Cloudland Canyon

Cloudland Canyon runs in the state park of the same name on Lookout Mountain, at the far northwest corner of Georgia. Both ultras start and finish at Picnic Shelter #4 and both take the plunge to the bottom of the canyon and back up, past waterfalls and out along open views of the valleys below.

The 50K is a loop and a lollipop; the 50 miler is that course with a further lollipop added, so the two share most of their ground. Both go at 6:30 a.m. on the Saturday, the 50 miler with a fifteen and a half hour limit and the 50K with eleven, and a 25K and a five-miler follow on the Sunday morning. The organiser puts the race on the first full weekend of December every year and rates both ultras as advanced. Entry is straight sign-up on UltraSignup.

Both ultras start and finish at Picnic Shelter #4 inside Cloudland Canyon State Park. The 50K is a single loop followed by a lollipop; the 50 miler is the 50K course with an additional lollipop off it, so most of the ground is shared. The organiser describes mainly rolling hills with a few climbs of 200 to 500 feet, plus the descent to the floor of the canyon and back out, and names Sittons Gulch, Ascalon, 5 Points, the Power Line and Durham Road along the way. It gives 6,500 feet of climbing for the 50 miler and 4,500 for the 50K. Cut-off times are published as times of day and are the times a runner must have left each aid station by, not arrived at. There is no mobile signal on much of the course, including the 5 Points crew point.

Entry is first-come sign-up on UltraSignup, with no lottery, no application and no qualifying standard. The organiser publishes no field cap and says it can rarely state how many places remain, pointing runners at UltraSignup's watch list; a waitlist is shown only where one has been enabled, and none is. The 2026 prices are $165 for the 50 miler and $129 for the 50K, entry closes the day before the race, and there is a $5 per day state park entrance fee payable in exact change on race morning. Swag is only guaranteed for runners entered by November 1.