TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — The Cherokee Nation will host a send-off ceremony for the 12 Cherokee Nation cyclists who leave Tahlequah, Oklahoma on Tuesday, May 28 for the 2024 Remember the Removal Bike Ride.
The Cherokee Nation cyclists will join cyclists from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, North Carolina and begin their ride in New Echota, Georgia. They will conclude around 950 miles later in Tahlequah on June 21.
Cyclists follow the Northern Route of the Trail of Tears, spanning Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, to retrace the path of their ancestors. Of the estimated 16,000 Cherokees forced to march to Indian Territory in the late 1830s, about 4,000 died due to exposure, starvation and disease, giving credence to the name Trail of Tears.
This year marks the 40-year anniversary of the inaugural RTR Bike Ride in 1984.