Cohutta Pinhoti

Last weekend's camping adventure went reasonably well, but I was colder than I wanted to be for a few hours. To remedy that, I did some research, and it turns out Thermarest's modern NeoAir has an R-value of 6.9, as compared to the 4.something my old one from 2009 had. It's also mummy-shaped rather than rectangular. Sol also now makes a thermal bivvy. I don't remember the R-value, but it was much higher than that of the Escape Lite that I currently have. It's also roomier and longer. If I could get the two of those to fit in my bag, they might suffice down into the 30's.

Hmmm....

Only one way to find out. I ordered both, they came in mid-week, yep, they fit, and I was back in the mountains this past weekend.

This time, I drove up to Ellijay...

...and parked my car at Mulberry Gap. I'd hoped they'd had some packets of Chamois Butt'r, as I'd used my last one last weekend, but no, it turned out they completely sold out of them during the TNGA, which I guess makes sense. Jackie joked something like: "blame the guy that created that race."

Heh, heh. Yeah.

It was pretty late when I got going, like 4PM or so, but that suited me fine. I intended to make my way over to P6 and camp next to that first water crossing on the grasstrack, like I did about this time last year. I had just about the right amount of time for that.

The climb up to Mulberry Gap proper felt fine, which bode well for the rest of the day.

I cleaned all the switchbacks on P3.

Again, the bike felt "normal", not heavy or awkward. My seat bag did somehow want to brush my legs sometimes though, which I really don't like, but it didn't always do it. It didn't used to do it at all with the old seat post. I guess the new one puts it in a slightly different position. IDK. I'm not super sold on the new post. The way it grabs the seat is way better for various reasons, but it gets creaky, and depending on temperature changes, the seat can move slightly. Just slightly, but a noticeable amount.

At Hwy 52, I hung a left and rode over to the overlook.

It's trying to be fall up there, but fall hasn't hit super hard yet.

Three different families arrived while I was sitting there. One of them seemed to have never been up there before, or to anywhere similar, and was surprised how much you could see.

P4 seemed like it might get more traffic these days. Last year it was leafy and needly, and generally slow. The tread was a lot cleaner and faster this time.

At the intersection with Tatum Lead Road, construction is coming along on whatever they're building there.

They'd just started on it last year. Now, it's pretty well built. Looks like a lodge or resort or something. I'll be interested to see what it ends up being.

The only drag of the whole ride was the next climb.

It's my least favorite climb in the entire National Forest. I've ranted about it before though, and I don't have anything new to say, except that the gravel was looser than usual this time, because of course it was.

Like 90% of the way up that climb, there's a little billboard off to the right for a realtor. Her name is Tina, and I've seen one incarnation or other of the same billboard, with her face on it, for the last 20 years. I noticed a new photo this time, or at least I didn't recognize it, so I think it's new. It's neat that the same realtor has been selling property up there for all this time.

Heading out on Tatum Lead, I noticed a van with a bike trailer, and figured there might be a guy on a motorcycle out on Tatum Lead. Yep, a few turns later, I passed him coming the other way. It was getting a little dusky, so I had my commuter lights on, and that turned out to have been a good idea because he didn't immediately see me, and had to get on the brakes and jog right to dodge. He missed my by a really wide margin though. I wasn't in any danger.

"Sorry!

"No problem!"

Last time I took Rock Creek down, but this time I figured I'd ride P5 instead. Long ago, upper P5 had a gnarly rut on it, right as it bent to the right to begin sidehilling. I always remember it being there, but it hasn't actually been there for like 10 years, so I'm always like: "oh yeah, they fixed that." Once again, I forgot that it wasn't there and chuckled at myself for making that same mistake.

A little after where P5 flattens out, there was a guy camping off to the right. He didn't look like a bikepacker or hunter. Just a random guy camping. We waved to each other.

The flowers in the field struck me as especially pretty.

Usually it's just super tall grass, but actual little flowers were discernible everywhere this time through.

