland can be rugged but after a couple of miles of some relative downhill running, you’ll pop out onto about 1.5 miles of farm road (Bardeen). At the other end of Bardeen, you’ll head onto the trails leading to Morgan Hill. These trails traverse some farms before entering the woods on the South side of Morgan Hill. The first Aid Station will be about mile 7, you’ll see this same aid station much later in the race when you’re about to make the final push back to the finish. A few more miles through some pine forest, past Shackham Pond, and a couple of creek crossings you’ll come to Spruce Pond and start the Fellowes Hill loop before coming to the Spruce Pond campground Aid Station (~12 miles).

From here, runners will start the climb up to the Hanglider Overlook. It’s not the steep climb out of Spruce Pond that’ll get you but rather the gradual and never ending uphill slog that will really start to wear on your legs! On this segment, you’ll cross over a couple of creeks, which could be dry, have a trickle of water, or be flowing!

Once at the Overlook, take a quick peak straight down at the Lab Hollow parking lot. That’s going to be your next stop and aid station but it’s not a straight shot…you’ll have a mile of downhill running and then a nice runnable single track along the Skyline Terrace before popping out onto the road and parking area.

It’ll only be a couple of miles before you’ll be able to meet your crew at the Lab Hollow Aid Station (~16.5 miles). From here there’s an out and back that will cover a total of about 5 miles towards Heiberg Forest (H20 only). It’s up to you and your race planning how you choose to use the Lab Hollow aid station, you can make a longer stop at either mile 16.5 or 21.25.

This segment of the course will send you up and over the ridge across the top of Tinker Falls, over some creeks and then up towards Morgan Hill and Kelly’s aid. The creekside climb up to the Lean-to is tough and pretty at the same time but you’ve got a little more climbing to do from the Lean-to, so keep pushing!

Your first stop at Kelly’s Aid (~26.75) will be a welcome respite after such an arduous climb! Finally, you’ll have some downhill forest road ahead that will give your climbing muscles a little bit of a break! From Kelly’s you’ll have about a 5 mile loop ahead of you, evenly split among forest road, power line, and single track trail. Make your visit back to Kelly’s quick and keep it moving. Your next aid station will be nearly 10 miles so make sure you’re stocked up. The next stretch will start out on forest road again before jumping onto some newly built mountain bike trails. This 10 mile segment will cover some elevation, overall it’s down but there will be a few short climbs to navigate as well.

After the 10 mile stretch, you’ll find yourself at about mile 40 and the very first aid station you saw at mile 7. From this point you have two big climbs remaining, one will cover about 330’ of gain in 2.5 miles and the other will be 500’ over 2 miles (you’re welcome)!

What a way to finish the race and a big part of the reason it’s called the Meat Grinder! The final 10 miles covers some forest road, single-track, and FLAT farm road. It’s a long stretch without aid so there will be a water stop at mile 46.5 to help get you through the final push the end.

The full Meat Grinder will cover 50.4 miles with approximately 8400’ of elevation gain. I assure you after a day on the trails at Morgan Hill, the person crossing the finish line won’t be the same that started! This course will challenge every fiber of your being but at the end, you’ll be better for the effort!

CONGRATULATIONS! You can now call yourself a Meat Grinder!