Two Days of Dual Sport Riding in TN and GA...in Late December?

[jrou111]

'Sho nuff  8) I decided to write up the whole ride report so here goes:

Me and my brother in law Muss who recently got into dual sport riding got to ride part of this SM500 this past week. We trailered up on Monday 12/28/15 and it rained pretty bad the whole time. Especially in Ellijay around 9pm. Both of us were up earlier than expected, so we hit the road Tuesday 12/29 at 5:45. We took the green section NW from Ellijay and quickly got to gravel. It was still very dark outside but we managed to make our way along the trail until we came to a couple of recently fallen trees on the trail. I jumped one and teeter tottered over the other on the KTM 640E, and Muss managed to get over with some help with the KLR. Around that time we also encountered 2 locked gates within about 100 yards of each other. I brappped up and around and eventually Muss found a way around.

Leaving Huntsville, AL in the rain...



The overlook wasn't quite as pretty in the dark...



Not too long after that we headed down Cowpen road. I loved the jumping the waterbreaks here! I've got a pretty bright lighting setup - 81 watts of LED's. So being able to see the trail in pitch black was not a problem. Well, except when we rode through a couple of clouds. The sun starting coming up to the east and eventually we got to ride in daylight somewhere in the Cohutta.

The Connasauga River was really flowing!...





This was my favorite waterfall. I even got to ride in the creek back to the road...



Somewhere on Big Frog Rd...








We took a wrong turn on 221 and wound up crossing Rough Creek and heading toward Ducktown. We had already crossed a big creek crossing that was pretty high and fast flowing from the rain, so we didn't try to backtrack. Oh well, this route was pretty fun anyway.

From there we passed through Ducktown and hopped on Kimsey Mtn Hwy and road over to Reliance. Then up to Starr Mtn. The weather was perfect: sunny, 68 degrees, and the rain had kept all the dust down on the FS roads.

At Reliance...





Up on Starr Mountain. I made sure to grab the geocache while I was there...










We managed to make it to Tellico Plains at about 1pm. Although we had only planned to ride the green section from Ellijay to Tellico Plains, with the nice weather it was quickly decided to keep riding and ride as much of the red section as possible. Also, the threat of rain the following day motivated us to try and get as much riding in as we could. We hopped on the Cherohala Skyway for a bit. First stop, Bald River Falls. With all the rain, the falls were really moving!

Then we headed up to the Citico creek area and Indian Boundary. After that we hopped back on the Skyway all the way to Santeetlah Gap and then took gravel to Stewart and Swan cabins. The road going up to Swan cabin was fast and fun!








With daylight fading fast, we headed under the Skyway and over to Sycamore/Bald River Rd. Climbing that section was a blast too! We got to see the last of bit of the sun setting. We were feeling a bit froggy and invigorated, so I suggested that we check out the conditions on Witt Rd....

Now I have ridden Witt Rd in the daytime, and from Tellico Plains it seemed like the first crossings were EASY and the last one with the ridges in the bottom was the deepest and most difficult. Well going the opposite way at night, I figured that if we made it through the hardest one first, it'd be all downhill from there. BOY WAS I WRONG!

With all the rainfall, even at night almost a day later, it was VERY deep and fast moving. I made it through the crossing with the ridges, and then Muss tried it. His KLR did the usual dying in water crossing thing because he hasn't done the T-mod. He also got wet boots...

"Alright, Muss, they'll not be as deep after this..." Shortly down the trail, sure enough, it was deeper! I BARELY made it through without taking on water, and Muss bike stalled twice and I was worried that it would wind up with water in the motor. So onto the 3rd and middle water crossing...this one is normally very long but shallow, but apparently a few trees got swept down stream and dammed up the crossing! I waded out and at just after the 1/2 way point it was almost to my hips. I relayed the unfortunate news to my BIL and needless to say he wasn't happy. I was so frustrated that we were so close to Tellico Plains, but that we'd not only have to backtrack south 7 miles, but that we'd have to go through those two DEEP crossings again. Once again, I barely made it through and then Muss' bike kept dying in the middle of the crossings. It was a cold, silent, wet ride back to Hwy 68 and then north up to Madisonville to our hotel.