Past the pipe gate, there were multiple pickups parked at each of the various camp sites. Firearms season is just getting cranked up, and everybody's out making the most of it. This past weekend might have actually been opening weekend. I actually meant to check that earlier in the week. If I had, and if it was, then I'd have ridden gravel roads to let the hunters have the trails, and worn an orange jersey. But, I forgot, and I was well committed to the route before I realized. Maybe next year.

Off to the left, I kept noticing fall colors. Fall colors everywhere! This photo really doesn't do it justice.

I felt good when I hit FS3. This time I remembered to bring clif blocks and bars, and I didn't have to eat little sausages to keep my energy up. In fact, I didn't bring any little sausages at all, or that Moon Cheese either. Neither of those were very good last time.

There's an old chimney on FS3. I've kind-of always wanted to camp there, and make a fire in the actual chimney, but it's like 20 feet off of the road, and not very secluded.

Maybe some day when it's really cold and snowy or something.

There was a pickup parked at the start of the P6 grasstrack, and I ran into a pair of hunters walking out, not a quarter mile in. One had a white headlamp, and the other had a green lamp. I've seen red before, but never green. I know red is meant to preserve your night vision. I wonder what green does. Interesting!

I reached my campsite about a half hour after dark, or at least about a half hour after I needed to start using my headlamp. I got a fire going right away, and set up camp.

I love how creepy flash photography of a camp site always looks. It's like a crime scene photo or something.

Dinner was tortellini, again.

That's been my go-to dinner lately. I've been wanting to try cooking some other stuff, but I need to practice at home first.

I had a harder time than I expected keeping the fire going. I'd had a hard time last week too. Historically, I'd always been master of the flame, but I can remember some specific times when I'd had trouble in the past. Once when camping with Kirk, and another just trying to get something going during the day with the kids. Also something I might need to practice at home.

Around 9PM my tummy was happy, and it felt like bed time. I wore the same puffy jacket, pants, and booties as last time, and I had the same pillow, but it was time to try out the new pad and bivvy.

Good night!

For the first few hours it was actually a little warmer than I wanted. I had to open the foot vent on the bivvy and un-velcro the top part so I could flop it over. But, after that, all was well. It was a lot darker that night, than the previous weekend. It was overcast-ish, the trees were a lot denser, and the canopy was closer to the ground. I think that actually helped me fall asleep.

As usual, I slept in 3 bouts, of a couple of hours each. When I woke up the second time, it was probably 4am or so, and just starting to get colder. I wasn't uncomfortable though, and after velcroing the bivvy back together, everything was great. Even on my side, the new pad was warm. I don't think it got into the 30's though, maybe mid-40's. Though, I really don't know for sure. Either way, I was totally comfortable, and pretty soon, I was asleep until daylight.

The next morning, the surrounding trees looked very, very fall.

Awesome. Some years, one thing or another happens, I don't make it up to the mountains for a few weeks, and I end up missing the leaves altogether. Not this year! I so love early fall too, when you get all the colors, including leftover green.

Potatoes for breakfast.

Hot chocolate too.

When my tummy was feeling happy again, I got packed up and hit the trail. It was probably 9:30 or so when I finally got rolling.

P6 was gorgeous.

I think it's my favorite section, honestly. Everybody likes P2, but I think P6 is just like a longer, taller P2. The climbing is more challenging, but I like that too.

Somewhere in there, my front brake pads wore just a little too thin and started screaming. Goodness. Nothing like screaming brakes to ruin a hunter's day. You wake up at 3am, drive out to the middle of nowhere, hike in in the dark, climb a tree, sit there freezing through the coldest part of the night, become familiar with every rock and tree as the light comes up, start to hear wildlife moving about, then "screeeeee! screeeeee! screeee!" some asshole like me rides through, scaring everything away along the full length of the trail.

Fortunately, the Dennis Mill Lot was empty. I hadn't actually ruined anyone's day. But, it was luck that I hadn't. By the same token, it was also luck that my brakes happened to wear down enough, just that morning. So, luck vs. luck, I guess.

The Dennis Mill Bridge was closed last year, and it looked like they hadn't done any work on it since.

The weather was nice out on the road. High 60's maybe, and warming up by the minute. No wind to speak of.

