Slogging Uphill, Cold Beer Downhill: Trails & Rails 2026

We left Dallas early Friday and made the nine-hour drive West. Most of it, you’re looking at open, flat Texas, but once you start heading up into Lincoln National Forest, it feels like the world actually has trees again. It’s a slow climb in altitude and just peaceful.

We dropped our stuff at an Airbnb dead in the middle of Cloudcroft. The place is small enough that being downtown meant everything, including the race start, felt basically next door. Packet pick-up was comically simple: just walk to the little National Park spot across the street and get handed your bib and shirt. No lines, no drama.

Race day, more of the same. Woke up and had maybe a five-minute drive to start. The parking and bathroom situation was tight, two stalls for guys and a long line, but not the worst I’ve seen. The weather was perfect, in the 60s at the start, and even hours later, it barely pressed into the 70s. Altitude hit me for maybe half a mile; nothing a little heavy breathing couldn’t fix.

The course gives you some easy miles at first: all downhill, then you hit an uphill section that kind of wakes you up. Scenic for sure. Running the ridgeline, all you see is trees and sky and those blue-green mountains. But let’s talk about the finish, because after the 5-and-a-half-mile mark, things turn into just an uphill grind. Seriously, I think it was around 1,400 feet of climbing over 2.5 miles, and at that point, nobody’s running. You just hike and survive. But you crest the top, see the restrooms (again, very glamorous), and from there it’s barely an eighth of a mile to the end. The beer festival is waiting right across the street.

Cloudcroft was throwing a full-on beer festival, so you finish sweaty and tired and immediately get a cold one. We spent the rest of the day bouncing between barbecue, restaurants, and maybe another beer or two. It’s remote, yes, and I’d say unless you live in El Paso or Las Cruces, you’re going to spend some real hours getting there. But worth the drive for the view and the vibes. Oh, and apparently, this is just one of three races in the local Ultra series. If you do all of them, you get a flannel shirt. I guess I’m half-tempted.