Start with a trip out to Ramona Falls, not far from the race’s starting point at Timberline Lodge. Given the 1,000-foot climb to get there—complete with a heart-in-throat footbridge crossing—you’ll work just as hard as the runners, but the payoff arrives much sooner: a spectacular, 120-foot-wide cascade that fans magnificently across a basalt backdrop. You’ll have earned your pit stop for a mighty bear claw at Joe’s Donut Shop in Sandy. Hot on the runners’ heels, head for the coast and—a mere 30-minute drive from the Hood to Coast finish line—get your glamp on at Nehalem Bay State Park’s rentable yurts. In the morning, while the hordes are nursing their aching feet in Seaside, hop onto the Oregon Coastal Trail at Tillamook Head for some gut-flipping views as you take in the three-mile loop that swings around Indian Beach. Cap off the weekend with a hearty face-full of fresh Dungeness crab at the classic Bell Buoy of seaside.

...and start making plans for Labor Day Weekend, September 4-7

Thursday, September 4 marks the final installment of Ecotrust’s Sundown concert series, which means it’s high time for some outdoor sunset tunes. When the weekend proper arrives, consider this your last chance for a summer weekend getaway—thus, we have an option for each point of the compass.  To the north: Bumbershoot awaits in Seattle, with its wild annual mélange of music, film, comedy, visual art, and dance.  To the east: Beyond the Oregon you know, there is southeastern Oregon, a dry, sprawling, mountain-studded swath of earth brimming with beguiling geologic gems. The Big Empty awaits your pilgrimage. Your destination: the otherworldly Alvord Hot Springs. To the south: Book the Dragonfly Cabin at the Metolius River Lodges, where the crystal-clear river gurgles just beneath your deck, Camp Sherman’s charming general store is mere steps away, and prolific hatches make for some of the best fly-fishing in the state.  To the west: Settle into a vintage trailer at the artsy-earthy Sou’wester Lodge in Seaview, Washington, for a weekend of clamming, beach-strolling, and lazing about in the Finnish sauna. Not feeling the wanderlust? Take yourself out to the ballpark for one of the Hillsboro Hops’ season-closing games against the Eugene Emeralds.