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A still lake in Cathedral Provincial Park reflecting a rocky peak, with conifers on the shore
Photerrestrial / Unsplash

Fat Dog 120 course maps and aid stations

A point-to-point mountain ultra across two British Columbia provincial parks, with a 40 mile and a 100 km on the back half of the route.

2027 dates not announced yet, usually in August Keremeos to Manning Park, British Columbia

Fat Dog runs from the Ashnola River valley near Keremeos, through Cathedral Provincial Park, to Lightning Lake in E.C. Manning Provincial Park. The 120 Mile is longer than its name, 196.4 km on the aid station chart, with about 8,000 m of climbing and a 48 hour cutoff. The 100 km and 40 Mile start at the Cascade Rest Area on Highway 3 and finish at the same lake.

The 2026 race was called off on July 30, a week before the start, because of wildfires in and around Manning Park, one of them less than 500 m from the course. The aid stations and cutoffs on this page are from the 2026 racer guide, but the line on the map comes from the race's GPX files of June 2023, the newest it has posted. The 2027 guide isn't out yet.

The racer guide says not to count on cell reception anywhere but beside Manning Park Lodge, and there's none at the finish. Download the course map before you leave town. GPS shows where you are with no signal, and a GPX on your phone or watch is on the mandatory kit list.

This is an unofficial guide: Goat Maps isn't affiliated with Fat Dog 120 Trail Race. Check the official site before you enter or race.

Fat Dog course map

Every course's aid stations on the Goat Maps topo map. Each course has a map of its own further down.

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Fat Dog courses

CourseDistanceClimbingStartTime limit
120 Mile196.4 km (122 mi)8,000 m (26,247 ft)Fri, Aug 7, 10:00 AM48 h
100 km102.8 km (63.9 mi)4,000 m (13,123 ft)Sat, Aug 8, 8:00 AM26 h
40 Mile62.1 km (38.6 mi)2,500 m (8,202 ft)Sat, Aug 8, 9:30 AM18 h

Start times are the 2026 edition's.

Fat Dog 120 Mile

From Cathedral Provincial Park across the Pasayten River to the high trails of Manning Park.

Distance
196.4 km (122 mi)
Climbing
8,000 m (26,247 ft)
Start
Fri, Aug 7, 10:00 AM
Time limit
48 h

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next aid station without a signal.

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You start at the Lakeview Trailhead, 23 km up the Ashnola River Road from Keremeos, and climb into Cathedral Provincial Park. From the Ashnola valley the course heads west to Eastgate in Manning Park, with one ford of the Pasayten River, about 60 km in. It has some current, and the race strings a guide rope. Bonnevier is 3 km later, and the guide suggests packing dry shoes in your drop bag there.

North of Highway 3 you climb from Bonnevier to Heather, loop through Nicomen Lake, Grainger Creek and Hope Pass, and come back along the Heather Trail. Heather, Nicomen Lake and Grainger Creek have no road access, and volunteers hike everything in, so the menus are short. Bonnevier to Heather is 18 km, and the guide tells you to leave Bonnevier and Hope Pass carrying your own food and water. The chart marks Blackwall, at 160.3 km, as your first 100 miles. From there you drop to Manning Park Resort, cross the highway, and finish with the Skyline I climb above Lightning Lake. The 2026 chart puts the finish at 196.4 km, and the website says about 124 miles. The line on the map is traced from the race's GPX file, posted in 2023.

aid stations

kmWhereCutoff
0Lakeview Trailhead (120 Mile start)
12.7Cathedral
27.1Ashnola Crew, Drop bagFri 5:00 PM
34.1Trapper
53Calcite Drop bag
63Bonnevier Crew, Drop bag, PacersSat 1:00 AM
81Heather
96.5Nicomen Lake
106.3Grainger Creek
121.8Hope Pass Crew, Drop bag, PacersSat 4:00 PM
134.2Nicomen Lake
149.7Heather
160.3Blackwall Crew, Drop bag, Pacers
171Windy Joe's Crew, PacersSun 4:00 AM
178.9Strawberry Flats Crew, Drop bag, PacersSun 6:00 AM
196.4Lightning Lake Day Use Area (finish) Crew, Drop bagSun 10:00 AM
Dark crags rising above rocky alpine tundra in Cathedral Provincial Park
Photerrestrial / Unsplash

Fat Dog 100 km

Skagit Bluffs, Hope Pass, the Heather Trail and a last climb up Skyline.

