Chief Ladiga Trail, Day 1 (June 19, 2009)
This weekend we're riding the Chief Ladiga bike trail. The Silver Comet trail runs for about 62 miles (across Georgia) and joins up to the Chief Ladiga trail at the Georgia/Alabama line. The Chief Ladiga trail runs for 32.5 miles from the Georgia line through Piedmont and Jacksonville to Weaver, a suburb of Anniston. You can follow along on the map here or here if you want to.
The mileages are from the online material about the trails. What we actually learned on Saturday is that the Chief Ladiga trail is about a quarter mile longer than the 32.5 it's credited with at Trail Express. But I'm getting ahead of my story.
We finished the Silver Comet (the Georgia portion) several weeks ago planning to return and complete the Alabama portion when a long weekend was available. So a while ago, I decided to take Friday, June 19, as a vacation day so we'd have a long weekend. The plan was to drive down on Friday, get in a little riding Friday afternoon, then complete the rest of the trail with two longer days on Saturday and Sunday.
As it turned out, we were later getting out of Oak Ridge Friday than we had planned. We decided to stay at the hotel in Cedartown because we had stayed there before so it's a known quantity. It meant a little extra driving to get to the trail each day, but it's not too far.
(Aside: We recently replaced our Saturn Vue with a Toyota Tacoma to make it easier to transport my bike and Karen's trike. To protect the bike and trike, we decided to get a cover for the bed. I'm very happy with how that's working out. I do have to take the seat off Karen's trike to get it and my longer bike into the bed, but they are protected from the harsh wind/weather when on the road.)
We arrived at the hotel about 3:30 Friday afternoon. It was really hot (mid 90's), so we settled into the hotel and practiced gratitude for the air conditioner. Since it was so late in the day, we had pretty much decided to give up on the idea of getting any riding done that day. However, after a little nap and rest in the cool room, we decided that if we waited for the day to cool down a bit, with the longer (almost) summer daylight hours, we might be able to tolerate a short ride.
So around 5:30, we left the hotel and drove to Esom Hill, the parking lot/trailhead closest to the Alabama/Georgia border. It's actually in Georgia by about half a mile. We got started at about 6:15 with the idea that we could ride until about 7:30 and then we'd have to turn around to get back to the truck before the sun was completely gone (at, we guessed, 8:45) or we'd be lost for good in the pitch black wilderness of Alabama.
The ride was actually very pleasant. Well, mostly. The one aspect that was a bit annoying was the biting flies that started swarming us at points on the way back. They weren't constant, and they didn't all bite, but some of them did and that was enough. After a while, we figured out that the lead rider got it the worst. Apparently, the flies would just be hanging out in the twilight when this juicy human came along and they'd get all excited doing their victory dance around the prospective victim and never notice the second one following ten feet behind. So I nobly took the point position and endured the little pests the last few miles. 0:-)
Starting out, we were headed west, so we had the setting sun in our eyes. This wasn't a big deal since we were both wearing sunglasses.
We wound up covering 10.5 miles of the Alabama portion. We actually rode 11 miles each way since we started from a parking lot half a mile on the Georgia side of the state line. Our turn-around point was the 10.5 mile marker measuring from the state line.
We didn't see much traffic. There was a couple sitting at a picnic table at the state line when we passed. We exchanged greetings and comments on the hot weather as we passed. Later, as we were returning toward Georgia, we passed them headed into Alabama.
The trail passes through the Talladega "mountains" according Google maps, but I guess it runs along a valley since the trail itself is not steep at all. We saw some pretty good-sized hills off in the distance, but nothing that we'd call mountains by East Tennessee standards. Looking at a map of the trail we passed on Saturday, I saw that that portion of the trail runs along Little Terrapin Creek. We noticed that it's fairly straight for the most part. The curves there are are reminiscent of the railroad that once occupied the right of way -- many of them run through cuts between walls of rock. In places, rocks and mud had fallen from the walls to rest beside or even on the trail. At one point, we saw the remains of a tree that had fallen across the trail and been cut up. There are also lots of trestles over small creeks and swampy areas to remind one of the railroad days.
Several miles into Alabama, I noticed a single track dirt trail going off to the right. A small wooden sign announced that it was the Pinhoti Trail. I had seen mention of it online during my research to prepare for this trip. It's a 300 mile foot path (half in Georgia, half in Alabama) that connects the Appalachian Trail to other hiking paths in Alabama. It intersects the Chief Ladiga trail and runs along it for some distance. On our way back, we passed three fellows with walking sticks and packs resting on one of the bridges and surmised that they were Pinhoti through hikers. On the return trip, Karen pointed out the blue blazes that mark the Pinhoti trail that she had noticed earlier and I had missed.
Just before our turn-around point at the 10.5 mile marker, in either Palestine or Borden Springs, we passed a trailside concession stand. It was a small building with a sign, clearly closed at the time. I couldn't tell whether it's typically open and was closed when we passed because it was after hours or is abandoned and no longer in business.
There was wildlife: a few rabbits, a snake, and several flocks of crows. The rabbits let us get pretty close before running away. The snake lay half on the trail and was stock still as I rolled by inches away. We'd see the crows off in the distance standing around on the trail and grass verge and watch them take off and flap away when we got within about a hundred yards.
