Is crew access allowed on the 130k course?

Yes, crew access is allowed on the 130k course. One car per runner at each crew access spot. A runner who receives aid anywhere other than the designated crew points is disqualified. Crew can drive halfway up Buck Bald, where a crew sign marks the spot, and can aid their runner at the bottom or walk to the top. A 4X4 or high clearance vehicle is highly recommended.

Are drop bags allowed on the 130k course?

Yes, drop bags are allowed on the 130k course. Think 10-15 Liters. No plastic tubs or giant duffels. The race reserves the right to refuse any drop bag due to size. Drop bags come back to the finish line as aid stations close and are available by 9am Sunday morning.

Are pacers allowed on the 130k course?

Yes, pacers are allowed on the 130k course. Pacers can only meet their runners at the designated pacer locations, and each runner can only have one pacer at a time. Pacers cannot drop or enter at any other location.

What is the cutoff time for the 130k course?

The overall time limit for the 130k course is 26 hours from the start. 26-hour strict cutoff.

Ultras · US · TN

The Cherokee

130k · 130K

On the calendar

The date is set. Entry has not opened. Registration is open.

Race dateJuly 17, 2027

Start7:00am

Whenin 266 days

First held2024

Who's going to The Cherokee?

I'm running itPlan your weeks and your aid station times I'm crewingWhen to leave, where to park, at every stop I'm pacing or cheeringAsk your runner for their Out Here link

Free. You can start with nothing.

Official website Entry Aid stations Notify me if this race changes

Free, and always will be. NavRun makes money from race-day planning for runners who want it, never from this. Ultras change constantly, sometimes the morning of. Always confirm with the race director and the official website before you rely on anything here.

Distance From the name

130K The race calls this course “130k” and hasn't published a measured distance. Trail courses often run long.

Climb The race

19,564 ft

Descent

not checked yet

High point The race

3,659 ft

Time limit The race

26:00:00

Aid stations

Started

not checked yet

Finished

not checked yet

Finish rate

not checked yet

The course

Where it goes out and back · 19 aid stations

No official GPX on file yet. These are the aid station coordinates, not the trail. Have the GPX? Send us the link.

An out and back from Tellico Plains to a turnaround at Childers Creek, near Reliance, and back. Runners climb Waucheesi Mountain once, on the way out.

The race

What this one is

The Cherokee is a mountain ultra that starts in Tellico Plains, Tennessee and runs through the Cherokee National Forest on the Benton MacKaye Trail, the John Muir Trail and the Warriors Passage Trail. It offers a 130K, a 70K and the 24 mile Waucheesi Challenge, which climbs Waucheesi Mountain.

The race took its name from the Cherokee National Forest, to honor the Cherokee people and ancestors who have such a significant history in the area.

Getting in

Getting in Entry, lottery and what the race asks of you before race day.

Lottery: not checked yet

Lottery opens: not checked yet

Lottery draw: not checked yet

Field cap: not checked yet

Registration: UltraSignup ultrasignup.com

Qualifying: Must have finished a 50K+ in past 18 months ultrasignup.com

Minimum age: not checked yet

Transfers: not checked yet

Deferrals: No ultrasignup.com

Running, crewing, pacing or still deciding

How NavRun helps with The Cherokee Twenty six hours, and sixteen stations with a clock on each.

You are running it

You reach Childers Creek, mile 45.1, before its 9:01pm cutoff, and you already knew that this morning.

An arrival time for all 17 stations, worked out from your own training.

Start free →

You are pacing

You are at Old Furnace Rd, mile 4.8, warm and fed.

The same sheet says when they reach you.

You are deciding

You find out The Cherokee is months of work away, not years, and you go and get the qualifier.

Put in a race you have already run. NavRun shows you where this one sits from where you are.

No account needed →

Crew access, pacers and drop bags

The rules that shape your day Anything marked "not checked yet" is a gap in what we hold, never a no from the race.

Crew allowed: Yes drive.google.com

Vehicles per runner: 1 drive.google.com

Pacers: Yes drive.google.com

Muling: not checked yet

Drop bags: Yes drive.google.com

Cupless: not checked yet

Course marking: Fully Marked drive.google.com

Night running: Yes drive.google.com

Dogs: not checked yet

Headphones: not checked yet

Crew rules: One car per runner at each crew access spot. A runner who receives aid anywhere other than the designated crew points is disqualified. Crew can drive halfway up Buck Bald, where a crew sign marks the spot, and can aid their runner at the bottom or walk to the top. A 4X4 or high clearance vehicle is highly recommended. drive.google.com

Pacer rules: Pacers can only meet their runners at the designated pacer locations, and each runner can only have one pacer at a time. Pacers cannot drop or enter at any other location. drive.google.com

Drop bag rules: Think 10-15 Liters. No plastic tubs or giant duffels. The race reserves the right to refuse any drop bag due to size. Drop bags come back to the finish line as aid stations close and are available by 9am Sunday morning. drive.google.com

Cutoff philosophy: 26-hour strict cutoff. ultrasignup.com

Aid stations

Every stop, and what you get there ● yes ○ no ? nobody has checked – does not apply to this race

