Central North Georgia: Riding in the
foothills of the Smokey Mountains.
A nice day's ride in the northern
Georgia area is in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. The area
we ventured into a couple of weekends ago was within north of GA-20,
east of I-75, south of the state line and west of GA-400/Dawsonville.
I am not saying this is the only area, however this is where we
rode. Heading out using route 369, passing through some medium to
small towns with mostly residential areas. The farther out one goes
the more farms and old chicken coups you will come across. There are
of course those areas where newer housing has been built, as with
almost any area peoples land (usually 1-5 acres) are now dotted with
a single or couple streets with new houses on them, packed in nice
and tight so someone gets the most money they possible can. Yellow
Creek Rd, route 53 followed by Emily Family parkway all are some nice
roads, the conditions are excellent and the sweepers with just enough
straight sections provide for a nice ride. Careful on the sight
seeing though, I have to remember to keep my eyes on the road <G>.
Take a left onto route 52 and venture into the Chattahoochee
National Forest, the roads are wonderful, with as many twisties as
needed (in my opinion) to make for a fun ride, the sights are
excellent, make sure to stop at the scenic view by Fort Mountain, you
can't miss it, a general store is on the south side of the road. You
can see three different mountain tops from this location, just a
short 6 mile jaunt further and you enter the sleepy town of
Chatsworth.
From this point we elected to run 41
and 411 down south, mostly along side I-75. There are little towns
with small shops and some interesting road side things to see. They
sure do like their flea markets in that area <G>.
There are so many roads up in this area
and off to the northeast that one can spend a few days of riding just
to hit the main roads. Many scenic overlooks to stop at, a few bike
shops here and there. This brings me to the crotch rockets, I
usually will move over and let them go, for me the rides in these
mountains is not to drag my pegs the whole way thru but to enjoy the
flow of the bike with the road. Making sure that there is no
oncoming traffic, ensuring I am ready to hard brake after brining the
bike upright is not my idea of a fun ride. Every so often drag a
peg, push it into the corner hard, however doing that on a continuous
basis doesn't please my appetite for a nice ride. I prefer to take a
more leisurely stroll through the winding mountain roads, with a few
quick twisties and a couple straight aways thrown in for good
measure. There are all kinds of roads, take the ones that may look a
little less travelled and you may just find some very interesting
things along the way. Maybe an old run down store that was in it's
heyday in the 1950s or 1960s. A little side stop along a stream to
take a break and relax a bit.
Those types of roads are all over
northern Georgia, just an hour or two north of Atlanta. Get out and
enjoy them to their fullest. Travel them often and travel them
safely.
