Day three of riding and we are leaving Suches, heading East along the Northern edge of Georgia before we turn up into North Carolina to spend a few days in Franklin. Two Wheels of Suches is a cool place to stay! The weather was great as were the roads. We made another run through Wolf Pen Gap on GA 180 then ran South on US 129 a bit before cutting back into the woods. We stopped at Helton Creek Falls and did a short hike back into the woods. It is not that hot, but man was I sweating by the time we got back to the bikes! Shortly after the falls, Daniel got to do his first "official" water crossings today, crossing several large creeks and even a river. The creek crossings were easy. We did what seemed like endless miles of dirt/gravel roads. Then there was the freshly graded but muddy stuff
I didn't think that would ever end! The river crossing required us to enter, go down stream, make a hard left around a dead tree, and then climb out the far side. It was maybe 100 feet in all, all on slick rocks. At least the water was clear so we could see the big ones. We did a big loop North of Helen, Ga., through the Chattahoochee National Park. Like everything out here, it was awesome! Sometime before we stopped for lunch, we got into a quite steep, rough and eroded section of a dirt road. I was picking my way down when I heard Daniel make a loud exclamation I won't repeat and then crunching noises. I asked if he was good and he said no. He'd gone down pretty hard. I was stopped in a precarious spot, but eventually managed to get the bike stable so I could dismount and hike back up to him and Roger. It wasn't serious. He lost the front end after hitting a big rock in a rut and he and the bike took a pretty good tumble. Both were able to continue. He did get another nose bleed though, but this might have been from a mild impact because his upper lip was a bit swollen by the time we stopped for lunch. We managed to negotiate the rest of the descent and then things smoothed out. We passed some other DS riders going the opposite direction. Then we did the river crossing. I am not sure which river it was though, I think the Tallulah River on Charles Creek Road, North of US 76. Lunch was at a little place near Lake Burton. Then we started up a dirt road that looked iffy from the start and only got iffier as we climbed. We were getting whacked by branches, there was mud, it was steep, it eventually ended and we backtracked, heading into Clayton for gas before continuing. We eventually ended up in Franklin, NC. We'll be here a few days.
It IS steeper than it looks in ALL of the pics of this trail
Pics never tell the truth!? That wood deck above us is at least another 50-60 feet higher than where we are standing and probably 100 feet behind us.
Again with theh pics versus the eye... The eye easily sees these roads twisting through the woods and then they barely show up in the pics. I tried a few, but I think I am about to give up on that kind of shot.
Look at the previous pic. We went from that, to seeing a grader, to miles of mud like what is show below. It was slick!
One of the easy creek crossings
Yes... Very steep. Had trouble getting stopped here so I could walk back up to Daniel after his get off
He's back around that corner and up hill a bit. Right after that rock under my front tire, it starts going down pretty fast.
"If you were a 690 Enduro, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
He came around the right side of the image and tried to loft the front wheel over that cross rut, he landed in the next rut and knocked a big rock out of the ground. I think that is what sent his front end whacky. You can see the rock at the bottom of the pic.
All the dark spots on the road between the rock and the bike are where he and the bike were bouncing...
Not pretty, but still functional. Ironically, we just bought the fairing piece that is missing around the headlight yesterday even though we didn't need it at the time.
@Pedro 2.0 was giving parts away for free and all we needed to do was pay shipping. The parts will be at the house when we get home.
My bike is sitting down there in the shade where it looks like the road ends.
The river crossing. You can see a little white rectangular sign in the background in the shadows. That was the entry point. I am standing near the exit about 20 feet out from the bank.
Still happy to be here...
There was a cool breeze blowing through here that was making me SLEEPY! The food was excellent.
Another of the dead end roads that turned out to be a LOT of fun despite having to turn back.
Our digs in Franklin, NC., for the next few days.
If you can see these vids, they are on the last out/back dead end road we did. A lot of it was like this.