AT Approach to BMT Start

Spent the day with my buddy Patrick on the AT approach trail.  A plan is slowly developing in my mind about seeing more of the AT and the Benton Mackaye trail.  Ive only been on a few short sections of these trail systems, maybe 50 miles total.  Each part has been beautiful and challenging.  High adventure.  The best part being I’m not bushwhacking nor getting cut up by briars.  Another aspect of these trails that I’ve enjoyed are the people I’ve met and their stories. 

The Route

 The route starts near the Amicalola Lodge in the lower left corner.  No we didn’t do the stairs up Amicalola Falls.  Been there done that.  As another buddy of mine once said at the top of the stairs: “what?, we can drive up here?!” We took the AT approach trail to Springer Mtn, the official start of the AT and then on to the start of the BMT.  We returned on that same trail and took the Len Foote trail back to the lodge stopping at the Hike Inn along the way.  The route was about 17miles with about 4k in gain.

Springer Mtn at AT Start

View from top of Springer Mtn

We noticed that all the trees at the top of Springer Mtn were covered in ice.


Start of BMT is just a bit further down from top of Springer Mtn

The trail getting to Springer Mtn trended upward so the return was a blast being mostly down hill.  Not all down hill. Mostly ;).  The trail is technical with rocks and roots so you have to pick your feet up to avoid having a bad day. On the return we stopped at the Len Foote Hike Inn to check it out.  We ended up having a hot chocolate and enjoying some time chatting on the porch sitting in the sun.  I think my family would enjoy this place.  I saw several families hiking in with plans to spend a few nights.  A prevailing theme at the Inn is no electronics.  One family I spoke with mentioned their visit was going to be a much needed tech detox.  I can relate.

Len Foote Hike Inn

From the Inn back to the lodge is about 4 miles.  My legs were quite happy with sitting in the sun and took a few minutes to accept the task at hand.  On the way back there were several nice overlooks.  We could see Stone Mtn and ATL faintly in the distance.

A nice spot to hang out.  I ended up hanging out here for a while talking to a few families hiking into the Inn.

Overlook

Back at the Start 

I think we finished in about 7 hours.  We took a lot of leisure time at Springer, the Inn, and the overlooks.  We had a beer at the Lodge and called it a day.  

Quest for Jacks River Falls

I have wanted to see Jacks River Falls for 10 years or more.  I’ve tried to plan trips to hike in from shorter and easier routes but it has never worked out.  As part of my training for a “race“ in 2020 I came up with the idea of running in the Cohuttas.  I’d be like Killian Jornet running high mountain ridges.  The key differences being that he was at altitude and actually running.  I did some planning and picked what I thought would fit well with my training level and desire for some adventure.  I’d pack the fly rod,  explore the river, find the falls, and enjoy the mountains.

The Route

The route starts at Three Forks trailhead (bottom center of pic above) and follows clockwise East Cowpen, Hickory Ridge, Jacks River, and back on Rough Ridge.  

I’m no stranger to Three Forks.  I’ve passed it numerous times by bike or car and always wanted to explore it.  To get there id head into the Cohuttas via Gates Chapel Rd and FS road 64.  This passes Bear Creek and sections of the Pinhoti.  

From Gates Chapel Rd

Waterfall just below Bear Creek overlook.  Can’t remember the name.

Bear Creek Overlook

Mountain Town Overlook 

Trail Conditions

The trails were at times faint and hard to identify with all the fallen leaves.  There is a significant amount of deadfall and briar overgrowth.  It was slow going and I had to route find often.  There are also beautiful sections of high canopy, rugged terrain, runnable sections and some stunning views. 

Deadfall

This area of the Cohuttas was on fire a few years ago and scars of the fire can be seen throughout the first half of the route.  There are many dead and fallen pine trees that may be due to pine beetles and/or stress of the fire.  I couldn’t tell for sure.  There were several areas of the forest in transition from old to new.  Large areas of once tall pines are now wide open with broken and blown down overlapping deadfall.  Green seedlings about two to three feet tall are coming up now and will restore the area in the next 10-15 years.  

Scars of the fire

Scat and scrapings

Scat here scat there scat everywhere.  I think I can recognize coyote scat pretty well and saw it everywhere.  There were a few scat that I could not identify.  My only guesses are bear or pig but I’m not sure.  

Um what made that?  

And what made that?

The entire route had pig scrapes, usually on slopes.  Lots of wild boar in this area.

Panther Creek Trail

A few years ago I did a hike into the Conasauga River and explored Panther Creek with my dog Abby.  We had to turn around because it was too rugged for her to follow me.  I remember being on all fours traversing large boulders and being face to face with what I think was a big pile of bear scat.  The area made me tense and I felt like prey.  We got the hell out of there.  If we had kept going we would have made it to East Cowpens.

Top of Panther Creek trail.

