At a loose end Sunday morning and the image of a BigAssBurger at Two Wheels of Suches was wafting, tantalizingly around my brain. That area just behind the eyes where such images are wont to appear. Those images that can also invoke a smell, a taste. An urge. I had a fever and the only prescription is more BigAssBurger.
Two Wheels season ends at the end of November and I need to get my fill of BigAssBurger before then.
Low humidity and reasonable temps encouraged me to remove my windshield.
I've not ridden without one for years and wondered what if anything I had been missing. I was to regret this as the day unfolded.
Northerly paved routes from Roswell to Dawsonville, Dahlonega and Suches are limited due to large swathes of forest. However there are a number of fairly well maintained forest roads that cut through the forests. Some involve stream or river crossings. I've used those routes before and had no inclination to get wet feet on this ride.
Before entering Dawsonvile forest I decide to use Steelbridge Rd to shave a few paved mile off my route.
Here is the structure that gives the road its name
I had to move the bike 3 times for passing vehicles before i could take the photographs.
Arriving at Suches the parking lot was sparsely filled which surprised me. perfect riding weather. I think that many were home watching football.
The BigAssBurger was all I had hoped for. Sorry no photo. I was so focused on masticating that any thought of photography was pushed firmly into a recess of my brain.
A short pause for digestion aided by a few minutes in a glider chair on the front porch and it's time to roll.
When I first arrived in GA in 1993 I stayed in a Dahlonega motel for a week and explored the mountains on foot and by car. One of the forest roads I drove took me past a fish hatchery. I had since ridden the same road on my ex KLR 650 a few times. it's well maintained and the fat tires on the Valkyrie would have no problem traversing the many bumps and lumps.
Fish hatchery Rd aka Rock Creek Rd is about 11 paved miles north of Suches and then about 5 miles along a forest road.
The Champiro rear tire is really good. I will not be using a bike tire again. It handles so well on paved road. On the forest road it does provide a little more comfort and soaks up some of the bumps.
https://www.fws.gov/chattahoocheeforest/Past the fish hatchery the road meanders along next to Rock Creek. A few of the wilderness camping sites are occupied. Some are between the road and the creek and prime spots during the heat of summer.
My plan is to follow Rock Creek Rd and turn off towards DoubleHead Gap Rd which would lead me back to paved roads.
I obviously missed the turn, so much for my memory because I recognize that I'm now on Appalachian Mountain Trail Rd. Oh well I can follow this (I hate going backwards) to another junction and follow that road back to Suches.
Well I missed that turn ass well. It's been a few years since I've been on these forest roads and that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Onwards and forwards.
The occasinal passing vehicle throws up a thick rooster tail of dust that hangs in the air. A thick miasma I have to ride coughlingly through.
I left Suches at 2.45pm. it's now 4pm and I've been chugging along at about 10-15 miles an hour. You do the mileage math.
The next landmark I do recognize is the parking lot for Springer Mountain. The southern tip of the Appalachian Trail and the Benton Mackay Trail
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springer_MountainMy right exhaust has started to clatter due to some the hanger nuts getting loose. I do have wrenches but don't want to have to lie on the dusty road. I stop a pickup and ask if they have some wire and am given a wire coat hanger. I wrap this around the exhaust and hanger and no more clattering.
Eventually I reach paved road. It's 5.21pm. Apart from a few short stops for a sip of water I've been chugging along for nearly 2 3/4 hours. About 30 miles of forest road.
I think that's got my offroad wanderlust satiated for a long while.
I sometimes miss the KLR.
