georgiapinhoti.org

 

Thank you all for coming and for those that wanted to but couldn’t.   We covered a lot of material and a lot of ground

in a very short time. We had great participation and interest from the NFS, Murray County Government, Murray County

Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia State Parks, the Conservation Fund  and our on GPT BOD.  Please send me any

additions that I might have left out of these notes. I didn’t take notes I am just shooting from the hip.

 

We walked the property with an emphasis on the Conservation Property to the east of the Vann House.  We had some

very good discussions  among various members of the group but I think the one that will move things forward was between

Andrew Schock and David Ridley.   They will be scheduling a follow up meeting to put a plan together for the property in the

next couple of weeks.  Dick Barnes mentioned that if we hurried we might be able to get in before the dead line of March 31^st

for some major funding that might get the shoulder and the little bridge widened on Alt 52 between the 4 way and the

Conservation Fund Property.  Dick also said he would meet me this week to look at the exact spot to put the access for the

entrance to the big filed off of Alt 52.  After walking this we all agreed it would be much better to cross 225 by the Vann House

Gate  instead of at the 4 way.  After a discussion later in the evening with Jeff, the Vann House Manager and the Farmer,

David, the best route for the Pinhoti across the field would be the shortest most direct that  follows an old access road in the

field right up the center.

We discussed the Dennis  Mill / Rock Creek Connector and how  to  proceed with it.  There is about 2.5 miles of trail flagged

from Dennis Mill Rd to the gaited NFS Road.  About 1 mile of that is on a tract acquired by the Conservation fund.  There

have already been a lot of man hours put in down there by Marty Dominy, Larry Wheat, Larry Thomas, other NFS personnel

and some of our NWGA SORBA folks. Marty has put in a huge effort down there, actually building  about 100 yards or more

of bench cut trail and considerable chain sawing. Larry Wheat is working on finding us somebody with the right equipment to

build our mile  section.  He has 3 alternatives.  I committed NWGA SORBA to donate at least $1000 for fuel and maybe up

to $2,000.  I also said we would find them a place to stay if they needed to overnight while they are working on it.  I asked

Diana Rowe if she could get some rooms comped and if that doesn’t work out we will get some NWGA folks to put them up

or maybe Mulberry.  If we can get this mile of trail built to sustainable levels for bikes and horse on this type of terrain for this

kind of money I will be very happy.  David said the county is still willing and able to build the parking lot for us.  We think it will

be the last thing we do down there not the first.  Andrew is going to get me some release forms and I am planning to take a

group of community service people in there in April  with loppers and hand tools to clear and define the route.  I will take a

chain saw.  The NFS is sending the public scoping letter out for their part of the  project anytime now.  The biological study

has been done and Larry doesn’t expect any problems from the archeological study.  They are going to apply for RTP grants

to get the funds to build their portion.

 

Larry and Larry brought us up to speed on Dry Creek.  Most of the trail on west side of the creek is built and they expect the

contractor to be complete by the end of April.  There has been some discussion about having a grand opening on NTD in June.

This is a great project and hats off to Larry Wheat for grabbing this one by the horns and wrestling it down.  Also a great big

thanks to the NFS and Larry Thomas for having the vision and the work effort to make this happen.  This project is very special

and will be a great addition to our outdoor recreation opportunities on this district.  I believe it is 25 more miles of multi use

sustainable trails right on the Pinhoti.

 

We spent some time talking about how the Pinhoti can have a positive economic impact on the local economies that it touches.

This Dry Creek Project is one type enhancement that will give locals a chance to capitalize on it with local camping,  stables and

events.  The Pinhoti is starting to serve as a long green way across the northwest corner of the state tying  and bringing

communities together.   We are making a significant contribution to the quality of life in North Georgia.  The Snake Creek Gap

Mountain Bike Race Series,  the Broken Ankle Ultra Trail Marathon, and the Trans Georgia Mountain bike Race are bringing

national attention to our trail system.

 

We had some  discussion about some organizational  issues involving Friends of Parks in Rome and Floyd County and the Simms

Mountain Trail. Larry Madden and Mike Leonard are working this one.  There is still a bridge out on the Simms Mountain Trail

due to vandalism.  I will try to get down there and blaze a detour around it.

Marty brought us up to speed on the Great Eastern Trail with a focus on the routing through Chattanooga, and Point Park on

Lookout Mountain. We had some discussion around leasing the Conservation Fund Properties until we can resolve ownership

over the next couple of years.  Andrew and Mike are going to work out the details.