Campsites

There are several campsites along East cowpen and hickory ridge.  Maybe a future trip we can camp out and have more time to fish the river.

Green Thingies

I don’t know what these are but I hope to find out.  There are several areas with lush green ground covering plant life.

Reaching the River

I reached the river about an hour behind schedule.  The trail seemed to just stop at the waters edge.  I looked for the bridge or log or series of rocks that would take me across the river. There are no such crossings.  I never considered I would have to wade across the river.  Nor did I consider I would have to do it multiple times.  It was painfully cold and slippery.  I came close to falling in a few times.  How did I not think of this?

First river crossing

Once across the river I made my way to the falls.  I was blown away with the rugged magnificence of the rock structure.  It has multiple levels and deep pools. I climbed out to a rock outcropping to get a picture of the entire falls.

Entire Falls

Upper level

Fly Fishing

Part of my plan was to spend some time fly fishing. How cool would it be to hike in see the falls catch a fish and hike out.  What a cool story that would be.  Yeah, I cannot tell that story.  I did fish though.  Near where I crossed the river there was some top water activity so I checked it out.  Turned out to be a massive rainbow.  Maybe 24in.  It was huge, larger than my gear could handle.  I didn’t have a lot of time but I was certainly going to try.  I spent about 30 mins trying to entice a bite but it never happened.  I watched as he roamed up and down the river.  I’d love to go back and spend more time.  Maybe when it’s warmer??

Big fish in here!

Finding the Way out

Finding the way out wasn’t easy.  I had an idea of the direction but it wasn’t obvious.  I ended up having to cross the river two more times and did a lot of route finding before I was sure I was on the right trail.  Maybe I’ll bring waders next time. 

Yes I want the Rough Ridge Trail!

The trail out was steep and darkness was approaching. I was more than an hour behind schedule and my pace was initially about 30mins a mile.  I had 8 miles to go. The math was against me and I knew I’d be using the headlamp.  Luckily my pace increased as the steepness decreased and the trail opened up.  

Darkness approaches

I made it back to the trailhead about an hour after dark happy to be done.  I love the area and I’ll be back. 

TNGA 2019 Race Report

In August of 2019, I participated in my first Trans North Georgia “race” (TNGA).  The TNGA is a 360ish mile multi day bikepacking race through the southern Appalachian mountains from South Carolina to Alabama.  Participants have a week to get themselves to the finish fully self supported.  There is some neutral support along the route such as Mulberry Gap Mountain Bike Getaway in the Cohuttas, and there is “Trail Magic” that shows up every now and then as styrofoam coolers stocked with cold water, Mountain Dew, and maybe some sandwiches.  But outside of magical coolers and neutral support sites, you are on your own.  You have to plan to resupply at stores along the route that can be separated by 70-100miles.  This takes a lot of research and recon to be able to appropriately plan, especially if this is your first time.  I’ve tried to capture my TNGA adventure in the following paragraphs.  

Day 1: Last at First

The start was on Saturday, August 17th at 8am on some bridge over the Chattooga River on the GA/SC border.  My friend Avery gave me a ride and allowed me to sleep on the way up.  We got there with plenty of time to snap a pic and for him to get out before the crowd of 100 participants overflowed the area. 

At the start ready to roll

As I waited for the start, the area began to fill in with all types of participants: singlespeeders, gravel bike riders, bikes with dropped and swooped bars.  I also saw all kinds of bike pack setups.  Some had everything but the kitchen sink, others had hardly anything at all.  They could be mistaken for a rider about to lay down a fast lap at their local course, not one about to bomb off into the woods for several days.  

I recognized people from the recent movie Ride To Extraordinary.  My wife and I watched all the episodes together.  It documented the 2017 TNGA that my friend Rutledge participanted in.  He was highlighted in the movie and we were thrilled to watch him.  I met several people from the movie and was a total fan boy each time.  I met Kris Wheeler at the Tallulah River crossing.  He produced the movie.  I told him how much we loved it and that we had stayed up the night before to watch all the episodes back to back.  What a fan boy.  

Just before 8am we gathered together and Jeff Williams, the race director, said a few words.  This year was the 10th anniversary of the race and they had a few key people to honor and lead out the race.  Eddie O’dea a record holder, David Muse the route creator, a young man of 15 years referred to as “The Kid” and several other key riders would lead the race out with a neutral rolling start up to the first turn.  Then it would be game on.  

As the clock approached 8am, I picked my position somewhere in the middle of the pack.  That’s my place.  I’m not a front runner and I’m sometimes DFL. It just depends on the day.  8am goes off and we roll easy.  I’m just chill riding and making small talk.  The pace gradually increases and some riders roll past me.  I just maintain a comfortable pace and let them go.  And let them go.  And let them go.  I make it to the first turn and look behind me.  There is no one there.  They all passed me on the neutral rollout.  I was a bit worried.  We are less than 10 mins in and I’ve been dropped by the entire field.  I was completely alone and it would stay that way for the next 2 hours.

