Some Trails of Northwest Georgia.

I awoke early on a fine Thursday morning and ready Pork Chop for a full day of riding.  After loading up the necessary paraphernalia and making sure that the cats were cool for the next several days I was off.  I first ran north on US 29 to Palmetto and dropped off a copy of my schedule at Dale's.  Neither Dale nor Tammy was in so I left it on his desk.  As I was leaving Dale pulled in with his father and I made sure that he knew that I left a schedule, he said he would call me with an opening.

I headed north on US 29 to Ga 154. I picked up the South Fulton Parkway and took it west across the Chattahoochee river and connected with Ga 166 towards Carrollton.  In Winston, Ga I fueled up for the first time, today.  I continued on Ga 166 until it teed with Ga 61 and then I headed toward Villa Rica.  At the Interstate where there's a QuikTrip I instead stopped at the Burger King to get brunch.  I continued on from there north on Ga 101, passing through Yorkville, Rockmart, and such until I met up with US 27 in Rome, Ga.  I took US 27 north up through Summerville, through a section of the Chattahoochee Forest, Triton, Lafayette and just south of Ft. Oglethorpe I turned off on Lafayette Rd for the  Chickamauga Battlefield.

The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign. The battle was the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and involved the second highest number of casualties in the war following the Battle of Gettysburg. It was the first major battle of the war that was fought in Georgia.

The battlefield is laid out with markers, cannons, many of the principle houses and building.  There are several trails that weave in and out of the different areas of the battle.  Hiking the trails with them overlapping there is 40 miles of trails; hike each trail individually and a hiker is looking at 70 miles.  That enough to keep a hiker busy for the week.  Except, no camping.

From there I headed back down south to Lafayette and then took Ga 136 West, until I reached Cloudland Canyon Park entrance (6.9 miles of various trails).  I turned back eastward and recrossed the ridges until I came to Ga 193 and rode it south until I came to Hog Jowl Rd, and turned southward.  About two miles I made a right onto Pocket Rd and went to the dead end.  This is part of the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Trails: the Shirley Miller Wildflower (800 ft boardwalk) and South Pocket (7.4 miles out and back) Trails.  Backtracking to Ga 193 I went south again over another ridge and then turned left onto the Chamberlain Rd; heading south.  I turned right into the Crockford-Pigeon Wildlife Park and about five miles I came to the Rocktown Rd.  The Rocktown Trail (2.0 miles out and back)  is another part of the same system that has Wildflower and South Pocket Trails.

By now my reader is wondering, how am I riding and hiking all these trails; it ought to be sundown by now.  Actually I was just getting a GPS marker for each of these trail-heads.  The sources I have for these trail-heads are pre-GPS common and I'm just making it easier for myself and anyone else who's interested in finding these trails.  These aren't the only trails I visited this day but since the nazis in my foot have gone comatose and I didn't wish to get them stirred up again, this will only be a scouting trip.

I returned to Lafayette by way of Ga 193, fueled, and reconnecting with Ga 136 I headed eastward, crossing over Taylor Ridge and Maddox Gap (wish I could get the names of all the ridges I crossed in this trip) until I came to Ponder Creek Rd.  Heading north this road turns into Forest Rd 219 and ends at the trail head for Chichamauga Creek Trail (6.4 miles loop).  One has to ford Ponder Creek to get to this point.  

Eastward again along Ga136 pass Villanova is Pocket Rd (not the same Pocket Rd).  Heading south on Pocket Rd I turned on FR208 for a couple of miles for the Johns Mountain Trailhead (3.2 miles loop).  Back onto Pocket Rd and a turn onto FR702 gets one to the Keown Falls trailhead (1.4 miles loop).  A couple of miles south on Pocket Rd will get one to the Pocket Recreation Area Trail (2.7 miles loop).  This is a busy little hiking road.  

From there I headed southward and Pocket Rd turns into Everette Springs Rd and soon it turns into Floyd Springs Rd and then there is the Arrowhead Wildlife Interpretive Trails (2.2 miles loop).  

Outside of the Armuchee comunity is Ga 140 and Turkey Mountain Rd.  A right turn from Floyd Springs Rd will get one back to US 27.  Heading back northward and just south of Summerville is Sloppy Floyd Lake Rd.  Turning left and the James H. (Sloppy) Floyd State Park (3.0 miles loop) will be on the left in two miles.  There is a 1.6 miles spur that will connect one with the Pinhoti Trail in this park.

Now it is late in the evening and I'm headed southward.  Even with hourly rest, the screaming nazis has found a new front to assault which is located in my behind.  When I reached Armuchee, which is between Berry College and Rome, I stopped at the Taco Hell, er... Bell and grabbed some groceries to throw down my throat and to give my behind a respite.  I had planed to hook up with the Claredons in Rockmart and texted Joyce an ETA.  From the Taco Bell I basically retraced my route from earlier today down Ga 101 into Rockmark and then took Venson Mountain Rd. around to Paris Mountain.  

It was after dark when I finally pulled into the Claredon's homestead.  Mark was out of town, but the visiting between Joyce and I was short.  I fell asleep on the couch very quickly.

Friday with I did some cyphering I realize that I had rode Pork Chop 350 miles.  That was the longest in a single day I have rode it yet.  And before I do something like that again, that seat is gonna need a MAJOR overhaul.  I'm getting awfully tired of them nazis.