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25/06

May 2022 – Cohutta / Big Frog Loop

Huh, what? The largest swath of wilderness land in the eastern US National Forest is the conjoined tracts of the Cohutta wilderness in NW GA (about 80% of the combined tract) and the Big Frog wilderness just across the border in TN (about 20%). Wilderness areas contain no roads, but are usually surrounded by forest service roads. So… Larry, Dave and Mel decided to circumnavigate the Cohutta - Big Frog wilderness area.

Earlier in April, Dave, Mel and Dan toured the SE and S portion of the Cohutta’s on an unseasonably cool day ride (Ok, with all the snow flurries, it was COLD!) [see here for pics and video]. Since a full circumnavigation around these two wilderness tracts is about 90 miles and requires a full day’s riding, the trip would require some camping. So, on a Friday afternoon, they rode to Ellijay the fast way, then headed NW up beautiful Gates Chapel road toward their “loop”. But first they received a taste of what the next day would bring when the came to a spectacular overlook just before starting the loop.

16/04

Cold in Cohutta

The morning was a few degrees warmer than expected and despite the overnight rain, the roads were dry. Dan, Dave, and Mel met at the Shell station on Towne Lake Parkway by i575 and rode slab up to Blue Ridge, where a brief stop was made for coffee and a regroup on the day's plans as it had started to snow very lightly. It was getting cold and seemed the original forecast high for the day was unlikely to be reached. They agreed to go for it and brave the conditions on the Cohutta Wilderness forest service trails.

Old Hwy 2 was their entry way to the Cohutta Wilderness and in short order the paved surface gave way to gravel and the adventure began.

As the trio gained elevation the temperature dropped and snow was settled on the ground either side of the trails and on the trees above. Then more snow started to fall. Thank goodness for heated gear! They pressed on and soon found they were not the only crazy individuals out on this inclement weather. A long section of the trail was lined with parked cars belonging to participants and supporters of the Endurance Hunter 100 mile race. These people must have been seriously cold!

The snow eased off and stopped as they dropped down to the first official waypoint to check out the Jack's River Fields campground. It was a great little place and definitely worth considering for future rides into this area.

05/03

March 2022 - Two Triumphs in the Wilderness

Dave and Dan met at Pop's Garage and Coffee House for a little kick start to the day. While there Richard @Triumph Roswell solved a mystery for Dan's Triumph Scrambler 1200. Dan had recently added a Deltran charging lead and after doing so the bike was showing a maintenance needed light and message. Apparently, as smart as the computer is on that Scrambler it is not smart enough to remember the date and time when the battery is disconnected. Resetting the date and time solved the issue and made for a good start to the day.

05/03

February 2022 – Our “Backyard”

On these colder, shorter days of winter, we typically stay closer to home - but that doesn’t mean “fun not included”. Although the day began with freezing temps, five riders (BobK, Dave, Larry, Mel, and Mike) started late morning and rode some back, back roads which kept our speeds down (really down as it was questionable if some of these roads had been paved in this century!) Heated gear was welcome.