It usually takes me about an hour to start feeling really good on the bike, after camping, but that day, I'd felt pretty good after climbing the first little hill.

When I got to the Stallion store (or whatever it's called these days), I figured I'd take a photo of John's Used Appliances, instead of the gas station itself.

I've got like 10 photos of the gas station, but the used appliance lot next door is arguably more interesting.

I had plenty of water and food. I didn't actually need to stop at the gas station for any particular reason, so even though I'd reflexively pulled into the lot, I pretty quickly decided to just keep going.

Normally, I'd keep going north to CCC Camp Road and take that back to MGap, but I felt a little more ambitious that morning. It had been 10 years or more since I'd climbed Fort Mountain, and I kind-of felt like doing it again.

It was a little steep at first, but I had plenty of gear for it, and after a while, I felt pretty good. I specifically remembered that the last time I climbed it, during some Mulberry Gap event, I think, my tires felt like velcro on the road; like I was simulataneously sticking and unsticking velcro, all the way up the mountain. I don't know if it was the specific rubber those tires had been made out of, or the tread pattern, or if it had been hot and the asphalt was sticky, or what, but it was bad. Not so this time. I had a really good time of it.

When I got to the overlook, I stopped for a few minutes.

That's Tatum Lead there.

I'd camped down in that cove the night before.

When I passed the Tatum Lead Road sign, I took a photo to send to my Dad.

We both hate that one climb, and I figured he'd get a kick out of it.

As I bombed down toward P3, I saw a guy on a road bike up ahead on the left hand side of the road.

It was Mark Baldwin.

His response upon seeing me: "Seriously?"

I'd run into him, randomy, the last time I'd been up there, and it's happened before too. My friends and I tend to run into people we know, unexpectedly, 100+ miles from our houses. It's a bit of a joke between us. It does make some sense, we're all doing similar things and end up in similar places. This time, it was funny though, because he just happened to stop right there to mess with his seat. If he'd stopped 200 yards back on the road, I'd have never run into him.

See you next time, Mark.

Descending P3...

...I ran into a guy and a lady who were also descending. I think they were the only other mountain bikers I'd seen on the entire trip. But, it did strike me that I'd seen pretty much the full gamut of outdoor enthusiasts, during that particuar ride. I didn't see anybody fishing, but I think that's about it.

My brakes screamed again, all the way down P3, and once again I was glad to see that there wasn't anyone parked at the bottom, even in that new lot.

When I got back to MGap...

I took a wonderful shower, and talked to Kate at length about their recent TNGA ride. She, Andrew, and someone else who I forget now, rode from the border, back to Mulberry Gap, and it sounded like they experienced the full range of Adventure available on the route. She said they had a great time though, which was great to hear, considering I usually hear stories of how difficult a time someone had.

Seriously, pro tip. Splurge for the post-ride shower, if you're riding out of Mulberry. Total game changer. You feel totally human as you head back into civilization.

Speaking of which, there was an apple festival of some kind going on in Ellijay, so traffic was super slow through town, there was no available parking, and the restaurants were all at capacity.

I tried eating at Col. Poole's BBQ, but there was a line way out the door there. At the Valero, there were 3 church vans in the lot, and like 100 teenagers inside, all waiting in line to use the bathroom. I ended up eating in Jasper at some local chicken wings place. Lukes, maybe? It was busy, but not too busy, and it was pretty good. I'll eat there again, if the opportunity comes up.

When I got home and uploaded the route to Strava, I noticed that Jason Shearer had somehow done almost the exact same route over the previous two days. He and his crew had ridden out to Dennis Mill (or shuttled to it and rode back, not sure) on Saturday, then ridden out-and-back on P3 the next morning. They'd just been ahead of me both days. I didn't even know he was up there, and somehow didn't run into him on either the trails, or milling around the property.

Just my luck.

All-in-all, I had a really great ride, and a really great time camping. I didn't have any of the problems that I've had on any past overnight. The sleep setup worked great. I feel like, with a winter kit on under my puffy clothing, I might even be able to use that same setup down to the low 30's. I'll give that a try at home first though.

Next time, I think I'll expand my cooking horizons a bit.

Looking forward to it already.