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Georgia Jewel Course Guide

The Georgia Jewel is Georgia’s longest-standing 100-mile trail race, an out and back on the rocky Pinhoti across five ridgelines of the Chattahoochee National Forest, with 50, 35, and 18 mile options sharing the same trail. It does not have one giant alpine climb. It has endless rolling vert, technical footing, September humidity, a long night, and a finish up Mt. Baker that you will not forget. I will walk you through where this race is won and lost, then give you a pacing and fueling plan that fits it. There are free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.

⏵ At a glance

Georgia Jewel quick facts

Date
Mid-September (race weekend Sep 17 to 19, 2026)
Location
Dalton Convention Center, Dug Gap Battle Rd, Dalton, GA, on the Pinhoti Trail in the Chattahoochee National Forest, Northwest Georgia
Distances
100 mile, 50 mile, 35 mile, and 18 mile
Elevation gain
100 mile: roughly 14,500 to 16,000 ft (out and back) · less for the shorter distances
Start
100 mile: Friday 12 PM noon · 50 mile: 7:30 AM · 35 mile: 7:35 AM · 18 mile: 8:30 AM
Cutoff
100 mile: 35 hours, with intermittent cutoffs along the way · shorter cutoffs for the 50 / 35 / 18
Finisher award
100 mile finishers earn the coveted Georgia Jewel buckle
Qualifier
No Western States, Hardrock, or UTMB Running Stones status listed by the race (confirm with the race for the current year)

These facts come from the official race site, UltraSignup, ITRA, and public race reports, and the elevation figure is given as a range because sources vary. Check the current date, start times, cutoffs, and aid stations in the official runner handbook before you commit. Race logistics change year to year.

The course: where the Georgia Jewel is won and lost

The 100 starts at the Dalton Convention Center, heads out onto the Pinhoti through the Dry Creek system, runs the ridges out to the turnaround, and comes back the way it came. Roughly 70 miles of rocky singletrack, 21.5 miles of jeep road, and 8.5 miles of pavement, with something like 14,500 to 16,000 feet of climbing in rolling pieces. The 50, 35, and 18 mile races run the same trail and the same character, just shorter. Here is how the day actually unfolds.

The ridges: endless rolling vert, not one big climb

Do not come here looking for a single huge mountain. The Georgia Jewel beats you with accumulation. It crosses five mountains and several ridge crests on the Pinhoti, and the vert comes in hundreds of short, punchy ups and downs that quietly add up to a mountain hundred’s worth of climbing. The trap is treating the rollers as free and running everything early because nothing feels steep. Power-hike the ups with intent, keep your effort flat, and let the climbing average out underneath you instead of spiking your heart rate on every little riser.

There are named efforts in there too, like John’s Mountain with its rock staircases up to an overlook above a waterfall. The footing through this whole thing is classic Southern Appalachian: rocky, rooty, with rock gardens where rocks run from fist-sized to truck-sized. That terrain costs you more than the elevation profile suggests, so quick feet and patience matter as much as fitness.

The night: the long, lonely middle

On the 100 you start Friday at noon, so you run into the dark on tired legs with most of the race still ahead. The middle of the night out on the ridges is where this thing is decided. The rock gardens are slower and slicker by headlamp, the John’s Mountain wooden stairs get treacherous when there is any moisture, and the aid gaps feel longer when you cannot see the trail unspooling. Run a bright light with a backup, keep eating on a clock so your brain stays online, and expect a low somewhere in the small hours. Everyone gets one. The runners who finish are the ones who keep moving through it instead of sitting down at an aid station and letting it swallow them.

Plan your drop bags around this. Put a warm layer, fresh batteries, and food you will actually want at the aid you will hit in the dark and after the longest gaps, and you give your night self a fighting chance.

The way back, and Mt. Baker at the end

Because it is an out and back, the return is the same rocky ridges you already covered, now on legs that are 50-plus miles deep. This is where pacing discipline from the first half pays off or comes due. If you ran the early rollers too hard, those familiar climbs turn into a slow shuffle and the rock gardens feel personal. Crew and a pacer from the later aid stations help a lot here, both for the calories and for keeping your head in it.

Then there is Mt. Baker. In the final mile or so the course sends you up a beat-up paved utility road that pitches to something like 40 percent grade, gaining roughly 187 feet in about a tenth of a mile. After everything else, you hike it, hands on your knees if that is what it takes. The good news: the top is the hard part, and from there it is a short, easy jog to the line and that buckle. Just leave a little in the tank for the wall at the end.

Pacing strategy for a rolling, rocky, all-day race

With the vert chopped into endless rollers and a 35-hour clock on the 100, the Georgia Jewel is an effort-management race, not a pace-chart race. Run the ridges by feel and the heat, and use the back half to pass people who went out hot.

Pace by grade and effort, not your flat splits

Your road pace is meaningless on the Pinhoti rollers and the rock gardens. What matters is the effort you can hold all day and all night up and over hundreds of little climbs. Hike the ups, run the runnable, and keep your output even instead of redlining each riser. The single biggest mistake here is banking time early because nothing feels hard, then paying for it on the rocky return. Use a grade-adjusted pace to turn your real fitness into honest climb-and-descend targets so you ride a sustainable effort the whole way.