I’m fine with isolation, in fact I like it.  I enjoy the peace and tranquillity of riding by myself.  Don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy riding with others but I don’t have any issues with just doing my thing and taking in the experience.  That’s a good thing because I had lots of time before I saw another rider.  It was very hot and muggy.  I had been monitoring my heart rate the entire time.  I kept it under 140.  If I bursted above that for a short grunt, that was fine but I didn’t allow myself to go above that threshold for a sustained period.  When it’s hot and you turn the pace up to eleven bad things happen more times than not.  At least that is my experience.  Some riders can go hard and have no issues.  They just have that ability and/or it’s just their day.  For me, I picked a pace I thought I could maintain for several days and just stuck to it.  Turns out that was a good plan.  

When I finally saw a rider, I got a bit excited.  I could tell that I was gaining on him.  There were now other riders that I could see beyond him.  I allowed my pace to quicken a little bit and passed the first guy.  That simple thing gave me a boost. I could feel it.  I passed the other riders I saw and maintained my pace.  Over the next series of climbs and fast descents on our way into Dillard, I moved forward in the field still maintaining my pace.  

Dillard was the first stop.  There was a canopy for shade and coolers filled with ice cold waters.  I refilled my bottles, snapped a Dino pic and headed back out.  

My water strategy had changed a day or two before the race.  During all my training and overnight pre rides I only used two water bottles.  I decided that I would add two smaller water bottles and keep them in the back of my shirt. That capacity worked perfectly.  I was just about out when I hit Dillard and almost every single water stop after that.  Lucky call.  I’ll take it.  

Several years ago, I got into the habit of taking my son’s small Dino figures with me on long races/adventures.  The thought being that they represented our family: Cristy, Spencer, and Abby our dog.  They would go with me and we would all be together.  I would take pictures of them along whatever the route/setting was and that was our thing.  I loved it.  At some point that stopped.  Spencer got older and I figured we had outgrown this fun thing we used to do.  I don’t remember who brought it up but the night before the race someone asked about taking Dinos and I was smiling inside but trying not to show how much that would please me.  Spencer gathered a new Dino trio that I tucked away into my bike pack.  So there are gonna be a lot of pics that follow with 3 Dinos in them.  I dig it.

Water stop in Dillard

Proceeding on from Dillard, I found myself riding with Ray Egan, the cycling Sasquatch from the movie.  We didn’t talk much but he asked if I was good as he passed me taking some Barn/Dino shots.  Nice guy.  I was once again the fan boy and told him I was fine.  I’m sure my voice cracked like a teenager.  Too funny.

Barn outside Dillard 

Dinos!

The rest of the day was devoted to one goal: get to Helen, GA.  The route takes you up and over some crazy long climbs.  It parallels and then crosses the Tallulah River, where I met Kris Wheeler. The trail continues up and over ridges crossing the Appalachian Trail.  It goes around Lake Burton where I first ran into Dave Muse.  I rode with Dave and his riding partner for a short period of time before they dropped me like I was hot.  Well I was hot, very hot.  I climbed Wildcat and made my way to the crux of the day, the Tray Mtn climb.  

Before Tray, I passed a house that Rutledge and I stopped at on a pre ride.  I think the man’s name was Dave but I can’t remember.  Rutledge had stopped here before out of water and the man allowed him to fill up from his well spicket as we did on our pre ride.  Great guy. 

After I passed his house It was dark and Tray Mtn was waiting for me.  This climb is miles and miles long with a steep grade.  It’s tough.  I walked a lot of it.  Most of it.  By this time I had started listening to music.  I don’t usually do that.  I actually never do that.  Man do I like music!!  Putting in the ear buds and cranking the tunes up helped a lot.  I got in another zone and had bursts of energy that got me up on the bike and mashing pedals standing up as I approached the summit.  

Before the summit, I walked by an odd stick slithering up the road.  It was a nice sized copperhead.  I didn’t really process what it was until I had passed it.  Hey was that a copperhead?  Yeah that was a copperhead.  Oh cool, glad I didn’t step on it.  After that I had two other encounters, one with a bat and another with a hornet.  The hornet pissed me off.  It was coming straight at my light, i.e. my head and I wasn’t in the mood.  The first time it came at me I freaked out and dropped the bike and a bunch of stuff.  Damn hornet!  the next time it came at me I swatted at it and it went down.  I followed up with the coup de grace.  No remorse.  F-er. It wasn’t long after that a bat was enchanted with my light and buzzed my head several times.  Once again I was shocked at first and dropped the bike.  Yeah I’m still walking.  He buzzed me a few more times and then took off.  Laughing at me I’m sure.  