We didn’t do any administrative work like elect new officers.  I figure we will just keep rolling as we are unless you guys want

to have a recall. You folks are indeed a pleasure to work with.  I am blown away by your dedication and expertise.  I don’t

know how we all found our way to this board but I am glad each of you did.

 

Rick

 

 

More Chief Vann House and Rock Creek Pictures Here!

 

 

 

The Trans North Georgia (TNGA) is a 350 mile mountain bike route through the mountains of North Georgia on trails, forest roads and paved
roads featuring challenging terrain, beautiful scenery and over 56000 feet of climbing. The route utilizes the Pinhoti Trail, almost exclusively
from its Eastern Terminus to Simms Mountain.

Starting in 2004, it took nearly 4 years to come up with the route. One of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to get from Bear Creek
to Dalton. There were several options, but they all included long stretches of either pavement or gravel road. Fortunately, the sections of the Pinhoti
connecting Bear Creek to Ramhurst were also completed during that time, providing a direct, singletrack-heavy route through that region.

The TNGA route begins at the South Carolina border on Highway 28, in Rabun county, the northeast corner of Georgia.
For the first few hundred miles, it winds through Warwoman, along the Tallulah River, over Trey Mountain, over Hogpen, along Duncan
Ridge, over Stanley Gap, and up through Cashes Valley, mostly following forest service roads, jeep trails and pavement, but punctuated
with short, challenging sections of singletrack. At Dyer Gap, the route picks up the South Fork Trail, followed quickly by the Pinhoti.
It diverges a bit, sending riders down Bear Creek rather than Mountaintown, but otherwise follows the Pinhoti all the way to Simms
Mountain. From there, riders take about 4 miles of pavement to the Alabama border on Highway 20.

While very scenic, the route is also very difficult, featuring more climbing per mile than other routes of its kind. The
climbs are long, the descents are technical, offering little opportunity for recovery, and the elevation profile is misleading. A rider
might be tempted to think that the route eases up west of Dalton, only to get there and find themselves on the Snake Creek Gap Time Trial
course.

In 2008, David Muse led a series of group rides along the route, during which, he, Russell Sandidge and Travis Knight completed
all sections.  In May of 2010, Daivd Muse, Johnny Garner and Norma Rainwater completed a contiguous ride-through. With the help of Mulberry
Gap, MTBCast, Trackleaders.com and Rick Moon of NWGA SORBA, the Trans North Georgia Mountain Bike Adventure was held in September of 2010.
Eighteen riders from seven states challenged each other to complete the route. Twelve riders succeeded. All twelve broke the previous course
record. Eddie O'Dea finished first and holds the current course record. Hopefully the TNGA Mountain Bike Adventure will become an annual event
along the lines of the Colorado and Arizona Trail Races out west.

Information on the route, including maps and gps data is available at:

TNGA Route Information

Information about the TNGA Mountain Bike Adventure is available at:

TNGA Event Information

 

By David Muse

 

 

 

Pinhoti Trail Opens New Connector Trail By Larry Wheat I suspect that most readers are unaware of, and certainly have not ridden, the regional Pinhoti Trail portion that lies on an old railroad bed west of Rome and south of Summerville, GA.  The Friday and Holland sections of the Pinhoti share these 12 miles with the Simm’s Mountain Trail.  Equestrians, fat-tire bikers, and hikers enjoy this flat, all-weather surface trail.  Until now it has not been used by many equestrians because parking and easy access were not available.  That has changed and now this location is expected to see more use, especially by equestrians.    The railroad bed trail is about one mile from the US Forest Service High Point trailhead that provides considerable equestrian rig parking space and toilets.  Going north, the Pinhoti Trail crosses through the parking lot and climbs the adjacent mountain, then goes northward toward Dalton and east to the Cohutta Mountains.  Hopes of riding south from the trailhead were realized when The Conservation Fund purchased 242 acres of private timberland that lies between the Forest Service trailhead and the railroad trail.  This was done to provide an easement for the Pinhoti Trail.  A Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association (GPTA) volunteer designed a connector trail and other local volunteers cleared brush and some trees.  On April 6, 2010, the initial trail tread cut-in was completed using a mini-excavator generously donated and operated by Dr. Ken Humber, of Humberland Guest Ranch near Waleska.  This provides a safe dirt surface trail that allows equestrians (and others) to park at the High Point trailhead and ride to the railroad trail.  Essentially, this opens about 12 miles of trail to equestrians.  I have ridden both the connector and the railroad trail, and recommend this ride for everyone.    The photo above shows Dr. Ken cutting in the tread on rather flat land.  Much of the new connector is flat pine woods.  The photo below left shows that there are also some hills in the trail, mainly as one approaches the railroad trail.           The resulting tread path is about 4-feet wide as shown here.                               The High Point trailhead is shown to the left, and two riders on the railroad bed trail are shown on the right. Now that you know about this new riding opportunity, your question may be “How do I find the High Point trailhead?”  Here are the directions:   Directions to High Point Lookout Parking Lot on Georgia Highway 100 This location is about eight miles south of Summerville (GA) on the east side of state highway 100.  Hwy 100 runs north-south near the Alabama border.  From Rome you may go west on state highway 20 to highway 100, then go north several miles.  You will see the parking lot and a large sign that contains “Pinhoti Trail Parking, Chattahoochee National Forest.” For those driving from the north or east, you may get on US 27 and drive to Summerville.  In Summerville take Georgia highway 100 south about eight miles and look for the parking lot sign on the east side of the highway.    This is a large parking lot with plenty of room for many large horse rigs.  Pit toilets are available.  There is not any water source at the trailhead.

