Well I finally had a beautiful, sunny, rain-free day off! This ride is the Greasy Creek Trail ride in the book. Greasy Creek (it's a lot prettier than the name implies!) is up near Ocoee Lake in TN. Roads are great, especially TN-30 which has a lot of casual twisties, canopies of forest trees, cool air from the creek and great country scenary. Ocoee Lake is also quite beautiful as you'll see below. Sorry no pics of the roads as most of the time these country roads offer no safe place to pull over.
The only mishap was at my last stop for gas when my battery died and I'm 2 hours from home! Luckily the 3 TN teenage boys in the car at the next pump had jumper cables and were happy to help me out. There ARE still great people in this world. Big thanks to those 3 guys!
This ride was about 195 miles. I really needed it. Life has been a bit harsh lately and the Wind Therapy was a blessing.
18 rides down, 5 to go! (For those of you keeping score at home. ) 203 miles; 5.5 hours.
Today's ride was the Wolfpen Gap Loop ride on page 48 in the book. This ride is up GA 60 in north GA, through Suches and beyond. Lots of mountain twisties include many hairpin curves. Fun and challenging on the RKC! I don't ever ride fast on these roads. Even at posted limits the 800+ lbs. King needs plenty of attention.
Lots of interesting stuff to see today as well. Dahlonega, GA is a great town; America's original gold rush and produces some of the purest gold in the world.
Just north of Dalonega is the "Rock Pile". Legend has it that a Cherokee princess is buried there, and leaving a stone on her grave will bring you good luck. It's unfortunate that GA road planners couldn't do something smarter than run a road on all 3 sides of the Rock Pile. Hard to enjoy a bit of history while you're dodging cars. Yup I left a rock on her grave; my Gremlin Bell told me to. Pics below.
Also I stopped at a small country church that caught my eye as I road past, so I went back. Something about it; wasn't sure. Then I saw the sign and that it's been there since 1919. I didn't go in; it was closed for the day. It was very quite outside and the church just had a very stately and peaceful vibe; hard to explain but very cool.
As I've mentioned before, these North GA roads are amazing and so much fun to ride! Pictures of them are tough; there's no place to safely pull over, so just use your imagination and you'll get it!
I hope you enjoy the photos.
This reservoir is in Dahlonega, GA.
From an overlook on GA 60. These mountains never fail to impress!
Since 1919. And I like their message; Faith, Hope & Love!
The start/end of the Appalachian Trail is here in north GA. There were many hikers at this stop and a hiking store to boot! And GA certainly could have used a bit of PR help when naming their mountains. LOL!
Good deal on keeping us updated on your journey through the pages of the book. I work up in Dahlonega on the campus. Beautiful ride every time I climb into the mountain.
Today’s ride was “Wayah Road”, page 120. The area is the Nantahala Gorge. The ride itself is 100 miles. Getting there and back made for a 340-mile, 8 hour day for me. Nice!
I’ve got 4 rides to go. This one was the farthest from my place so I’m glad to have it completed.
Located in the southwestern tip of NC, the “Wayah Road” ride is about 1 hour southeast of the Dragon. So if you’re headed up that way you may want to add this one to your list.
The scenery is awesome. At the start of the ride you enter an enormous valley, flat as a pancake but surrounded by these majestic mountains! Very cool! And then you have the mountain overlooks, the whitewater river and Nantahala Lake. The roads hold a great variety also. There are many mountain switchbacks, and a handful of hairpins thrown in just for the fun of it! In contrast you also get the lazy tree-canopied roads that run next to the shallow quick-moving river. What’s not to like?
This is the valley and this the view if you did a 360.
Nantahala Lake
McCaysville, GA. Right on the GA/TN line. The view from the sandwich shop I stopped at on the way home.
That bitch Irma finally blew out of town and left clear skies and warmer weather.
The Brunt Mountain ride was on tap for today. A good friend rode his Heritage Springer with me; the first time I've not gone solo on one of these rides. Good friends are harder to find than good roads, that's for sure. We had a blast.
Brunt Mountain sits between Tate and Jasper, GA. The ride is a 48 miles loop up and over the mountain that starts/ ends in these towns. Road conditions are good but not excellent, but these roads aren't as intense in terms of steep grade or tight curves, so it balances out making this ride a technically easier ride. Great weather today, around 84 and sunny. Total miles today for me = 147.
Today's ride was the Lookout Mountain loop, page 94 in the book. The mountain is located in the upper north-west corner of GA, very close to the TN state line. 250 miles today. Just 2 more rides left! (Before I start all over!)
This was a good ride, but there were no scenic turn-off's on the mountain which was a bummer, especially since it's called Lookout Mountain, jeezzz! I did find a few along the way. I stopped at Covenant College which is at the top of the mountain; beautiful campus and views. Found one area on the route with a great view of the valley below which is actually Tennessee. Also took a short side trip to Cloudland State Park GA which also had a great overlook to capture a few shots.
I got my directions messed up heading there; I was close but a bit lost so I stopped in a small town to check my map. A fellow biker walked by and we started talking. He ended up jumping on his bike and took me to where I needed to be! Hats off to Wayne and his flat black Kawi-Davidson rat bike! And I say that in a complimentary way! Cool dude!
Covenant College; top of Lookout Mountain
The view from the college campus.
Roadside overlook. That's TN down there, near Chattanooga.
Another shot of the TN valley.
This was taken at Cloudland State Park, which is on Lookout Mountain.
I rode out today for the Mountain Lake Loop ride. P.26 247 miles.
This ride starts just north of "Little Bavaria", Helen, GA. I love Helen! So before I started the "official" part of the ride I stopped at one of my favorite places, Hofer's German Bakery. I grabbed a coffee and pastry and sat out on the deck with live music and a view of the main drag. Plus Octoberfest is in full swing so Helen was hoppin'!
The ride itself was great. Lots of great roads and scenery. State Rt. 75 north of Helen is on a mountainside and is full of hairpins that will keep your ADD at bay.
Just 1 ride left to complete the book.
This is Hofer's German Bakery and Restaurant.
The view of main street from the covered deck at Hofer's.
A beach on Lake Burton
LaPrade's on Lake Burton. It's been there since 1925.
Popcorn Overlook
This is a pretty typical view on many of these great GA mountain roads!
I pulled over quick to shoot this one from the bridge I was on.
I couldn't resist this photo op! Unfortunately the place was out of business. A cold cider would have been excellent!
Well, today I finished the last of the 23 rides! I started the "Motorcycle Adventures Book 1" back in 2013. In total I racked up 5,193miles of outstanding riding enjoyment; not bad considering the farthest ride from my house (The Dragon) is only 177 miles away! Yes I'm fortunate to have so many great roads so close to where I live. And I really appreciate the author writing the book! I never would have found many of these roads if not for him. I hope that by creating this thread other riders will discover the book and these awesome rides. I'm definitely going to ride many of these again.
Today I completed the Marble to Gold ride; page 64. This was 177 miles. It starts in the small town of Tate, GA where there's a long history of marble mining and production, and it ends in Dahlonega, GA which is the home of America's original gold rush. A nice enjoyable ride with lazy, curvy country roads. No mountainside hairpins on this one! Amicalola Falls and Park was a great place to stop on this ride. Pic below taken at the top of the falls looking out at the mountains. Also I stopped at the former headquarters of Nascar legend Bill Elliott. Elliott's museum has moved to the nearby town of Dawsonville, but his old headquarters building is pretty cool with murals on every exterior wall.
07-31-2017, 08:54 AM
Greasy Creek Trail ride 7-30-17
) 203 miles; 5.5 hours.
Pics below.
