Old 25

[hubcapsc]

Scooter, me, I hope Frank Smoak, and as many other people who want to go are going to
go for a ride up and down the side of the Blue Ridge escarpment that runs across the top
of South Carolina on April 11.

I met Gary in Seneca this morning to scout out one of the possible roads that we hadn't
gone on yet.



The "unexplored" road is Old Hiway 25, which I'm sure I haven't been on in 40 years, my
father used to take us up there. What goes up must come down, so we came back
into South Carolina down Gap Creek.

http://tinyurl.com/c5q64h               <--- google map of old 25

I hooked the little camera to the center of the handlebars, between the riser clamps, and
had it look through the windshield (I cleaned the bugs off first). It worked fair, it shakes more
on the handlebars than it does on the crash bar, plus there's the windshield glare. Here's the
end of Old 25...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqo9LbaG_0U

Here's a short bit of Gap Creek road...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGgR7mNrZN0

These roads aren't as intense as some of the other roads we'll go on, like 276 and 178, but
they're still good roads to ride down...

I got home and Carolyn was shoveling... stuff... from the pasture, so I rolled on in there and she took this picture...

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Is this ride going to be a over-night ?

[flatsixrider]

All of that is in my back yard.  I have the 11th penciled in, hope it works out.  I knew nothing of Old 25 and might have to scout it out myself before then as it looks fun!

[hubcapsc]

Is this ride going to be a over-night ?

The next day (April 12) is Easter. The BBQ place at the end of the ride is 1 hour away (on good
roads) from the BBQ place in Blairsville where we split up on that Brasstown Bald ride. We could
find you a place to stay if you wanted to stay over on Friday night or Saturday night.

There's no such thing as "a central place to meet" up here in the corner of the Upstate.  I'm thinking
that this Barn on 11 near the Intersection of 11 and 25 at 10:30 or 11:00 Saturday morning is
a good "final" meeting up place. I will confirm the hours of the BBQ place at the end... I think
they open at 4:00...



http://tinyurl.com/c27jjb             <--- location of barn...

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

All of that is in my back yard.  I have the 11th penciled in, hope it works out.  I knew nothing of Old 25 and might have to scout it out myself before then as it looks fun!

Check out the color of the water at the reservoir...

-Mike

[Stanley Steamer]

couple, ok, a half dozen chilidogs at Skin Thrashers....they closed the one up in Cornelia, so I'm not sure which ones are left open??....

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLR_enUS203US309&q=skin+thrashers+anderson+sc

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Is this ride going to be a over-night ?

The next day (April 12) is Easter. The BBQ place at the end of the ride is 1 hour away (on good
roads) from the BBQ place in Blairsville where we split up on that Brasstown Bald ride. We could
find you a place to stay if you wanted to stay over on Friday night or Saturday night.

There's no such thing as "a central place to meet" up here in the corner of the Upstate.  I'm thinking
that this Barn on 11 near the Intersection of 11 and 25 at 10:30 or 11:00 Saturday morning is
a good "final" meeting up place. I will confirm the hours of the BBQ place at the end... I think
they open at 4:00...



http://tinyurl.com/c27jjb             <--- location of barn...

-Mike

Keep me in touch Mike I'll try to make this one.

[hubcapsc]

couple, ok, a half dozen chilidogs at Skin Thrashers....they closed the one up in Cornelia, so I'm not sure which ones are left open??....

I feel pretty sure the Anderson ones are still going. There's one in Seneca...

-Mike

[Stanley Steamer]

eat about a 1/2 dozen of those chilidogs again!!....darn the luck!!...

[Normandog]

I've ridden a hwy 25 in that area. Is there 2 of em?

[hubcapsc]

I've ridden a hwy 25 in that area. Is there 2 of em?

Yep, the one you rode and the old one 

http://tinyurl.com/c5q64h               <--- google map of old 25

I really enjoyed riding through the watershed on old 25, the color of the reservoir and the fact
that nothing's happened, no logging, no nothing, in the entire watershed for over 100 years,
it's a good road. Maybe we'll see you on the 11th...?

-Mike

[Probie (Scooter57)]

I plan to be there, I told a friend about it and he said he was there too. Have to try to hook up with Steamer for the ride over

[6jugzz]

Man i would love to be with youguys,but i will be in ken-tuc-key. gona see my mom for the weekend. but i did finally get to the top of sassafras mountain in sc last friday. some real nice roads back in behind and/or above table rock s.p. if u get a chance, ck. out grady fork rd. (nice waterfalls). have a good one!! and buy safety chrome!!!

