Haliburton Forest Trail Race

Haliburton Forest and Wild Life Reserve Ltd., or simply Haliburton Forest, is a unique, privately owned forest located on 80,000 acres of rolling hardwood forests, beautiful lakes, meandering rivers and extensive wetlands in the Haliburton Highlands of central Ontario, 3 hours north of Toronto.The race has grown steadily since its inception with ultra runners being offered the choice of a 50K, 50 mile, the 4 person relay for the 100 mile, each runner running 25 miles, and of course, the signature event, the Haliburton Forest 100 Miler.
The forest is an outdoor lover’s paradise, with Over 300 kilometers of forest access roads and trails. The 50M race is valued at 1 qualifying points and the 100M race is valued at 3 qualifying points towards The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc Events.
Course Highlights
From Base Camp u run 1.1K before turning right on the East Road. At 1.7K you bear left passing by MacDonald Boat Launch (careful of the Submarine rail tracks). Aid station 2 is just over the tracks & will be set up next time u go through this aid station. Continue on the trail and then left at the East Road again at 2.25K. Over the next 1K on forest roads u encounter two hills & levelling out at 3.1K. Just past Aid Station #3, u will turn left on the Red Trail 6K to reach Normac Trail at 6.3K. Now on Normac Trail u climb a challenging (500metre) hill & then left to continue on the Normac. The trails levels out & descend for a short distance & then u encounter another serious climb (700 metre) leveling out at the 8Kmark. Continuing on Normac u pass the Dog Trail arriving back at the East Road at 10.1K.
Turn left on the East Road & run past the MacDonald Boat Launch for the second time & Aid Station 2. Running past the aid station, this time u cross the East Road & enter Poachers Trail 11K. As the challenge continues you encounter a hill at 12K levelling out at 12.5K and about 200 metres later climb again reaching hilltop at 13K. Now a long descent until you reach 14K, then leveling out to the trails end at15.5K. At the end of Poachers, you turn right & Aid Station #4 is there. Proceed up the hill & turn left into The Pass & follow it till u come to a T-junction. Proceed right for a few metres & follow the sign for Redstone Vista (16.8K). Proceed up the hill till you see the sign “To Ben’s Trail” (17.1 & proceed left till you hit Ben’s Trail (17.7). At Ben’s Trail turn right & follow the trail till u hit Krista Trail (20.1) where you will proceed right.
Over the balance of the Krista you will encounter more hills & descents in a very dense forest section. Coming out of the forest area, you will see Aid Station #5. Proceed along the flat logging road for a couple of k’s. At the T-junction, proceed right, cross the bridge & make a immediate left on Black Creek Trail. About 1/2K down the tgrail is where the 50K’s will turn & head for home. The turn will be clearly marked with a big yellow sign. 50M/100M runners continue down this trail is somewhat more forgiving. The trails opens to a forest road (for approx 2K) through a scenic hardwood forest section until u reach East Road. Turn right & a few feet down the road is aid station #6 & the 30K mark.
On Lookout trail you proceed a k before along climb, topping out at 31.1K (do not climb all the way to
the Lookout) then a long decent leveling out at 32K. Crossing a wooden bridge you should go left onto
Sprucetree Trail at 33K. A nice sandy old forest road will bring u back to the East Road at 35K. At the
t-junction u proceed right & then an immediate left to start the King & James Trail.
The King & James trail u climb again for about a kilometer, level out for 500 metre then a long descent for another kilometer. A few more rollers over the next couple of kilometers. At the junction of the Green & King & James, the trail changes its name to the Red Trail and here you bear right and continue down the road till you reach Aid #7 – continue through the aid station till you see the turnaround for the 50M/100M. Proceed back to the Aid Station #7 & then retrace the route.