Back to the jam.  The music was good and I could taste the summit.  I rode the bike mashing hard on the pedals.  I didn’t give a damn about my heartrate.  It’s way after midnight and I’m ready to be done.  I notice the full moon and appreciate the extra light as my light is dimming.  I’ve still got a long way to go and some technical downhill to clear before Helen.  I crest Tray Mtn and start the descent through a rough rock garden trail.  I’m on the brakes the whole time and unable to enjoy the descent with any speed.  I just can’t see.  Stuff is coming at me too quickly to go fast.  I play it safe and descend with both brakes slowing me down.  

After that the final challenge of the day is a trail called Hickory Nut. This is a pretty unique trail.  It is littered with mailbox sized rocks that are slightly or completely hidden by tufts of grass.  The trees hang low and the trail winds narrowly down an old forest road with what seems like an abyss on one side. It’s nuts.  The further I go the less light I have and the slower I have to go.  I’m a complete idiot at this point.  I have extra batteries.  I can stop and change the batteries and solve this problem.  That makes complete sense in hindsight.  At the time I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with my light.  Why isn’t it working??  

I clear Hickory Nut and hit the road for the descent into Helen.  It’s about 3am at this point.  I turn the light off and use the moon to guide me into Helen and find my hotel.  It turned out that I got the last room they had.  After me they were completely booked.  I heard the next day that some riders that had a room at the same hotel lost their room by the time they arrived.  Ouch.  I take a shower, tend to my feet which are a complete mess, and head to Huddle House and eat as much as possible with the Dinos.  After that it is about 4am and time to get some sleep.

4am “dinner” with the Dinos

Day 2: Can I get to Mulberry Gap?

I woke up in Helen about 8am.  I need to eat, resupply and hit the road.  I’m at mile 97 and would like to get to Mulberry Gap (mile 213ish). That’s a lot of miles.  I have breakfast at Huddle House.  The place I left a few hours ago for dinner.  The same waitress is still there.  It doesn’t phase her that I’m back for another meal.  

Bfast with the Dinos 

As I pack up to leave the hotel I notice something odd with my rear tire. One of my spokes is moving.  😳 That isn’t happiness.  Then I notice there are two spokes broken.  I hear Koz from the movie saying “normally if you break a spoke you are out”.  Oh boy,  so I go to work getting the spokes out of the wheel.  That takes a while and I don’t have any way to fix it.  The missing spokes are opposing each other so that is much better than two consecutive spokes being gone.  I decide that what will be will be.  Not going to baby this thing.  If it blows up there better be a grin on my face.

How many spokes do you really need?

I get a later than expected start and roll on towards Vogel.  Before leaving Helen I hit a convenience store to stock up.  All I want to say is that Meth is bad and there seems to be a real problem in this town.  Yuck.  Moving on.  

The route to Vogel goes up the well known Hogpen climb.  Rutledge and I did this during our pre ride at night during a heavy thunderstorm.  I will never forget that ride.  There was lightning every few mins that lit up the area and made the center line road reflectors light up.  Every time the lightning flashed all you could really see was this endless meandering track of reflectors that seemed to go on forever into the sky.  It was surreal.  

This time I had to do that part in the sun.  Not a big deal.  Just more cars and hotter.  I was able to enjoy the steep road descent off the summit this time. It was an absolute scary fast blast.  My computer recorded 50mph top speed.  I don’t think I’ve ever gone that fast on a bike.  I make my way to Vogel State Park and stop in to cool off and resupply.

Made it to Vogel

With the Dinos 

At Vogel I meet up with two guys that lost their room in Helen.  I felt so bad for them.  They didn’t get any sleep and had plans to take a short day and stay at some airbnb in Aska to recover.  I remembered one of the guys from the night before at the entrance to Hickory Nut.  He was waiting on his partner and was asking me if I had seen him.  At that point all I could tell him was that I had no idea and my name was Tom. I may have said my name is Tom a few times to him.  I remember him calling me by my name later in the day when we were at Coopers Creek Store.  I was impressed that he knew my name.  How does he know my name? I thought at the time. 🤦‍♂️ 

After Vogel the next climb is Wolfpen and then onto a gravel road climb that turns into an awesome descent into Coopers Creek Store.  I’m a bit over excited when I leave Vogel and completely miss the left hand turn for Wolfpen.  I’m bombing down this hill when I realize that my computer is flashing at me and nothing looks familiar.  Crap.  Bonus miles it is.  I didn’t go that far off course but it sure was steep.  I climbed out of it and started the climb up Wolfpen.  

The Hogpen and Wolfpen roads twist through the mountains and attract a lot of motorcycle and car clubs that seemingly race the route.  It’s a bit unnerving hearing them coming your way.  Then they blast past you going at crazy speeds.  The super bikes are pushing hard into the turns and dragging their knees.  It’s amazing for sure but I’d rather not be right next to them.