Distance
102.8 km (63.9 mi)
Climbing
4,000 m (13,123 ft)
Start
Sat, Aug 8, 8:00 AM
Time limit
26 h

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next aid station without a signal.

Open in web map

The 100 km starts at the Cascade Rest Area, about 30 minutes west of Manning Park Resort, on the rolling singletrack of the Skagit Bluffs trail. From Grainger Creek it follows the second half of the 120 Mile: out to Hope Pass, back over Nicomen Lake and along the Heather Trail, which the organizer rates among the most scenic in Manning Park. The map draws it from the race's 2023 GPX file.

After the descent from Blackwall Peak there's one more big climb, up Skyline, with its false summits, before you come down to Lightning Lake. Strawberry Flats to the finish is 17.5 km on the 2026 chart. There are no creek crossings, and about 13 km of the course is road.

aid stations

kmWhereCutoff
0Cascade Rest Area (100 km and 40 Mile start)
5.7Cayuse Flats
12.7Grainger Creek
28.2Hope Pass Crew, Drop bagSat 3:00 PM
40.6Nicomen Lake
56.1Heather
66.7Blackwall Crew, Drop bag, Pacers
77.4Windy Joe's Crew, PacersSun 4:00 AM
85.3Strawberry Flats Crew, Drop bag, PacersSun 6:00 AM
102.8Lightning Lake Day Use Area (finish) Crew, Drop bagSun 10:00 AM
Yellow and purple wildflowers in a Manning Park meadow, with blue ridges in the distance
Sunni Chen / Unsplash

Fat Dog 40 Mile

Skagit Bluffs to Nicomen Lake and the Heather Trail, then a short run to the lake.

Distance
62.1 km (38.6 mi)
Climbing
2,500 m (8,202 ft)
Start
Sat, Aug 8, 9:30 AM
Time limit
18 h

Take this course offline

Download its map in Goat Maps and you can find the next aid station without a signal.

Open in web map

The 40 Mile shares its start and first 13 km with the 100 km, then skips Hope Pass and climbs from Grainger Creek to Nicomen Lake. The Heather Trail takes you on to Blackwall Peak. The map line here is also the race's 2023 GPX.

Unlike the longer courses it doesn't go over Skyline: on the 2026 chart it's only 2.5 km from Windy Joe's to the finish at Lightning Lake. There's no minimum experience to enter, and no pacers on this distance.

aid stations

kmWhereCutoff
0Cascade Rest Area (100 km and 40 Mile start)
5.9Cayuse Flats
13Grainger Creek
22.8Nicomen Lake
38.3Heather
48.9Blackwall Crew, Drop bag
59.6Windy Joe's Crew
62.1Lightning Lake Day Use Area (finish) Crew, Drop bagSun 3:30 AM

Registration

Entry is on UltraSignup and is first come, first served. For 2026 it opened at midnight on January 5. Every distance sold out and went to a waitlist, where you get 48 hours to accept an invitation. Fees for 2026 were C$585 for the 120 Mile, C$425 for the 100 km and C$275 for the 40 Mile before March 1, and a little more after.

To enter the 120 Mile you need a 100 km race or solo effort in the past two years. For the 100 km the race strongly recommends 50 km of experience. Every runner has to be 18 or older and owes 8 hours of trail work or race volunteering before the race, or C$120 to the trail fund instead.

There are no refunds or transfers. If you withdraw by August 1 and volunteer on race weekend instead, your fee carries over to the next year in full, less UltraSignup's charges. If you can't volunteer, telling the race before May 1 gets you half as credit.

Getting to Manning Park

A narrow trail through a subalpine meadow in Cathedral Provincial Park, with rocky peaks behind
Photerrestrial / Unsplash

Everything happens out of Manning Park Resort, about three hours from Vancouver on Highway 1 to Hope and then Highway 3. Package pickup and the pre-race briefing, both mandatory, are in the Alpine Room at the lodge. Hope is 45 minutes west and Princeton 45 minutes east. Keremeos, 30 minutes from the 120 Mile start, is an hour and a half away. The resort has a restaurant and a small store but no gas.

Race buses leave for the starts from the Headwaters Corral on Gibson Pass Road, and you reserve a seat through UltraSignup. You can't leave a car at the start, and no shuttle goes back there, so park in the Fat Dog racer lot by the corral. The resort holds rooms for racers if you call, and Manning Park campsites book up within minutes of opening.

