Reading the mountain
Reading the mountain
Trailhead to Wright Peak
Three miles. More than sixteen hundred feet up. Explore the verified 2025 course before you meet it underfoot.
The interactive course map is temporarily unavailable. Use the elevation profile and seven-checkpoint guide to explore the route.
Drag or use the keyboard slider to synchronize the route marker, distance, and elevation. Grade is not displayed because the source sampling is not reliable enough for official grade claims.
The official 2025 track begins at the Mount Konocti County Park trailhead and finishes at Wright Peak. It covers 3.01 miles with 1,625 ft of positive gain.
The beginning of the race at the Mount Konocti trailhead.
A rugged, curving section of terrain running alongside and through the orchard landscape.
The first serious steep section of the course where the mountain begins to show its difficulty.
The northernmost point of the route, featuring the first major rest/aid stop and a viewpoint overlooking Clear Lake.
A historic area of Mount Konocti associated with the Downen cabin and the mountain's local history.
The beginning of the final sustained push toward the summit.
The summit finish at Wright Peak.
Before the final push, the course enters a place with a story of its own.
Near mile two, the mountain road passes old walnut and apple orchards and a grove of canyon oaks surrounding the cabin Mary Downen built in 1903. Downen, a widow and homesteader, chose to make a life alone at roughly 3,500 feet, tending her mountain property and orchard.
Every afternoon, a flash across the lake said she was all right.
Around 2 p.m., when the sun allowed, Mary used a mirror to signal her daughter in Lakeport. Her daughter signaled back. Long before a phone could bridge the mountain and town, reflected sunlight carried their daily check-in.
The Downen Grove checkpoint marks this historical part of the climb just before runners turn their attention to the final sustained ascent toward Wright Peak.
A small mountain home takes shape among the canyon oaks.
Downen lived high on the mountain and tended the surrounding property.
A mirror linked the grove with her daughter across Clear Lake in Lakeport.
HistoriCorps crews and volunteers returned the structure to sound footing.
During three volunteer sessions in fall 2023, the HistoriCorps preservation project addressed deteriorated flooring, foundation and wall framing, siding, and corrugated roofing on the cabin and cistern. The work used traditional building skills and historic photographs to guide the rehabilitation.