It's been described as "gloriously brutal" among the more printable things that can be said about it. The Topanga 10K course is rugged, steep and breath-takingly beautiful. Winding up out of Trippett Ranch through meadows of wild flowers, runners leave the shade of the Coastal Live Oaks and head for the pitted face of Eagle Rock, which might seem like the highest part of the course but it's not. Just past the Hub and the Turnaround the course plunges downhill through Eagle Springs on trails lined with wild Ceanothus, then rises again to rejoin Fire Road # 30 which continues uphill then drops down for the last mile to Trippett Ranch and the Finish Line.