Mountain Riding~~1143 miles in

For those of you who have been watching the videos on the Video Page, and been wondering…yes I am behind on the written posts. (As currently I am writing this from western Tennessee). So here is a quick recap on the mountain backroads of Tennessee, North Carolina, and northern Georgia. I met up with Russ, my mountain sherpa for these areas, and the guy on the video that I have been trying to catch, at the Copperhead Lodge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a great Biker Lodge in northern Georgia, near a town called Blairesville. This was our home base as Russ took me around the local area on all of the roads that have more curves and dips than the lunar landscape. It was particularly entertaining trying to stay at his pace since Russ views the speed posted around curves and drops as more an opening bid or suggestion than anything else. All jest aside though, he was great and he took me to some beatiful places in Tennessee, North Carolina and, surprisingly, northern Georgia that were unbelievable!

This was just one of the many outlooks that Russ took me to, where the entire Blue Ridge and Smokey mountain valley opened up before you. These sights were truly breathtaking and this pictures does it absolutely no justice.

One really cool place in particular is called Anna Ruby Falls in northern Georgia. It is about a 1.5 mile climb on the roads to get to the 0.5 mile hike up to the falls, but two rivers come together to fall about 150-200 feet and the view is spectacular.

Along the way there were some beautiful sights to see as well, like the hemlock tree that is growing our of the center of a boulder, yes I kept looking to see if the roots were in the soil, but no it is firmly anchored into its boulder home:

And I have always been a sucker for rapids and rushing water. I find it not only to be soothing but harmonious as well.

We finished off the day with “The Loop” that included Blood Mountain and Lone Wolf Gap where we stopped in at Dale’s gas station for the ever important T-shirt, That I survived Dale’s Gap, and to just water down and relax with all the other bikers, sport bike enthusiasts in particular, that had completed their morning runs and were now on break. It was here that I realized that anyone…I mean anyone can ride. There was a young man there who was a paraplegic, and he had the sweetest ride at the stop. I may need to keep this in mind once the grand kids are bigger! 🙂

 

~ by coachcrew on June 27, 2008.