Build a vert-aware finish prediction and work back into the cutoffs

Do not guess your Georgia Jewel finish off a road time. The 14,500-plus feet of rolling gain, the technical rock, the heat, and a full night out all add real hours, and the 100 has intermittent cutoffs you have to beat, not just the 35-hour overall. A vert-aware finish prediction for this course gives you a realistic time window, and from there you can build a checkpoint-by-checkpoint plan so you always know how much buffer you have on the clock instead of finding out the hard way at an aid station.

⏵ Free tools to pace this course

  • Grade-adjusted pace calculator to turn your flat fitness into honest targets for the endless rollers and the rocky return.
  • Race-time calculator for a vert-aware finish prediction on this course’s climbing, so you can plan against the 35-hour clock and the intermittent cutoffs.
  • Race-equivalent calculator to turn a recent race result into a Georgia Jewel goal you can actually hold.

Fueling strategy for the heat and the long haul

The 100 keeps most runners out for the better part of a day and a night in Southern humidity, and even the shorter distances are long, hot efforts. That makes carbohydrate, sodium, and fluid as decisive as your legs, especially with long, sticky gaps between some aid stations.

Carbs: keep eating, especially through the night

For an all-day effort like the 100, aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour and hold it steady, leaning to the higher end only if your gut is trained for it. The heat and humidity early will blunt your appetite, and the night will tempt you to stop eating right when your brain needs the sugar most, so put it on a timer and treat fueling as a job. Practice your real race-day carb rate on long hot runs so 70 or 80 grams an hour feels routine rather than like an experiment you are running at mile 60 in the dark.

Sodium and fluid: respect the humidity and the gaps

Southern September humidity makes you sweat hard even when the air temperature is not extreme, so lean toward the high end on sodium, often around 500 to 700 milligrams per liter of fluid, and more if you are a heavy or salty sweater. Just as important, carry enough fluid and calories to get across the long stretches between aid (there are 8-plus mile gaps out there, including late in the 100) instead of rationing to the next station and arriving empty. Weigh yourself before and after a hot long run to learn your real sweat rate, then build your plan around your own number, not a generic one.

⏵ Build your fueling plan

Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and the Georgia humidity with the free ultra fueling calculator. Browse the rest of the free running tools at the tools hub.

⏵ Train for it with Summit Line

Get a race-day plan built around YOUR fitness, this exact Georgia Jewel course profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for the rolling vert and the night, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.

Start free →Explore the demo

Georgia Jewel FAQ

How hard is the Georgia Jewel 100?

It is genuinely hard, and people sleep on it because it is in Georgia and not the mountains out west. The 100 is an out and back on the Pinhoti Trail across five ridgelines with somewhere around 14,500 to 16,000 feet of climbing, run on rocky, rooty singletrack, in September heat and humidity, with a 35-hour cutoff. The climbs are relentless rather than enormous, the footing in the rock gardens wears you down, and it finishes by sending you up Mt. Baker, a paved utility road so steep it is almost a joke. Respect it like a real mountain hundred and it will still test you.

How much climbing is in the Georgia Jewel 100?

Expect somewhere in the neighborhood of 14,500 to 16,000 feet of total gain over the 100, depending on which GPS file or measurement you trust, with the same amount of descending because it is an out and back. None of it comes in one giant alpine climb. It is hundreds of rolling ridge climbs that add up, plus named efforts like John’s Mountain with its rock staircases, and the short, vicious Mt. Baker pitch right at the end. The 50, 35, and 18 mile races share this same trail and ridge character with proportionally less total vert.

What is Mt. Baker at the Georgia Jewel?

Mt. Baker is the cruel little finish-line climb that the race is half-famous for. It is a steep paved utility access road in rough shape, pitching up around 40 percent grade and gaining roughly 187 feet in about a tenth of a mile, in the final mile or so before the line. After 99 miles of rocky Pinhoti, you walk it. Get to the top and it is a short, easy jog to the finish, so save just enough in the tank to grind up it.

What are the cutoff times for the Georgia Jewel?

The 100 mile race has a 35-hour overall cutoff, with intermittent cutoffs at aid stations along the way, so you cannot bank all your time for the end. The 50, 35, and 18 mile races have their own shorter limits that are generous for the distance but still real. Because the exact intermediate cutoffs can shift year to year, confirm them in the current runner handbook before you start and work backward into your splits.

What is the terrain and weather like at the Georgia Jewel?

The Pinhoti is classic Southern Appalachian trail: rocky, rooty singletrack with rock gardens, plus stretches of jeep road and some paved connectors, crossing five mountains and several ridge crests. For the 100 that works out to roughly 70 miles of singletrack, 21.5 miles of jeep road, and 8.5 miles of pavement. Mid-September in Northwest Georgia tends to be hot and humid with unpredictable weather, and the green tunnel holds the humidity in, so heat management is a real part of the day even though you are not at altitude.

Can I have crew and pacers at the Georgia Jewel 100?

Yes. The 100 runs out and back out of the Dalton Convention Center, with crew-accessible aid stations along the way (Snake Creek is typically the first crew point, and Dry Creek is a big hub you hit multiple times). Pacers are generally allowed later in the race from the crew-accessible aid stations, with the usual one-pacer-at-a-time rule. Set drop bags at the aid you will reach in the dark and after long gaps, and confirm the exact crew points, pacer pickup rules, and drop-bag locations in the current handbook since they get fine-tuned each year.

This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, start times, cutoffs, and aid stations come from public sources and can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics with the official race before you register or run. The fueling and pacing advice is general and not medical advice.