Snake Creek runs out of a mountain gap in North Georgia.The gap is famous for being the pass that Sherman snuck his army through on his way to the final battles of the American Civil War. This gap is now becoming known for battles of a different kind. The first Saturday of the months of January, February and March the Northwest Georgia Chapter of IMBA/SORBA holds a time trial series in this gap. This event started off in 2005 with about 50 riders. It has grown every year to this year’s total of 380 riders.

Why would people come in these numbers to Dalton Georgia in the middle of the winter from 15 states and Canada to ride mountain bikes? This race is put on by mountain bikers for mountain bikers. We know what we like and try to give the best we can to our riders. The series is held on the IMBA Epic Georgia Pinhoti Trail with two distance options: 17 or 34 miles. Both are point to point. The 17 milers start at the halfway point of the 34 mile distance which is right in the middle of Snake Creek Gap. There are 2 mountains in the first 17 mile segment and 4 in the second.

The course gets progressively more technical over the last 8 miles on Hurricane Mt. and Rocky Face Ridge. The trail runs right on the razor back edge of these mountains with views off both sides. It is beautiful but you better not take time to enjoy the view. The riders are racing to the finish line at the North Georgia Trade and Convention Center a stones threw of I-75 at Exit 333 in Dalton. This is where they registered and left their cars.

The riders and their bikes are shuttled to their starting lines. It is an awesome sight to see 300 bikes loaded on trailers and trucks. The riders are taken in buses, vans and cars. It looks like a big mountain bike parade when they rollout of the parking lot. They are started and timed individually in true time trial format. The times are kept for the 3 events and your best time counts. The entry fee is for the series. It is your choice how many times you ride it. We run it in some pretty harsh conditions. In six years we have never called it due to weather. The weather down here can be anywhere from 20 to 65 degrees. I think we had it all this year.

The awards are given out at the big party after the March run. A good time is had by all. Usually by March Spring is breaking out and it is a great way to get a jump on the riding season. Money raised from the event goes to support mountain biking in Northwest Georgia. The local Boys’ and Girls’ Club helps us with the shuttle buses and we help them with their mountain bike program. They have 50 mountain bikes and a trailer to haul them. We are helping them build a pump track on their property and donated $2,500 to the cause this year.

You can see the results of this year’s event on nwgasorba.org.Watch the pictures scroll across the top of the home page and see what we are about.

 

 

Rock Creek at Dennis Mill in Fall of 2009

 

 