When I crest Wolfpen I see Dave Muse and his partner headed up the gravel climb.  I give it a little gas to catch up cause it’s Dave Muse.  Total fan boy again.  I catch up and push hard on the climb with Dave.  We both seem to enjoy the motivation.  I may have been all out at one point.  Guess I’m not watching the heartrate anymore.  It was fun. We peak out and he stops to wait for his buddy. We will meet up again soon.  We’re all gonna stop at Coopers Creek store. 

The descent off of that peak is outstanding.  It’s a long gravel downhill with plenty of twists and turns.  There aren’t any significant boulders or drops. You can let it fly as fast as you dare.  I love it and go bombs away.  I hit the bottom of the descent and the road becomes pavement that gradually descends into the store.  Dave catches up to me at this point and we chat our way into the store for a resupply.  Dave is a fascinating guy and I enjoy our conversation.

Coopers Creek Store is at mile 134 on the route.  They have new owners that are so enthusiastic about being a part of the race.  They are awesome.  Rutledge and I met them weeks earlier on our training ride and had a blast hanging out with them.  They have a nicely stocked store as well as a great hot food menu.  They were eagerly awaiting us and knew all of our names by watching the race tracker.  It was so cool.  I felt like a rock star.  I ordered two chicken salad sandwiches and a bbq sandwich.  I ate one and put the other two in my shirt for backup until I reached Mulberry Gap.  It was a good thing I did.  I ran into Brian McEntire here, we had been leap frogging each other the past two days.  Cool guy.  His rear tire had ripped apart and was unrepairable.  He had stitched it together with floss and a needle to get this far and had pulled the plug.  Bummer.  I also met Lucas Kindervater at the store.  He and I left about the same time and decided to pair up for the ride over to the Iron Bridge.

Rutledge and I at Coopers during training ride

At Coopers 

With Dinos!

Lucas and I rode together from Coopers to the Riverside restaurant after Iron Bridge.  We had some good conversation and I enjoyed hearing about his Tour Divide attempt.  The Tour Divide is one of the biggest bikepacking races in North America with the average finisher taking 30 days.  He cracked me up when we got to the resturant.  I think I heard him say oh “second dinner” 😂.  He decided to stop to eat and I pushed on.  I’d see Lucas later.  By this point it was dark and I wasn’t gonna make it to Mullberry Gap.  I heard about a community center in Cherry Log and set that as my new goal.  

To get to Cherry Log I had to get over Green Mountain and then Stanley.  After that I could coast into Cherry Log.  I did a lot of hike a bike on Green Mountain and enjoyed the fast descent.  I crossed the road and approached Stanley.  I ran into Dave Muse again at the trail junction for Stanley.  He was bedding down for some sleep and I tried to divert my light to not disturb him.  I said hello and heard him say something as I was leaving.  Something like you may wanna check your direction.  As in you are going the wrong way.  I know this trail system very well.  I know this turn.  And I remember how they pointed it out in the movie as being one of the most missed turns.  There was no way I was gonna miss it until I did.  I wished Dave well and moved on in the right direction.  Thanks Dave.  Sleep well.

As I started Stanley I picked a nice long podcast and started hiking.  On the climb I saw three snakes.  I saw a Ring, Garter, and Timber Rattlesnake (aka Canebrake).  They were just doing what snakes do.  Not a big deal but the Canebrake did stop me in my tracks.  It was about 4-5 feet long and was just hanging out next to the trail prob waiting on a toad to come by. My heart raced a little bit and I got excited.  That’s the first one I’ve ever seen.  I was able to get the picture below before he had enough of me and moved on.  Pretty cool.

Timber Rattler on Stanley

After getting over the top of Stanley it’s a nice downhill on singletrack and then onto a road that coasts into Cherry Log.  I got to the community center and set up my hammock and crashed. It was about 3am.  This is at mile 164.

Day 3: Can I get to Dalton?

I wake up in Cherry Log and gather my gear.  There is a neutral support site in about ten miles at another community center arranged by Beardens Auto Shop.  I want to get there and get cleaned up and have breakfast.  I hear a van slow roll behind me as I’m packing up the bike.  It’s the van from Mulberry Gap.  They are picking up riders that pull the plug.  I see that they are here for another rider that stayed across the street.  It dawns on me that I don’t want to see this bus. That is the bring out your dead bus.  I don’t want anything to do with that.  I turn away to look the other direction and never look back.

The goal today is to get to Dalton at mile 252.  I had really wanted to be in Dalton early enough today to hit Outback and pig out.  It was not going to happen.  I wasn’t sure that I could make it to Dalton before I’d have to sleep again.

