The 2017 “Remember the Removal” Bike Ride participants are, from left to right, Will Chavez, Raven Girty, Breanna Anderson, Shelby Deal, Susie Q. Worley-Means, Gaya Pickup, KenLea Henson, Hunter Scott, Ellic Miller, Brian Barlow, Trey Pritchett, Skylar Vann and Macie Sullasteskee. (courtesy photo)

Tahlequah, OK — The Cherokee Nation will host a send-off ceremony at 9 a.m., May 30 at One Fire Field west of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Complex for the 14 Cherokees who leave for the 2017 “Remember the Removal” Bike Ride.

This year’s cyclists range in age from 16 to 24. They will join eight cyclists from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina on a 950-mile ride that begins June 4 in New Echota, Georgia, and concludes June 22 in Tahlequah.

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, 4,000 died because of exposure, starvation and disease, giving credence to the name of Trail of Tears.

The 2017 participants are Brian Barlow, Hunter Scott, Ellic Miller and Macie Sullateskee, all of Cherokee County; Trey Pritchett, KenLea Henson and Susie Q. Means-Worley, all of Adair County; Skylar Vann and Gaya Pickup, both of Mayes County; Breanna Anderson, of Tulsa County; Shelby Deal, of Muskogee County; and Raven Girty, of Sequoyah County.

Cherokee Phoenix Assistant Editor Will Chavez, a participant of the original 1984 “Remember the Removal” Bike Ride, was also chosen as the inaugural “mentor rider.”

Follow this year’s journey at http://www.facebook.com/removal.ride.