Mile	Station	Cutoff	Crew access	Bag	Pacer	Med	To next
0.00	Tellico Plains NoneSignal wrong?	?	?	?	?	?	4.80
4.80	Old Furnace Rd NoneSignal wrong?	8:29am	●	?	●	?	3.30
8.10	Tobee Creek NoneSignal wrong?	9:31am	●	?	●	?	3.30
11.40	Waucheesi (Out & Back) NoneSignal wrong?	?	?	?	?	?	3.40
14.80	Tobee Creek NoneSignal wrong?	11:36am	●	?	●	?	3.40
18.20	Smith Field NoneSignal wrong?	12:39pm	●	?	●	?	6.90
25.10	Unicoi Gap NoneSignal wrong?	2:47pm	●	?	●	?	3.80
28.90	Buck Bald NoneSignal wrong?	3:59pm	●	●	●	●	5.90
34.80	Coker Creek Campsite NoneSignal wrong?	5:49pm	?	?	?	?	5.70
40.50	Towee Creek NoneSignal wrong?	7:35pm	?	?	?	?	4.60
45.10	Childers Creek NoneSignal wrong?	9:01pm	●	●	●	?	4.60
49.70	Towee Creek NoneSignal wrong?	10:27pm	?	?	?	?	5.70
55.40	Coker Creek Campsite NoneSignal wrong?	12:13am	?	?	?	?	5.90
61.30	Buck Bald NoneSignal wrong?	2:03am	●	●	●	●	3.90
65.20	Unicoi Gap NoneSignal wrong?	3:16am	●	?	●	?	6.90
72.10	Smith Field NoneSignal wrong?	5:25am	●	?	●	?	3.40
75.50	Tobee Creek NoneSignal wrong?	6:28am	●	?	●	?	3.30
78.80	Old Furnace Rd NoneSignal wrong?	7:30am	●	?	●	?	?
?	Tellico Plains NoneSignal wrong?	9:00am	?	?	?	?	?

Same race, other lines

Other distances and other years

Other distances: Waucheesi Challenge (24 miles)
70k (70K)

What it looks like out there

Somebody has been out there with a camera the tables say the climb is long. these say what long feels like.

2 people have been out there with a camera or a microphone.

1 min

The Cherokee Ultra: Chasing The Podium

Recap · 1 min · 2025

Official channel

East Coast Adventures on YouTube

Official channel

All (2) Recap (1) Official channel (1)

These are other people's work and we link straight to them. Watching costs nothing and needs no account. More of them: every race we hold, on film.

Add to this page

What you know every one of these is read by a person before it changes anything

Ran this race? Tell the next runner what you know.

Nobody sees it until we have read it. No account, no sign-in.

Which distance? Leave blank if it applies to the whole race.

Which stop? Leave blank if it is not about one particular stop.

Give it a short title: Optional. Something like “Cal Street, mile 62 to 78”.

What do you wish someone had told you? Write it the way you would say it to someone at the start line.

Were you there? Optional, and it decides nothing. It only tells the next runner where this is coming from.

What year? Optional.

Your email: Optional, and never shown on the page. Only so we can ask you a question about this note.

Website: Leave this field blank.

See something wrong or out of date? Suggest an edit.

This changes nothing on the page on its own. Somebody checks it against the race first.

Which detail? Optional. Filled in for you when you start from a specific line on the page.

What does the page say now? Copy it as it appears, so we can find it.

What should it say? The corrected value.

How do you know? Required. Where it came from: the race email, the runner manual, what you saw on the day.

A link that shows it: Optional.

Or a photo of it: Optional. A screenshot or a photo of the sign works.

Were you there? Optional, and it decides nothing.

What year? Optional.

Your email: Optional, only so we can come back to you about this correction.

Which distance? Leave blank if it is about the whole race.

Which stop? Leave blank if it is not about one particular stop.

Website: Leave this field blank.

Seen a course preview or a film of this one? Send it over.

Somebody watches it before it goes anywhere near this page. What we are after is footage of this course, on the ground. If it would be just as true of any other race, it is not this.

What does it show that the page cannot? Required. A line is plenty. Where the climbs are, what the footing does, what the last twenty miles look like.

Were you there? Optional, and it decides nothing.

What year? Optional.

Your email: Optional, and never shown on the page. Only so we can ask you a question about this one.

Where is it? A YouTube link, a race report, a photo gallery, whatever it is.

What kind of thing is it?

Who made it? Optional, and we credit them on the page.

Website: Leave this field blank.

Have the GPX? Send us the link.

We want the address of the file the race publishes, not the file. We download it from there so the page can say where the line came from.

Are you the race director? Get in touch and we'll make it right.

We read every one of these and we write back. Every fact here carries the source it came from, and the way a wrong one gets fixed is a person checking it against what you tell us.

Where this came from. Every fact on this page records its source and when we last checked it: 186 sources for this race. Hover a source link to read the sentence it came from.

36% of what we track for a course is filled in. The rest says "not checked yet" rather than guessing.

See something wrong or out of date? Suggest an edit
Ran this race? Tell the next runner what you know
Were you out there? Say which stops a text got out from
Got footage of this course? Send us the link
Are you the race director? Get in touch and we'll make it right.
Anything else: [email protected]

Ultras change. We will tell you when this one does.

Cutoffs move, races get postponed, lotteries open and close. We read the race's own sources and record where every fact came from. Put your email in and we will send you what changed, and where we read it.

No account, and nothing to cancel.

What happens to your email. Nothing else. I do not sell it, and I will not send you anything except this race changing. One click gets you out.

I keep this catalog because the information is scattered and hard to trust. Telling you when it moves is the same job.