Over 14 hours of riding, 285 miles of riding in which 170 of that was dirt.

After a lot of time running the hair dryer and heater, our gear dried out when we woke up. Great! But it was lightly sprinkling outside which was not so great. We had planned on hitting some dirt on the way back so we wouldn't have to slab it the whole way. And at any point if the rain got too bad or we got too tired (still sore from riding the day before) we would just slab it back. I navigated us back over to the Citico Creek area and we then rode over to River Rd. and then Wildcat Rd over to Smithfield Rd. I almost hit a hunter's truck on Citico Creek Rd and again on Wildcat Rd. The rain was light so we pressed on. I wanted to check out the Ocoee crossing and FS 45 that we missed the day before, so we turned at Ducktown and crossed there. By that time the rain was a little worse, so we decided to just take FS221 again and then slab it back once it ended back on Hwy 68. On FS 221 I lmost hit an SUV again! The trails were slick enough from the rain that we got some practice power sliding the back around corners. We did the cool creek crossing on Rough Creek again here too.

Only pics for today were at the hotel before we left...





I did get some video on the GoPro though...

From there we took Hwy 5 and Hwy 76 back. The rain was really coming down hard by then, and was getting inside my riding gear a little. On the 4 lane I picked up the pace to 68mph to get back sooner, which at 10 psi was a bad idea. Within the last 1.08 miles from the truck. My rear tire went flat*.

I didn't want to mess with changing it in the rain (double rim locks). I hopped on Muss' bike and grabbed the truck. When I got back we loaded my bike up and then swung by and loaded his where I left it.

The culprit...



143 miles in the rain.

I had a blast on the trip and hate that because of the weather I wasn't able to complete the entire loop. I hope to return in April and actually be able to camp this time. Still, all in all it was a good 2 days to ride.



*I initially blamed it on heat building inside causing the tube to wear through, but the tube had a slit which based on its location makes me think that it was a pinch flat. IDK why it didn't lose air until I got off the 4 lane though.

[Muss]

Is it April yet? 


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[Muss]

Couple other pics from the trip
















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[jrobinson]

Great report and pics/videos. Thanks for taking us along.

[griff]

Thanks for sharing. I really like that area.

[Fencejumper09]

Great Report! Wish i could have made it.

Hopefully you plan the next trip towards the end of April so I can join!

[Nice Goat]

Very nice photos, guys.  Thanks for taking the time to share!

[Jwwr]

I'm glad it didn't rain on you the whole time! That was awesome doing those water crossings at night after all that rain. Mighty fine report!

[Yankee Dog]

I'm glad it didn't rain on you the whole time! That was awesome doing those water crossings at night after all that rain. Mighty fine report!

I am not sure awesome is the word I was thinking of.  But a great ride and a great report anyway. 

[Muss]

lol. The daylight video one was awesome. The first two in the right direction at night were more awesome. Going back sucked pretty bad. Lol. I got my waterproof boots now tho so less suckage on future crossings.


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[lazeebum]

Great video and pictures. When I get my desktop computer working again, I have some pictures from Tellico Plains. Waterproof boots ain't waterproof if the water is over the top of them. I have tested them.

[Yankee Dog]

lol. The daylight video one was awesome. The first two in the right direction at night were more awesome. Going back sucked pretty bad. Lol. I got my waterproof boots now tho so less suckage on future crossings.


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Just remember they are only waterproof up to the top.  And if the water comes over the top it can't get back out.


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[SpeedyR]

nice ride report. I'm hoping that Dan/BlueLighting does this route again this spring. He's got some changes he's made with some more "challenging" sections added in if you want a bit harder riding. the rain always adds a few levels of difficulty to any ride!!

great report, hopefully one of these days I'll get up there on my 950 to check out some of the trails.

[jrou111]

"Adventure is adversity in retrospect" pretty much summed up the trip, and on the adventure scale it was up there.

I have Firstgear TPG pants with a built in gaiter at the bottom of the legs. I never got any water in my boots until I started wading through the last crossing on Whitt Rd where the water was almost to my hips.

I'm looking forward to going back in April. I'll post up about it in a few weeks.