Late last month, after fully recovering from the covids, I felt like doing some actual mountain biking, you know, in the actual mountains. Oddly enough, I didn't feel like ripping singletrack. Rather, I felt more like just being in the mountains. The Winding Stair/Noontootla Loop came to mind, so I checked the weather - 10% chance of rain, nice, and headed on up to Dahlonega.
It took me forever to get out of town though, and there was, of course, construction on 400, so I ended up getting to the Mt. Zion Church lot later than I really wanted to. After some quick math, I realized that I'd definitely be coming back in the dark.
Hey, whatever... Adventure! Right?
Despite the 10% chance, it rain on me, off and on, on the way up, and it had apparently poured in that immediate area earlier. It wasn't raining when I got there, but man, IDK about that 10%. I feel like I was let down a bit by that prognostication.
As I was right about to start rolling out of the parking lot, like 10 riders came down Cooper Gap Road and continued on towards Camp Wahsega. I eventually noticed that they were all fairly young, like high-school age. I've seen tons of middle and high school teams practicing at in-town trails, but it was cool to see them up in the actual mountains.
It was pretty foggy on Cooper Gap Road.
I passed a few stragglers about halfway to the top.
It was foggier still across the top...
...and it rained a bit here and there, but never more than a drizzle. By that point, I was pretty well warmed up, and had already shed my windbreaker and arm warmers.
I saw a few cars parked here and there, in the various campsites along the ridge, and a few people were milling around, but it didn't look like anyone was actually camping. Honestly, can't say I blamed them.
At Hightower, I decided against doing the full Winding Stair/Noontootla loop. The roads were so soft and wet, it would take forever, and I didn't want to be out after dark in those conditions.
At Hawk Mountain, I hung a left and spun up to the top. The old roadbed looked pretty photogeneic to me, at the time, in a spooky sort of way.
Everything up there had that spooky haunted forest vibe to it.
Even the daffodils.
The grassy patches were trying to turn green, but it wasn't quite late enough in the season yet.
Couple more weeks, maybe.
So far, I had mostly been climbing. There were a few short descents, but nothing long or very steep, except for the drop down to Hightower Gap. Coming down off of Hawk Mountain was fairly steep, and I just got sprayed, all the way down. It was going to be one of those days.
I spun up a couple of little kicks over to Winding Stair Gap, and encountered a group of like 20 or more riders there. They were a pretty diverse group though. Didn't look like a high school team or anything. I kind-of wanted to stop and see what they were up to, but they all seemed to be pretty busy. Like maybe they were just starting their ride and still getting ready, or something. IDK, I didn't totally understand.
The descent down Winding Stair felt like getting sprayed with a firehose, or maybe like sandblasted with wet sand. Lord. I had to stop near the bottom to dig as much dirt out of my eyes as I could.
I look a little dirty in this photo...
But, I swear it doesn't do it justice.
At the old game check lot, I saw a guy who looked like he was finishing up his ride. I didn't see anyone else for the rest of the day though.
At Montgomery Creek, I hung a left, and spun that loop. I figured if I wasn't riding the whole Noontootla Loop, I might as well throw in Montgomery for a couple of extra miles.
The little channel-beam bridge had been restored.
Last time I was through there, it had gotten yanked over to the opposite side of the road and was aiming downstream.
Montgomery Creek was uneventful, except that I got blasted and sprayed just that much more on all of the downhills.
I eventually arrived back at Mt. Zion...
...feeling pretty fulfilled with the day's Adventure.
Yeah, now the pictures kind-of do it justice:
It had been a long time since I'd gotten that dirty, and it was honestly pretty fun. I wouldn't want to do it every day, but once in a while is great.
I didn't actually know how dirty my face was, at the time. I mean, I knew that I was dirty, but I didn't know HOW dirty. I took that picture, but I didn't look at it, and I didn't really look in the mirror, I just changed clothes and hit the road. I even got gas on the way out, but the guy behind the counter at the gas station didn't look at me funny. It wasn't until I got back in town, stopped by the local pizza place and went into the bathroom to clean up that I could really see it. It was all dried on by then too.
Lots of fun.
In Dahlonega, on the way out, I noticed lots of Forsythia at the local high school.
It's spring for sure - Daffodils and Forsythia. I was lucky to get that shot too, it comes and goes pretty quickly.
Heh, I also noticed the Sims Gold Nugget Lodge on the way out.
I've seen it a hundred times and never thought much about it, but I know a lady who's last name is Sims now, so it struck me as funny.
Huh, huh.
Yeah, that was about it. Pretty good day, all things considered. Novel fun. My bike was as filthy as I was, and took multiple passes to get clean, but hey, even that's fun sometimes.
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