I make it to the next community center about the same time as Dave Muse.  We were both amazed at how nice this stop was.  They had bathrooms, a kitchen, food, and drinks as well as an ice machine.  It was outstanding.  We took our shoes off and chilled out and enjoyed our breakfast.  Dave told me a few hiking stories.  The one I remember the most was about a cinnamon bear he and his family encountered near Blood Mountain. I had never heard of this before.  He described it as a large bear, larger than I thought we had in GA that had cinnamon markings on its back similar to the markings a silver back gorilla has.  Amazing.  We soon left and began the climb into the Cohutta mountains.  It didn’t take long before he dropped me.  Again.  Dave can ride.

I love the Cohuttas.  It has some of my favorite trails and I was about to do all of them in the daylight and then have dinner at Mulberry Gap.  I banged out all the climbs and started the descent that would take me down Bear, P1, and P2.  My faves.  I railed these trails like never before.  Missing spokes be damned, I didn’t care.  The traction was good and the music was blowing out my ear drums.  It was epic.

I stopped at the turn for p1 to filter some water.

With the Dinos

I rode Bear, P1, and P2 and considered not stopping at Mulberry Gap.  I didn’t want to get sucked in and end up spending the night there.  I decided to go but only spend one hour there.  

When I arrived I was greeted by a cool dude that I assume was volunteering.  I’m not sure.  I saw him driving the bus so he may work there.  Anyway he was awesome.  He asked if I needed any help with the bike and cleaned/oiled the chain.  He then helped me order dinner.  I was presented with three menus and I simply couldn’t comprehend what they were.  He noticed I was having trouble and gently leaned in and suggested I have the burrito.  Great idea!  I’ll have the burrito.  Thank you!

I took a shower and put on some non offending clothes and went back to eat dinner.  It was fabulous.  So fresh and tasty.  I was in heaven.  It was at this time that I ran into Carin.  She is the wife of Michael Hopton a new friend of mine.  They were both volunteering at Mulberry Gap and this just happened to be her shift.  We chatted a while and she told me of their plans to do TNGA on a tandem.  That is crazy cool.  My hour deadline quickly approached so I said my goodbyes and bolted.  As I was leaving I saw Dave Muse again.  He was sitting down to dinner.  I changed back into my kit and hit the trail.  On to Dalton.

I had a room waiting for me in Dalton with late check in.  I had about 45miles to go.  The last 20 of that is on road.  All I had to do was get to the road and drop the hammer.  Before the road I had to get through P4 and P5.  These have some steep climbs and technical descents that took me longer than expected.  Ear buds in and music blasting I made my way as quickly as I could. 

As I entered Dalton I noticed some police working a speed trap at the top of a hill.  I can see them looking at me and one of them is walking to intercept me. I take my earphones out and give him my attention hoping that I haven’t done something wrong or was about to be harassed.  As I got closer I could see they were all smiling and he was laughing.  Then he called out to tell me that I was only doing 6 miles an hour.  😂 That really cracked the whole group up and me as well.  Heck, 6mph up that hill in the state I’m in is exceeding expectations.  I rolled on and made it to my Dalton hotel at about 4am completely destroyed.  I would pay for it.

Day 4: Can I get to High Point?

I woke up about 7:30am pretty tired and hungry.  I’m at mile 252 and I want to get to at least mile 311.  That should be no problem and maybe a bit conservative.  Maybe if I go fast enough, I’ll finish today.  Yeah right. What was I smoking?  

Today I would ride the infamous Snake route backwards from how I normally ride it, which I think is easier.  This direction trends downward more.  Still technical and still steep so it’s not that much different.

Before I leave I eat at Cracker Barrel and hit Kroger for resupply.  I forgot to get batteries and had to turn arround and go back to town for them.  It’s a good thing that I remembered.

The first climb to the entrance of the Snake is called the Dug Gap climb.  It’s a long steep road and then gravel climb to the top.  It’s full sun and hot.  I stop at a popular overlook on the gravel climb and snap a few pics.

Overlook on gravel climb to the towers.

With Dinos!

I leave the overlook to continue the climb.  I’m low on sleep, hydration, and energy.  I’m bonking.  I’m bonking early.  It’s gonna be a long day.  I consume my fluids and try to continue eating.  I’m getting a headache and not going anywhere quickly.  This isn’t good. I clear the knarly 8mile rock garden section and bomb down the fire road to the creek hoping for water.  There is water in the creek but it is not moving very quickly.  I’ve got a good filter and I can make this work but I choose not to.  I’ve got one bottle left and there just might be trail magic at the trail head 6 miles from here.  Yeah there has to be trail magic there.  Has to be.  I’ll conserve water and make it last til there.

Some of the rock gardens

My pace slowed and my headache got worse.  I’ve been here before.  I need some fluids and more nutrition.  Mostly fluids.  I make my way to the final descent down to the trailhead and I can see two styrofoam coolers at the bottom.  I don’t get my hopes up just yet.  What if they are empty.  Then what?  I’ll prob have to go 8-10 miles off course to a convenience store.  That will suck.  But let’s see what we got.