We got back to the truck just as the sunlight was fading away, having ridden about 22 miles total. Even with the sun down, the sky is amazingly bright this time of year.
The mileages are from the online material about the trails. What we actually learned on Saturday is that the Chief Ladiga trail is about a quarter mile longer than the 32.5 it's credited with at Trail Express. But I'm getting ahead of my story.
We finished the Silver Comet (the Georgia portion) several weeks ago planning to return and complete the Alabama portion when a long weekend was available. So a while ago, I decided to take Friday, June 19, as a vacation day so we'd have a long weekend. The plan was to drive down on Friday, get in a little riding Friday afternoon, then complete the rest of the trail with two longer days on Saturday and Sunday.
As it turned out, we were later getting out of Oak Ridge Friday than we had planned. We decided to stay at the hotel in Cedartown because we had stayed there before so it's a known quantity. It meant a little extra driving to get to the trail each day, but it's not too far.
(Aside: We recently replaced our Saturn Vue with a Toyota Tacoma to make it easier to transport my bike and Karen's trike. To protect the bike and trike, we decided to get a cover for the bed. I'm very happy with how that's working out. I do have to take the seat off Karen's trike to get it and my longer bike into the bed, but they are protected from the harsh wind/weather when on the road.)
We arrived at the hotel about 3:30 Friday afternoon. It was really hot (mid 90's), so we settled into the hotel and practiced gratitude for the air conditioner. Since it was so late in the day, we had pretty much decided to give up on the idea of getting any riding done that day. However, after a little nap and rest in the cool room, we decided that if we waited for the day to cool down a bit, with the longer (almost) summer daylight hours, we might be able to tolerate a short ride.
So around 5:30, we left the hotel and drove to Esom Hill, the parking lot/trailhead closest to the Alabama/Georgia border. It's actually in Georgia by about half a mile. We got started at about 6:15 with the idea that we could ride until about 7:30 and then we'd have to turn around to get back to the truck before the sun was completely gone (at, we guessed, 8:45) or we'd be lost for good in the pitch black wilderness of Alabama.
The ride was actually very pleasant. Well, mostly. The one aspect that was a bit annoying was the biting flies that started swarming us at points on the way back. They weren't constant, and they didn't all bite, but some of them did and that was enough. After a while, we figured out that the lead rider got it the worst. Apparently, the flies would just be hanging out in the twilight when this juicy human came along and they'd get all excited doing their victory dance around the prospective victim and never notice the second one following ten feet behind. So I nobly took the point position and endured the little pests the last few miles. 0:-)
Starting out, we were headed west, so we had the setting sun in our eyes. This wasn't a big deal since we were both wearing sunglasses.
We wound up covering 10.5 miles of the Alabama portion. We actually rode 11 miles each way since we started from a parking lot half a mile on the Georgia side of the state line. Our turn-around point was the 10.5 mile marker measuring from the state line.
We didn't see much traffic. There was a couple sitting at a picnic table at the state line when we passed. We exchanged greetings and comments on the hot weather as we passed. Later, as we were returning toward Georgia, we passed them headed into Alabama.
The trail passes through the Talladega "mountains" according Google maps, but I guess it runs along a valley since the trail itself is not steep at all. We saw some pretty good-sized hills off in the distance, but nothing that we'd call mountains by East Tennessee standards. Looking at a map of the trail we passed on Saturday, I saw that that portion of the trail runs along Little Terrapin Creek. We noticed that it's fairly straight for the most part. The curves there are are reminiscent of the railroad that once occupied the right of way -- many of them run through cuts between walls of rock. In places, rocks and mud had fallen from the walls to rest beside or even on the trail. At one point, we saw the remains of a tree that had fallen across the trail and been cut up. There are also lots of trestles over small creeks and swampy areas to remind one of the railroad days.
Several miles into Alabama, I noticed a single track dirt trail going off to the right. A small wooden sign announced that it was the Pinhoti Trail. I had seen mention of it online during my research to prepare for this trip. It's a 300 mile foot path (half in Georgia, half in Alabama) that connects the Appalachian Trail to other hiking paths in Alabama. It intersects the Chief Ladiga trail and runs along it for some distance. On our way back, we passed three fellows with walking sticks and packs resting on one of the bridges and surmised that they were Pinhoti through hikers. On the return trip, Karen pointed out the blue blazes that mark the Pinhoti trail that she had noticed earlier and I had missed.
Just before our turn-around point at the 10.5 mile marker, in either Palestine or Borden Springs, we passed a trailside concession stand. It was a small building with a sign, clearly closed at the time. I couldn't tell whether it's typically open and was closed when we passed because it was after hours or is abandoned and no longer in business.
There was wildlife: a few rabbits, a snake, and several flocks of crows. The rabbits let us get pretty close before running away. The snake lay half on the trail and was stock still as I rolled by inches away. We'd see the crows off in the distance standing around on the trail and grass verge and watch them take off and flap away when we got within about a hundred yards.
We got back to the truck just as the sunlight was fading away, having ridden about 22 miles total. Even with the sun down, the sky is amazingly bright this time of year.
Labels: 2009, ChiefLadiga
posted by GreenSkink at 5:03 PM
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