[hubcapsc]

 * ck. out grady fork rd.

I see a glady Fork rd, connects to 178 around Rocky Bottom...

Does it go all the way through without turning dirt, or do you have to turn back?

http://tinyurl.com/cxvbpn    <--- google map of Glady Fork Rd.


-Mike

[6jugzz]

your right ---goes to 276, left to Bevard/right to Ceasar Head S.P. and back to Hwy 11. not a perfect road , but a good one. It forks off of  F Van Clayton which comes off of hwy 178. 

[Probie (Scooter57)]

How long does it take to get to the barn if I were to take Hwy 11 from the GA/SC line or is there a quicker way to get there?

[hubcapsc]

How long does it take to get to the barn if I were to take Hwy 11 from the GA/SC line or is there a quicker way to get there?

I recommend 178 instead of 11, this is what google says about the difference...

11:

http://tinyurl.com/dz2spw           <---- google map using 11... 3 hours 15 minutes

178:

http://tinyurl.com/c9tbk5            <---- google map using 178... 2 hours 39 minutes

I think a smarter final meeting place is the gas station in Cleveland, 5 miles away from the barn
I showed in the other picture. People will have that chance to gas up, there's even a little
grill at the Cleveland gas stop.

I went up old hiway 25 and down gap creek again on Monday, I had to go to Greenville anyhow.

I approached the start of old 25 using "regular" 25 through Greenville. 25 actually goes all the way
to I85, but anyone who goes that way will get hung up in miles and miles and miles of all the
sprawl of Greenville and it will take forever.

I passed two people getting speeding tickets on 11 in Pickens county.

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

Me and Carolyn just got back from Brasstown BBQ, the BBQ at the end of the ride.

We verified that they will be open on the 11th, they open at 4pm, and they are still
delicious... 

There's a google map of the route at the scvrcc web page:

   http://sites.google.com/site/scvrcc/

Leave the gas stop at Cleveland at 11:00 and get to the BBQ around 4:00 before they get too
crowded. There's food at the gas stop, and bathrooms.

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

The second leg of the ride will be up to Brevard NC from hwy. 11 via hwy. 276.

Here's a short clip of 276 yesterday:

276	powered by Aeva

Right after the above clip ends, we passed a rider down, lots of bikes stopped all around
in all the curves, a med-tech (or some sort of uniformed person) was present.

There's a lot of different kinds of activity up 276 and 178 on a nice Saturday, good places
attract people... we're all going to be careful and have fun on the 11th...

Here's what the gas stop in Cleveland looks like:



Cleveland = Echo Valley. There was a theme park, of sorts, named Echo Valley here when I
was a little boy.

-Mike

[Probie (Scooter57)]

it's gonna depend on the weather, how well my wife has gotten over whatever it is that's wrong with her or if she'll let me go without her. 





I really hate that too cause you guys would have probably taken that ride this past weekend but I asked you to postpone it till this Saturday because of my daughters wedding. I really hope I can make it, hate to have it turn out to be a crappy weekend and not be able to ride because of the weather.

[flatsixrider]

Echo Valley........   sounds interesting.

[hubcapsc]

it's gonna depend on the weather, how well my wife has gotten over whatever it is that's wrong with her or if she'll let me go without her. 

I really hate that too cause you guys would have probably taken that ride this past weekend but I asked you to postpone it till this Saturday because of my daughters wedding. I really hope I can make it, hate to have it turn out to be a crappy weekend and not be able to ride because of the weather.

The important thing is that Mrs. Scooter gets to feeling better.

The weather looks like it will hold out, if you can believe those extended forecasts... 

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

Echo Valley........   sounds interesting.

Your picture made me google Echo Valley...



  * Echo Valley was a Wild-West-themed business in Cleveland, SC at the intersection of Highway 276 and Highway 11 which featured staged
  * gunfights and other entertainment. These photos were found in an envelope marked "Poncho."

-Mike

[flatsixrider]

yup, that is what I did.  I was a bit of theme park junkie growing up, your mention of Echo Valley sent me on a google hunt also.  I would like a working DeLorean time machine as I would like to see all these little places in their heyday.