The 44th Providence Hood to Coast Relay runs
August 28–29, 2026, and like every year, it finishes on the sand in Seaside. Gearhart sits two miles north — about a five-minute drive on US-101, before the race-weekend traffic stacks up. For relay teams that won an entry in the October 2025 lottery, Gearhart by the Sea is the closest meaningful basecamp option once Seaside fills, and most years that happens months out. This guide covers what to book, where to park, how the shuttle works, and what makes Gearhart easier than the finish-line zone for a 12-runner team.
When Is Hood to Coast 2026, and What Does It Mean for Gearhart Lodging?
Hood to Coast 2026 is Friday August 28 through Saturday August 29. The 2026 lottery closed on October 1, 2025, so teams already know whether they're in.
That detail matters for lodging: by the time race weekend is announced inside team chats, the closest properties in Seaside are usually booked. Gearhart by the Sea consistently has summer Friday and Saturday inventory in the weeks leading up to the race, particularly across the vacation rentals and the larger Gearhart house rentals that suit van-team headcount.
A practical timeline if your team is just starting to plan:
- Mid-May to mid-June: Book lodging. This is when team captains who registered late are finalizing logistics.
Current specials tend to apply mid-week and to multi-night stays.
- July: Confirm van rentals (separately), assign legs, pick the team meeting time.
- Early August: Print the official 2026 Hood to Coast Handbook, confirm the van check-in window with your start wave, and double-check the leg maps.
- Race weekend: Arrive Thursday night if possible. Friday morning is when US-26 and US-101 traffic starts compounding.
How Close Is Gearhart to the Hood to Coast Finish Line?
Two miles. The drive from Gearhart by the Sea to the Seaside Turnaround — the finish-area landmark — is roughly five minutes on US-101 in normal conditions, longer on race day. Leg 36, the last leg of the relay, runs between Exchange 31 at Olney Grange and Highway 101 in Seaside, with the final 150 feet of the course on the sandy beach. The Seaside Visitors Bureau's Hood to Coast finish page and the Oregon Encyclopedia entry on Hood to Coast both anchor the finish at that location.
For a relay team, those two miles are the difference between fighting for parking in Seaside on Saturday afternoon and walking out of a Gearhart property, driving north on 101 once, and being at the finish. For families who are not running, it's the difference between a hotel inside the festival footprint and a beach-facing house a 30-minute walk up the strand from the chaos.
What Kind of Property Suits a 12-Runner Hood to Coast Team?
Hood to Coast teams are 8 to 12 runners (Portland to Coast walkers are usually 8 to 12 walkers), split between two vans. The lodging question is whether your team wants to sleep in the same building, or split between two properties.
Four configurations work well from a Gearhart base:
- One large house, full team plus van crew. Best for teams who want to keep group morale and shared meals in one place. Look at the larger units in our Gearhart house rentals inventory — six-plus bedrooms across the kitchen, living rooms, and bunk setups.
- Two adjacent rentals, one per van. Van 1 (Legs 1, 7, 13, 19, 25, 31) and Van 2 (Legs 2, 8, 14, 20, 26, 32) run on opposite schedules during the relay; splitting them across two properties lets the off-van actually sleep. Browse the full properties list for adjacent units.
- Condo for the team, separate rental for spectator family. Family attending the finish doesn't need to listen to wet running shoes drying at 2 AM.
- Pet-friendly unit for runners traveling with dogs. Hood to Coast weekend is a long one for a dog to be left behind. The
pet-friendly Gearhart vacation rentals accept well-behaved dogs with the standard pet fee.
A few features that matter more than they sound: in-unit laundry (mud, sweat, sand), enough parking for a 15-passenger van, and ground-floor access for runners with stiff legs by Saturday morning. Filter for those when you browse.
How Do Parking and the Finish-Line Shuttle Work?
Seaside enforces strict parking restrictions race weekend and the town pulls in upwards of 50,000 people across the relay-finish events. From a Gearhart base, you have three reasonable approaches:
- Free event shuttle every 15 minutes from the North Coast Family Fellowship Church on Leg 36. The shuttle drops near the finish and runs through the afternoon. Park at the church and ride in.
- Seaside Civic & Convention Center lots. The Convention Center has more capacity than the streets near the beach and is generally findable later in the day; from there it's a 10–15 minute walk to the finish.
- Stay in Gearhart and walk or ride the beach in. From the south end of Gearhart, it's a 30–40 minute walk south along the sand to the Seaside finish line at low tide. Some teams turn this into a cool-down walk after their van finishes. (Check the tide before you commit.)
Driving directly into downtown Seaside and trying to park within three blocks of the finish on Saturday afternoon is the option that wastes the most time. The Hood to Coast 2026 relay info page has the official current parking and shuttle map; check it the week of the race.
What's the Best Post-Race Recovery Plan from a Gearhart Base?
After a 199-mile relay across roughly 28 hours, the team should be on its feet again for finish-line photos but not much more. A useful Saturday-afternoon to Sunday-morning sequence:
- Finish and beer garden, then a real shower. Race-supplied facilities are limited; getting back to a Gearhart rental for hot water with pressure is a meaningful upgrade.
- Saturday dinner at a Gearhart spot you booked Thursday. McMenamins Sand Trap Pub (1157 N Marion Ave, next to the Golf Links) and Gearhart Bowl & Fultano's Pizza (3518 Hwy 101 N) are reasonable defaults — both are open through dinner and both routinely handle race-weekend volume. Restaurant capacity in Seaside is fully booked race weekend, and Gearhart sees the spillover.
- Sunday morning recovery walk on Gearhart Beach. Eight miles of open sand, the estuary at the south end, and zero finish-line crowds. Most teams do a slow 30-minute beach walk before the drive home.
- Departure routing. If you're driving back to Portland Sunday, US-26 over the Coast Range is faster than US-30 along the Columbia. Leaving by 9 AM avoids the bulk of the Portland-bound returning traffic.
If your team is making a longer trip of it, our things to do on the Oregon Coast and
Gearhart travel blog
cover the slower itinerary options.
Race-Week Tips That Experienced HTC Teams Already Know
A short list of the small things that compound:
- Confirm your start wave time — staggered Friday starts run from 3 AM to 2 PM, and your wave determines whether Van 1 leaves Thursday night or Friday morning. Get it wrong and Van 2 is sitting around in Sandy for three hours.
- Stage food at the rental, not in the van. A 12-person team's worth of sandwiches in a hot van for 28 hours is not the side dish you want.
- Designate a non-runner driver per van if possible. Race nights are long; a fresh driver on the Coast Range legs is a real safety upgrade.
- Sleep when the rental is closer than the next exchange. From legs 27 through 32, Gearhart is closer than driving back to a designated sleep field. Spending two hours in an actual bed beats two hours on a gym floor.
- Bring a towel per runner specifically for the van. Salt, sand, sweat — keep them separate from your sleep clothes.
Book Your Hood to Coast 2026 Base in Gearhart
Two miles is the right distance — close enough that finish-line logistics work, far enough that you're sleeping in a quiet beach town instead of a festival. Browse Gearhart by the Sea vacation rentals by capacity and pet policy, check current specials for multi-night rates, and lock in your team's stay before Seaside catches up to demand.
Frequently Asked Questions about Hood to Coast in Gearhart
