My wife and I have been visiting Sea Ranch over the years and I’ve always thought of a 50K run here, traversing the entire 10-mile strip along the Mendonoma coast. Two things happened, we were visiting this area and this past weekend, I realized my lifetime ultra tally was at 98! So, with this impromptu Sea Ranch 50K, Bay Area 100M would become my 100th ultra! The route for the Sea Ranch 50K starts and ends at the Moonraker Recreation Center, at the southern end of Sea Ranch. I tried to hit some of the noteworthy visitables here, including the Hot Spot, the Gualala river, Ridge line, the Chapel, Gualala Point Regional Park, and various other points along the Bluff Trail. Right before the end was, of course, Black Point and Condominium One. Here’s my Strava activity:

The actual run was pretty close to the route I mapped out, except for a couple of short detours. Also note there’s no water for the first 15 miles. But once you reach the coast, there’s water at Gualala Point regional park, Del Mar recreation, Ohlson recreation and of course the Lodge, if you want to grab a coffee before the finish!

Sea Ranch 50K

The course starts with a solid 700ft climb up Moonraker Rd and then Timber Ridge Rd. There’s a short out-and-back along Sea Forest Rd, one to make up the 50K and two I wanted to try and hit all four corners of Sea Ranch. Most of the 3,500ft of vertical on this route is front-loaded. Lastly, while the initial few miles are along the road, most of the Sea Ranch 50K is along trails.

The Ridge Trail was a gorgeous long, shaded section with gentle rollers that seem to go on for a long time. Other than a couple of people at the Hot Spot, I had much of the first 15 miles to myself. In order to get to the Chapel, I had to cross Hwy 1, get on Pacific Reach and connect back using a few trails, then cross Hwy 1 again.

The Bluff Trail was the hardest section, in the sense that, I kept wanting to stop and soak in the views – it was such a pretty day, just a light breeze and the blueness of the Pacific was stunning on every turn along the bluff.

While this was my 99th ultra, maybe a training run for the Bay Area 100M, time on legs, etc. it was really just an adventure run on a beautiful 10-mile strip along the Mendonoma coast. The sheer number of biomes that one traverses along here is mind-boggling. I’m glad that I finally got to plan out this course and run it. A veggie calzone and an ice cold IPA at the Twofish Baking Company was the perfect ending to the run too!