Crew and pacers

Crews can drive to Ashnola, Bonnevier, Hope Pass, Blackwall and Strawberry Flats. Ashnola and Hope Pass are on rough Forest Service roads, where the race says 4WD isn't required but is highly recommended. There's no parking at Windy Joe's: park at the resort and walk about 15 minutes, or get dropped off. Each racer gets one crew vehicle, and the aid station food and water are for runners and pacers, so crews bring their own.

Pacers are allowed in the 120 Mile from Bonnevier and in the 100 km from Blackwall, and after that at any crew station. You get one at a time. Pacers carry their own mandatory kit and can't carry yours. Runners over 65 can have a pacer the whole way.

Weather and kit

Fir trees and layered ridges under storm clouds in Manning Park
Kyle Thacker / Unsplash

The course goes from valley floors to subalpine ridges, and the guide says past years have brought everything from extreme heat to rain, hail, snow and strong wind. Every distance carries the same kit: a collapsible cup and a spoon, two liters of fluid capacity, two lights, a waterproof jacket with taped seams and a hood, long pants or leggings, a warm long-sleeve layer, a hat and gloves, two emergency blankets or a bivvy, a whistle, 400 calories in reserve and a device with the course GPX. Be ready for 25 km or more between aid stations and water.

The course is marked with reflectors and pink flagging, but deer eat the reflectors, and the race expects you to navigate on your own when markers go missing.

Fat Dog aid stations and GPS coordinates

For crews and spectators: each place on the map in decimal degrees, latitude first. Paste them into any map app or add them as waypoints in Goat Maps.

  • Lakeview Trailhead (120 Mile start)

    852 m (2,795 ft)

    49.13258, -120.08883

  • Cascade Rest Area (100 km and 40 Mile start)

    774 m (2,539 ft)

    49.22901, -121.05630

  • Lightning Lake Day Use Area (finish)

    1,244 m (4,081 ft)

    49.06210, -120.82648

  • Cathedral

    2,141 m (7,024 ft)

    49.07447, -120.19228

  • Ashnola

    1,190 m (3,904 ft)

    49.06465, -120.33305

  • Trapper

    1,810 m (5,938 ft)

    49.03915, -120.38961

  • Calcite

    1,396 m (4,580 ft)

    49.11191, -120.55292

  • Bonnevier

    1,021 m (3,350 ft)

    49.14892, -120.60531

  • Heather

    2,046 m (6,713 ft)

    49.14183, -120.76197

  • Nicomen Lake

    1,791 m (5,876 ft)

    49.22689, -120.86066

  • Grainger Creek

    953 m (3,127 ft)

    49.23995, -120.93386

  • Hope Pass

    1,655 m (5,430 ft)

    49.27154, -120.78966

  • Blackwall

    1,796 m (5,892 ft)

    49.07853, -120.77034

  • Windy Joe's

    1,192 m (3,911 ft)

    49.06394, -120.79805

  • Strawberry Flats

    1,370 m (4,495 ft)

    49.06617, -120.88369

  • Cayuse Flats

    49.20603, -120.99870

Fat Dog FAQ

When is Fat Dog 2027?

The race's website hadn't posted 2027 dates when this page was checked. Its UltraSignup page lists Friday, August 6, 2027, with registration opening January 5, 2027. The 2026 race was set for August 7 to 9.

Why was Fat Dog 2026 cancelled?

Wildfires. On July 30, a week out, the organizers called off all three distances, citing five active fires in or near Manning Park, one less than 500 m from the course. Smoke and air quality were expected to get worse, and there was no workable reroute.

Is Fat Dog a Western States qualifier?

Yes. Western States lists the 120 Mile under 48 hours and the 100 km under 22 hours, including the 2027 race for the 2028 lottery. Fat Dog's qualifiers page also says a 120 Mile finish lets you enter the Hardrock lottery.

How long is the Fat Dog 120 really?

Longer than 120 miles. The 2026 aid station chart puts the finish at 196.4 km (122.7 miles on the same chart), and the website calls it about 124 miles, with roughly 8,000 m of climbing.

Can you have a pacer at Fat Dog?

In the 120 Mile from Bonnevier, 63 km in, and in the 100 km from Blackwall, then at any crew station after. The 40 Mile has no pacers, except for runners over 65, who can have one for the whole race at any distance.

Is there cell service on the Fat Dog course?

Barely. The racer guide says not to count on it anywhere but beside Manning Park Lodge, and there's none at the finish or the aid stations. Download the course map in Goat Maps before you go: your phone's GPS works without a signal.

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Updated . An unofficial guide, from the organizer's published information. Coordinates from the organizer's course and OpenStreetMap contributors. Photos from Unsplash. Organize a race? We help with course files.