Update from the GPTA BOD The Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association (GPTA) Board of Directors (BOD) had their bi-annual meeting in Cave Spring Georgia Saturday, February 20th. The board officers are listed on the web site (www.georgiapinhoti.org). The main function of the board is to coordinate the efforts of various stakeholders toward the development and maintenance of the Pinhoti Trail in Georgia (PT). Since the PT in Georgia is a multi-use trail we have board members representing hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians. The entire Pinhoti Trail stretches from central Alabama to the Benton MacKaye and is over 330 miles in length at this time. The Georgia section is about 155 miles long. In addition to having BOD representatives from the users groups we have geographical representation along the route as well. We have two directors from Dalton, one from Murray/Gilmer Counties, one from Rome, and one from Summerville. We also have two from around the state and one from North Carolina. We move our board meetings around the trail route. Cave Spring is the southernmost city on the Georgia portion of the PT. It is a quaint little town with a great “Trail Town “ feel. We have purchased some very nice metal trail signs for guiding users through the city limits of Cave Spring. The PT is a great trail in its own right but it also is a part of several other trail systems. It serves as a link from the Appalachian Trail (AT) to the true end of the Appalachians in Alabama. It accomplishes this by linking to the Benton MacKaye Trail which in turn links to the AT. It also serves as a link in what is informally called the Eastern Continental Trail that links trails from Key West, Florida across the United States and Canada. Several people a year attempt this journey made famous by M.J. Eberhart aka the Nimblewill Nomad in his book Ten Million Steps. The Pinhoti will also serve as a leg of the Great Eastern Trail (GET) that is now under development as a north-south route west of the AT that links to trails in the Finger Lakes region of up-state New York. The PT will serve as a link to the AT for the GET as well as being a part of its route. At the BOD meeting we discussed several of our more pressing initiatives. Larry Wheat has been spear heading an initiative to build a multi-use trail system off the Pinhoti at Dry Creek on the Walker and Chattooga County line. He is working closely with U.S. Forest Service personnel. Several user groups have agreed to help with this project. There is over $100,000 of federal money involved in this project. Parts of it will be contracted out and parts will be built by volunteers. This is a beautiful tract of land and will be a great asset for equestrians, hikers and mountain bikers to enjoy. The Conservation Fund has been very active behind the scene securing important tracts of land for us to improve the PT and get it off of some of the roads. They have recently acquired 3 tracts of land to this end. I will talk about these from south to north as this is the way most through hikers walk the trail. One is right across from the PT parking lot on GA Hwy 100. This is allowing us to build about a 1.5 mile connector trail to the Simms Mountain Trail that will eliminate a little over a mile of road walking on GA Hwy 100. We have this route roughed in and voted to spend enough funds to get a volunteer with a mini excavator to push in the trail. We will need volunteers later this year to do finishing work on this trail. This and the Simms Mountain Trail will offer about 14 miles of almost flat hiking, biking, and horse riding. It is the easiest section of the entire Pinhoti and is very family friendly. It is also just a couple of miles from Sloppy Floyd State Park with cabins and camping facilities. Another Conservation Fund project is adjacent to the Chief Vann House in Murray County. The PT is linked to Sloppy Floyd and Fort Mountain State Parks by connector trails. The PT currently goes right by the Vann House. This new addition links this beautiful state historic site to the other state properties. The Conservation Fund acquired land to the east of the Vann House. We have plans to route the PT off of ALT 52 across Vann House property and this new property to the east crossing ALT 52 at the Moravian Cemetery and through Spring Place on its way to Dennis Mill where it reenters the National Forest. The next project made possible by The Conservation Fund is at Dennis Mill. Currently the Pinhoti enters the National Forest via Peeples Lake Road. This is a dirt road that is open to automobiles. We have been trying for years to get the PT off of this road and into the woods around Dennis Mill. We now have that opportunity. We are currently working on a trail between Dennis Mill and Peeples Lake Road. We have done some preliminary flagging and hope to start construction on this project in the next 2 years. Our intent is for this to be open to horses, bikers and hikers. This should be a boon to all the user groups but I think given the horse loving nature of Murray county it will really be special to them. This is going to require about 3 miles of trail to be built over some very tough terrain. It will open up about 9 miles from Dennis Mill to Baker Branch at the foot of Fort Mountain. We will have plenty of opportunities for volunteer work on this section. These three land projects are in addition to the several hundred acre tract that The Conservation Fund secured several years ago at the Georgia/Alabama line southwest of Cave Spring. That allowed for development of a 2.7 mile trail corridor for the Pinhoti Trail that leads from the state line to the trailhead at Jackson Chapel Road in Polk County. The GPTA BOD is a very active and dedicated group. We do a lot of behind the scenes work and as I said we try to facilitate action from our stake holders. If you would like to make donations you can do it on our web site. You can also make donations to The Conservation Fund on their web site. If you are a member of an organization that would like to get involved with the PT please contact us. If you would like to join a group that is already involved with the PT you can find a list of them on our web site. Happy Trails to You Rick Moon President Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association

Our Mission To promote, develop, and maintain the Georgia Pinhoti Trail System that: Connects major long-distance trails in Alabama to the Appalachian Trail via the Benton MacKaye Trail, and Enhances user value by connecting to and supporting establishment of local official trails The Association advocates safe, environmentally sound multi-use trails shared by hikers, equestrians, and off-road bicyclists. Our activities are completed in close cooperation with the trail volunteers and various land managers, especially the U.S. Forest Service.