Riding the Talladega Skyway

[Nice Goat]

Left the house this morning around 10:30.  I was planning to just ride for a couple of hours, maybe around Bankhead.  But as soon as I left the house, I decided to go ride the Skyway through Talladega Nat'l Forest.  It's something that I have been wanting to do for a while.

Saw this sign in Ashville and it made me laugh because of the big fat cartoon face.



Continued on through Ragland and found this monument near Henry Neely Dam.





Stopped for gas and snacks in Jacksonville and then continued on to Rabbittown, where I found a fiddler hall!



Finally, I made it to the dirt.  I intended to turn onto FS500 but turned onto FS540 instead.  It was a good quality dirt road with nice views and drop offs.  Several one-lane bridges and empty creek beds also.



FS540 eventually ran into FS500 near Coleman Lake Campground.  I took a ride through the campground, and it was only about 20% occupied by travel trailers.

Eventually, FS500 met up with the beginning of 281, the paved part of the Skyway.  I stopped at an overlook to enjoy my bottled water and snacks.





281 is a great road with smooth pavement.  I was testing the limits of the Shinko 244s today!

At the southern end of 281, right at the beginning of FS 600-2, I found the photo tag placed two months ago....



Then I kept going south on FS 600-2.  The first section until Hanging Rock Rd was really smooth.  I was ripping and drifting a little.  Then, after crossing Hanging Rock Rd, FS 600-2 became really rocky.

Finally, I reached Horns Lake Rd and cut over to FS 600-1.  Coming south, the road is not bad for the first 10 miles.  You could do that section in a 2WD passenger vehicle.  Then it got pretty rough.



It was getting late in the day by now, but I stopped at one of the overlooks for some photos.





I continued on south, and about two miles from the end of FS 600-1, where it intersects with 148 going toward Sylacauga, I picked a poor line on a rocky section and managed to dump the KLR.  Thankfully it was low speed, and the crashbars provided the planned protection.  Forgot to take a picture of my bike taking a nap....

When I got to Sylacauga, I stopped at Wal-Mart to get some heavy duty zip ties.  That's what I use to mount the Pelican case, and when I dropped the bike, several of them broke.  I had forgotten to bring some spares.  I replaced the zip ties and enjoyed another bottle of water in the parking lot, then got back onto Hwy 280 north.  It's always fun making that run during rush hour....

I followed 280 to Hwy 31 through Fultondale and Gardendale.  By the time I got to Warrior, I was ready to warm up a little and have some dinner.  Had a hamburger covered in Buffalo sauce ... yum!



All together, it was just over 300 miles today, including about 43 miles of sometimes awesome, sometimes rocky dirt roads.

[Chitza]

Wow. Nice report, Glenn. I'm always so impressed with your photography. Thanks for taking time for the report.

[SlimmyJimmy]

Awesome ride and pics.  Sounds like a great day.  The FS500 has been on my list to do while the drought is here and weather is cooler.  Last time I went down 600-2, after crossing hanging rock road, immediately after the power line trail at the top of the hill I drove into a puddle that was about crotch deep (I obviously didn't test the depth and drove in like an idiot).  I was defeated.  Took an hour to wrestle my bike over to the woods and roll it out of there.  Needless to say I turned around and got to pavement as fast as I could. 


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[norton73]

Awesome ride and pics.  Sounds like a great day.  The FS500 has been on my list to do while the drought is here and weather is cooler.  Last time I went down 600-2, after crossing hanging rock road, immediately after the power line trail at the top of the hill I drove into a puddle that was about crotch deep (I obviously didn't test the depth and drove in like an idiot).  I was defeated.  Took an hour to wrestle my bike over to the woods and roll it out of there.  Needless to say I turned around and got to pavement as fast as I could. 


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I think I know of the hole you speak of;



:)


Nice report Glen. We'll have to meet up sometime and ride it again. I've got a couple friends that are not on Bama Rides (I have been trying to get them on) that have been up there the last couple weekends.

[Guidedawg]

Strictly pavement guy here (well, mostly) so I really enjoy these reports.  It looks like a great day!

[jrobinson]

Great report. Looks like a good day of riding.

[Fencejumper09]

Great Report!

A buddy and I have been planning to hit that route for a couple months but can't get our schedules to align!

I have run it once in the other direction and had a blast but the section of 600-1 after 148 has some nice baby head boulders that made for a rough a start!

[klaviator]

Great report.  I need to get down that way.