Gap It Again

     Thursday was departure day from Blairsville. We were up early hoping to drive up Brasstown Bald and hike to the observation deck. But we woke up to low, thick clouds and found nothing but fog on the mountain. We didn't hike to the top as you now have to pay to park. It's $3 per car when the fee house is closed. When it's open, they charge $5 per person, which includes a shuttle ride. I think that's a bit ridiculous. I don't even want to shuttle. I want to walk. From our visits to these natural areas over the past week, I get the impression the state parks and forest areas have become a money making opportunity rather than a place created for the people to spend time outdoors and learn about nature. Nearly every single trail we have hiked and park we have entered has had a fee. Some trails within the same park have separate fees that don't transfer over despite it being int he same park on the same day. I thought recreation areas and state parks were supposed to encourage people to get outside, exercise and spend time with family/friends. It seems as though we have shifted from that to just making money off people getting outside and being active. It makes me appreciate Tennessee more. Our state parks have no fees to enter. Our state encourages people to be outside. Our state wants us to learn about the environment, be active, be healthier and be happier. Our taxes pay for the parks so why should we have to pay for them again? I don't know what the forest service is using the parking fees for because it sure isn't for trail markings as we have found out by getting lost several times on unmarked trails this week.

Brasstown Bald parking lot

     We packed up and left the apartment after breakfast. I was on my road bike to get in one more good climbing loop before we left. I started off climbing the opposite side of Craig Gap than what I did on Tuesday, then headed up Hogpen Gap before dropping down into Helen. Hogpen is a tough climb with some really steep sections. It is only 2.3 miles long, but it makes you work at a 10% average grade. It's rated as Category 2 for all you mountain goats all there. The descent is fast and fun. You get to go down for 6.8 miles. I am fairly good at cornering, but doing a corner on a steep slope is completely different. I felt a little nervous a few times when entering a sharp corner at 40 mph with the front end pointed down. I think I did a horrible descent, but I had fun and learned a lot.

On Hogpen Gap

Topping Hogpen Gap

Descending Hogpen Gap

     I cruised into Helen, then hung a left on Hwy 75 to cross over Unicoi Gap. This was a section I had never ridden before from either direction. This direction was the longer way, climbing 7.8 miles total at an average of 4%. The lower slopes are quite easy, then it gets more difficult in the last 3.3 miles where it averages 6%. It is another busy climb with traffic, but nearly all of the passing vehicles gave me plenty of room. People are much more respectful to bikes here than they are at home in middle Tennessee.

     It was chilly at the top and down the descent on the other side. I followed Hwy 75 to Owl Creek Rd. where I took a left and linked that climb up with Jack's Gap and Brasstown Bald. Owl Creek is uphill the entire road if you are traveling west, but there's only one difficult section of 1.1 miles. This section makes up for the easy climbing you get before. It was close to the steepness of "The Wall" on Brasstown Bald.

Topping Unicoi Gap

     From the end of Owl Creek, I went right on Hwy 180 up the rest of Jack's Gap, which is where Brasstown Bald spurs off to the right. Brasstown Bald is brutal. This was my third time to ride it so I knew what was coming. I tried to go faster up this climb than the earlier parts of the day. "The Wall" hurt badly, but I got over it with more ease than I remember in my previous rides here. It's only 2.4 miles from Jack's Gap to the parking lot overlook, but it feels like five miles with it's 11% average grade. With the way I linked up Owl Creek, Jack's and Brasstown, it made for a 7.8-mile Category 1 climb with an average grade of 6%. The parking lot at the top was still just as foggy as it was earlier in the morning when we were here, so still no view for me. The descent is scary too because of the steepness and sharp curves. You literally have to ride the brakes to stay below 50 mph most of the way down. There'a few corners in the lower half that will hurt you if you come in too hot. I was getting worried a tire would blow from brake heat by the time I got to the bottom.

Heading up Brasstown Bald

    I descended back down Jack's Gap to Hwy 75 and climbed back over the opposite side of Unicoi Gap. This side is much shorter at 2.3 miles, but it makes you work with a 6% grade. I then descended back into Helen before ending my ride with a climb up to and through Unicoi State Park. It was a great ride, but I was glad to be done. My legs were pretty toast after 64.1 miles with over 7,700 feet of tough climbing.

     I hopped in the car at the Unicoi Lodge and we headed for Clayton, GA where we had booked a campsite at Black Rock Mountain State Park. I got us directions to the campground that would take us by both the Sautee Nacoochee Indian Mound and Stovall Covered Bridge historic sites. The Indian Mound was small, but still very interesting to see. I don't know if my directions were bad or if we were asleep, but we totally missed the covered bridge. We will have to look for that again on the next trip.

Sautee Nacoochee Indian Mound

     The drive up Black Rock Mountain to the park had my tired legs wanting to get on the bike. It was a steep, twisting road that looked like it would be fun to climb and a blast to descend. The view from the visitor's center near the top was great. You could see all of Clayton and the surrounding mountains to the south. There are numerous other overlooks throughout the park that give you some nice mountain views.

View of Clayton from the Visitor's Center Overlook

Tall platform for one of the overlooks. Shannon did not care for the height of this one.

     We debuted a new tent that we just bought. We have officially retired our Coleman Montana after our year full of leaking issues. It was five years old and has been through a lot of rain, sun and Wyoming wind. We bought a Tahoe Gear Coronado. It's called a 12-person tent, but I don't think you could fit 12 toddlers in there, let alone 12 adults. I'd call it 8-person. There was plenty of room for our two cots, gear bags, two chairs and two bikes. I picked this mainly because of the design. It is rounded all the way across the top rather than having flat areas like the Coleman that invited water to pool and eventually leak. We set it up once at home for practice before this trip. A storm came through and blew it out from under the carport, rolling the tent down the driveway before I could catch it. It tore part of the rainfly, but it is toward the bottom of the fly and leaking in that location will not get inside the tent. We proved that when it began to rain about an hour after we got the tent set up at the campground. No leaks!

Our new Tahoe Gear Coronado tent

     We did one short hike to end the day, checking out the Ada-Hi Falls just down the road from the campground. It was just a 0.25-mile hike each way, but it was steep with more stairs. Shannon's knee was not liking the stairs and she was glad to be done afterwards. These falls were tiny and trickling compared to others we have seen on this trip, but they were unique and worth the work to get to them.

Yay, more stairs

Ada-Hi Falls