North Georgia Trail Riding

andy29847

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 14, 2019
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500
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29847
My wife and I took our first trip away from home since the virus crisis started, We camped at Tallulah Gorge State Park near Clayton, Ga. This is a great spot for Jeeping because of the numerous forest roads in the area. We did our wheeling on the weekdays because the weekends were slammed with people. It was good to be on the road again. I'm looking forward to a more normal life. We took pictures and made movies. You should have been there!

Here's how we roll
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We Wheeled with friends from Florida who had a JL Unlimited.
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We maintained social distance
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We saw wild animals
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We enjoyed fine food
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There were some things we'd rather forget
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But the beauty of nature triumphed at the end of the day.
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More to come!
 
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I love my TJ, but my friends 2019 JL is nice enough to give me second thoughts. They are both musicians, and their Jeep nose art features a bar of music from John Coltrane's "Giant Steps"
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I would not have thought that this color Blue would be so attractive to me. Red is faster, but this Jeep is pretty.
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My friend said that when he was car shopping, he didn't know why he wanted a Jeep. He says he knows now, Wheeling is fun!
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David and Val are not shy about getting their Jeep dirty.
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We had wet and dry weather on our trip. When it rained, it poured (for 3 days). The forest roads in North Georgia do OK in the wet. The puddles get a little deeper, but the bottoms are firm. The one spot nearby where everybody takes pictures is crossing the Tallulah River.

Day 1, the Sun is out, the water level is normal.
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You clever guys will notice that my wife is backing up here.
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Giant Steps loved the water.
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Here is a movie from the last day. The surf is up, but not scary.

My wife, Suzy, has always been supportive of my hobbies. She seems to like the Jeep and riding the trails better than anything else we have done. In fact, she likes to drive, but only when the going gets tough. I have to drive on all the smooth gravel roads, on the paved roads in between the sections, and all the easy stuff. When the trail gets intertesting, she wants to drive. She likes being in the movies too. :) Woe is me.


This is the Tallulah River downstream from the ford. It's beautiful here.
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More to come!
 
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The forest roads for this adventure are the same ones found on the Smokey Mountains 500 route. I developed (with the help of friends) a 3 day motorcycle tour nearly 10 years ago. I shared the route via ADVrider and then Facebook. The route has grown in popularity each year. When I bought a Jeep, I shared the same route on some jeep sites. The a short while later, I modified the motorcycle route into a 5 day overlanding route. Here are the Facebook links:

We be riding: https://www.facebook.com/groups/698628080200070/

We be Wheeling: https://www.facebook.com/groups/293131404384213/

When I am out the trail, I get excited when I see others who are there because they are following one of the routes. I saw 2 groups of motorcycle riders last week. One group stopped where we were taking lunch so I got a good photo and some names.
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The other motorcycle photo was the 2nd of 2 guys. We met them as they were coming up the hill on Hightower Rd which is challenging for riders on the big adventure bikes (steep, gullies, rocks, wet). I couldn't get them to stop :) I caught the 2nd rider as he passed by my window.
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There was one more noteworthy sighting during my trip. One one of out trips across the mountain, we found a truck stuck in a mud hole. It was a ford 350 with dual rear wheels and a flatbed body. The guy was obviously just screwing around because he chose the hardest of several routs through the low spot in the road. Nobody was there so I guess he (couldn't be a she, right?) walked out. We went back the next morning and the truck was gone.
I'm thinking he had the wrong tool for the job.
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This is the next morning from the opposite direction. The truck was stuck on the far left. You can see he was looking for a challenge when he picked his line.
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On the west side of the section that most people call Charlie's Creek, there is a respectable hill. The pavement of Hightower Road ends, and a dirt road starts there at the bottom of the hill, and and climbs for a mile. At the top of the hill, you cross the Appalachian Trail. The road was rebuilt 4 or 5 years ago, and was easy for a while. It is starting to revert to the gnarly, rutted, rocky road I remember from my first time up the hill. It's great fun in a Jeep.

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Looks like y’all had a great time.. thanks for sharing😃
 
Whew! almost done. The last day we went out for a morning ride, and were planning on using the afternoon to pack up the campers. David was in the lead, and suggested that we explore a side road that I had not been on before. I had seen a group of Jeepers turn that way earlier in the week, so we went for it. It was a good forest road. The brush was grown in on the sides, so it was tight. It went up for the first 3/4 mile and then started descending. On the way down, we started running into mud holes. Red Georgia clay mud holes. One thing I learned racing motorcycles was to hate mud holes. Red Gerogia clay mud holes are among the worst. At the first mud hole, we all got out for a survey. David and both girls wanted to go ahead. I was ready to turn back. I was out voted. We got through without any trouble. Then we reached a second mud hole. David and my wife thought we could make it. David's wife and I were ready to turn back. We went ahead. We got through without any trouble. Then we reached a third mud hole. David and both girls thought the hole was too deep. I was fully invested by this time and wanted to go ahead. I told David I was certain he could make it. Just wait a minute before he started, I wanted to get my camera. :) We got through. The road ran out to a neat little camping spot by a creek. We had a snack there and headed back. We had to go through all three mud holes again. We made it. Jeeps are tough!

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Planning
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We're going in deep.
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David says, "No way!"
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Banzai!
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Movies!! Grab your Popcorn.



Thanks for following along on our adventure. You should have been there!
 
Wow, that's some serious mud!

I hate mud more than anything, but at the same time, I love to watch people (not me) get stuck in it and get through it.
 
Wow, what an awesome trail. I would have been good up till the mud parts. LOL
 
Awsome pics and vids, thank you for sharing. I wish I lived out that way. Looks like great times for sure.
 
Ive taken the family on this trail several times over the years. Its always a great time. Fairly easy trail that a stock jeep can do with just a few sections where its nice to have another jeep close by to pull you out if needed.

I have noticed that these trails used to be rarely used but now if you go on a weekend expect to have a lot of company on the trails with you.

I really need to get a GPS where i can map out my trail like that pic you posted.
 
Ive taken the family on this trail several times over the years. Its always a great time. Fairly easy trail that a stock jeep can do with just a few sections where its nice to have another jeep close by to pull you out if needed.

I have noticed that these trails used to be rarely used but now if you go on a weekend expect to have a lot of company on the trails with you.

I really need to get a GPS where i can map out my trail like that pic you posted.


I've been riding in the area for a long time. It was almost all motorcycles until 4 years ago when I got the Jeep. I have a 5 day 500 mile route laid out through North GA, Western, NC, and East TN for wheelers. Charlie's Creek is the highlight of the ride. Most of it is easy peasy. You need to get that GPS.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/293131404384213
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