I open the first cooler and it is stacked with cold icy Mountain Dew.  Oh boy oh boy.  The second is filled with cold icy water.  My bacon is saved.  I’ve never really drank Mountain Dew.  I actually don’t drink sodas at all.  But I figure it will help.  I open a Mountain Dew and it is the best tasting thing I’ve ever had.  Oh my I love Mountain Dew!!  I proceeded to drink three of each and sat there until my senses came back to me and I was feeling better.  Bacon saved.

Pure Trail Magic Goodness 

I do now.  Thanks angel!

So now I’m half way through the Snake.  That’s only 17miles so far.  I’ve got a long way to go still today.  I decide to swap my two extra water bottles out for two extra bottles filled with Mountain Dew.  Then head on over to hike Horn Mtn and bang out the rest of the Snake.  I get to the final river and decide to take my socks and shoes off.  My feet are macerated and I’m doing my best to keep it from getting out of control.  I get to the other side and sit down to work on them.  I notice a few things.  Yeah my feet are jacked up but so are my shoes.  Parts of the bottoms of the shoes have separated and I can see through the fabric holding the heels of the shoes on.  This isn’t good but there isn’t much I can do about it.  I massage my feet somewhat self conscious of just how good it feels.  I put some more gold bond on them and head out.

I’m headed to the horse barn on E Armuchee road to fill my water bottles and then I’ll keep moving.  I reach the barn and find the water hose.  It’s under an awning with a bunch of hay bales.  It’s completely dark now and I look up at the stars.  Instead of stars I see lightning off in the distance.  I see it moving my way and it isn’t long before my whole field of view is filled with this thunderstorm.  Lightning cracking left and right illuminating the sky and showing the freaked out horses running for cover.  I realize how lucky I am and sit tight.  Within a few minutes the cold air hits me and it begins to rain heavy. The lightning strikes continue all around me.  About an hour has gone by and it’s still throwing down.  I jump up on a hay bale and lie back.  I’m asleep in an instant.   

When I wake up it’s 3 am.  It’s calm and wet out.  I think I got at least 4 hours of sleep.  I think about the storm and the riders that were caught in it. I’ve been very lucky.  My rear wheel is holding together.  My shoes are still holding on.  My feet are painful but not getting worse. I slept in a barn on a bale of hay as all hell was breaking loose around me.  Yeah that’s a lot of luck.  I’ll take it.

Day 5: Can I get to the finish?

It’s time to leave the barn.  I gather my gear and head out.  We’re gonna see High Point today and maybe the finish!  Fingers crossed.

Things would continue to go my way.  I could tell there was someone in front of me.  Maybe by several hours but I could tell by their tracks and the lack of spider webs they were fairly close.  I don’t think I took a single spider web to the face.  The entire route from Dalton to High Point is spider alley.  There are massive spiders every 10-15 feet.  It’s not unusual to bomb a section and take several to the face.  It just freaks me out completely.  I turn into a little school girl and you can hear me miles away.  It’s not pretty.  But that wasn’t happening.  The trails were in such good shape and clear of grasses and briars so I was making good time. 

The sun was coming up and I estimated I’d see the sunrise over this one section that overlooks the valley before Hwy 27.  I’m rolling down a fairly clear trail and don’t see a tree limb sticking out right at arm height.  It nails me right above my watch and sends me and the bike to the ground.  The landing was hard but the road was soft.  So I’m laying there on my back with one leg clipped in and the bike completely inverted resting on the handle bars and seat with the wheels still spinning.  I laid there and gathered my thoughts.  As I looked up through the trees, I could see the moon in the middle of a circle of tree branches.  It was either that or the eye of Sauron. The picture below doesn’t do it justice.  I need to find a better way of taking low light photos.

Moon through the trees.

I also took the pic below near the same time.  I can’t remember what they call this, table rock or something like that.  Figured it was a cool photo if I could get the light right.

A big ass rock

It wasn’t much longer after my wipeout that I came to the overlook area.  I took a few photos and tried to capture the sunrise.  I love the first one with the clouds below the trees hanging there like white lakes.

Valley with clouds

Let there be light!

Those would be my last photos.  It’s time to lay it down and get to the finish.  As I approach Hwy 27 I’m hoping for the same trail magic that saved my bacon earlier at SCG.  I get to the end of the trail and see the cooler.  Whoot!  Well this time I’m too late.  The cooler is completely empty and I’m out of fluids.  I decide to go off route to resupply.  It’s about 1.4 miles to get to the gas station.  I eat, fill up my two water bottles and get two Mountain Dew tall boys.  How many is that now??  I head back up to resume the route and who do I see coming down the other side?  Lucas.  Oh shit.  He is so close.  Damn it!  I struggle to put more into my pace.  Maybe I can hold him off long enough. I bang out the next section as quickly as I can and meet Brad McLeod at the High Point Trail head.  

I enjoyed talking to Brad and listened to his story about being caught in the storm last night. Oh man it sounded rough.  We team up and leave High Point together.  I enjoyed talking with him and learning about some of the other races he has interest in that are in Florida and Costa Rica.  I find out later from Rutledge how much of a bad ass Brad is.  Stories of blowing out tires and stripping free hubs and still getting to the finish by walking 30 miles.  I dig that.  What a bad ass.  We eventually get separated and I continue on.  I’m smelling the barn and picking up the pace.

I call Cristy and we start coordinating a time for her to pick up Spencer from school and get to the finish.  4pm ish sounds about right.  My pace is still picking up.  I have a few emotional moments imagining the reunion with my wife and child at the finish.  Just the thought brings tears to my eyes.  Always has.  Any big event.  Marathons, 50ks, etc. Even just doing the Snake makes me cry a bit when I see them at the finish.  I think it has something to do with all the hard work and the wearing down of the guard we hold over our emotions.  What do I know?  I tear up. 

Land marks are flying by.  I make it to the Citgo.  Last stop before Cave Springs and then to the finish.  I’ve got Lucas on my mind.  I can feel him chasing me down.  I grab two more large Mountain Dews and leave as quickly as possible.  How many is that now?  

At some point I lose my top end gear.  I can’t tell why but the chain is rolling over it under load.  I drop to the next gear and do my best to lay it down.  Where is Lucas?  There is a stretch of road where you can see for at least a mile.  I don’t see him anywhere.  Maybe I can hold him off, maybe I can keep this pace up.  

It wasn’t long after that I hear someone say over my back left shoulder, “Hey Tom.  I’ve been chasing you all day.”  Oh snap!  It’s over. Where did he come from!! He is a hell of a rider.  I’m thrilled to see him and I know he needs to drop the hammer and move on,  which he does and it doesn’t take long before he is completely out of sight.  He is hauling ass.  Congrats Lucas.

Ok good news is I don’t need to worry about Lucas anymore.  Just got to get myself to the finish.  I know I’m burning the oil and just laying down what I’ve got left.  I roll into Cave Springs where I’m surprised by Jeff Williams the race director.  He is there to do a ride and suggests that we roll the singletrack together just after Cave Springs.  I’m thrilled at the opportunity and head over to the spring to get some water.  I sit there and pour the water over me and drink while he gets ready.  It’s amazing the volume of water coming out of this spring.  

Jeff and I leave Cave Springs.  I notice that he has an MCR like my buddy Brian.  We talk bikes and friends that we have in common.  Jeff is a great guy with a lot of stories.  I enjoyed our ride together.  We eventually hit the dirt road and part ways.  I’m headed to the finish and he is headed back to Cave Springs.

At this point it’s only a handful of miles to the finish and I’m getting bursts of adrenaline.  I start mashing all the hills and yelling at the tops.  No clue what was going on but it felt good getting it out.

I turned the corner and see the Comet.  Our aunt Angela is there with her bike to ride in with me.  She came down to help keep Cristy company as she waited for me.  We hit the Comet together and I’m laying down what I’ve got left.  My speed hits about 24 mph and I’m trying to hold it to the finish.  I back off and let her clear and I roll into the finish and high five my son.  I turn the bike around and fall to pieces hugging my wife.  It feels great.  

The finish

At the finish there are four riders including myself.  Lucas is there, as well as Howard Urban and Jason Fitzgerald.  I learn that it was Howard running point on the spiders and I thank him for it.  Howard has developed what looked like a severe case of heat rash. It looked so painful.  But he is a bad ass and didn’t let that stop him.  He figured out a way to finish.  I learn that Jason has been entertaining my wife since she arrived.  He is hilarious and I appreciate all of them being there with her.

It wasn’t long before the MBG van arrived to pick up Howard and Jason.  I looked at the van a bit differently now.  This van is a symbol of honor and respect for all the hard work these riders put in over the last 5 days.  I watched it pull away and waved goodbye.  Until next time.

Epilogue 

It has been a few days now since I finished TNGA.  I’ve received a lot of compliments and congratulations for my finish and I am sincerely appreciative of all the support.  I’m still a little mentally dazed with wobbly legs, sore feet and getting what I think are caffeine withdrawal headaches.  I drank a lot of Mountain Dews 😂.  But other than that I’m fine.  No nerve damage or chronic pain anywhere.  My bike and gear are kinda trashed.  The drivetrain will need to be replaced and the rear wheel will need to be re-laced.  Nothing terrible.  My shoes are end of life completely. Time for some new shoes.

My wife asked me if I will do it again and I have no idea.  It’s just too soon to know. I loved the experience and adventure.   Wonder what shoes would work better next year .... 😉

Best wishes to everyone and thanks for all the support.

The End.