A Late Pre-Christmas Ride--January 14, 2017

They finally got to ride most of the route planned for mid-December, and were lucky; no ice, no snow and Spring like temperatures

Seven riders (Dave, Steve D.,Dennis, Garrett, Richard, Tad and Bob S.) took off from Hickory Flat heading, in a round about way, to Amicalola Falls State Park and lunch at the lodge. The route there passed through areas of near forgotten names such as Holbrook, Ducktown, Heardville and Hightower, then onto Kelly Bridge Road and Lovelady over to the Foothills junction near Big Canoe.

After a brief stop at the Chevron the group rode east to take in the scenery in the Sweetwater-Juno countryside. Soon they made their way to the Bailey Waters intersection with Ga 52 and from there over to Amicalola Falls State Park.

In past years motorcycles entering the park for lunch at the lodge were waived through the park's entrance without paying any fee. While still a free entry the attendant insisted on filling out a temporary permit for each motorcycle. The cars behind were not pleased.

The steep ride up to the lodge showed signs of heavy sanding of ice from last weeks ice-snow storm. Its doubtful if any guests made it up (or down) for a day or two. Lunch was being served when they arrived. They were lucky to find a table for seven near the massive windows overlooking the forest. During weekends there is no lunch menu but rather a well stocked food bar. No one complained about the food but the price was a surprise. In past year's the tab was somewhere under $10 but now it's somewhere around $17 unless one takes advantage of the various discounts (senior, annual park pass, veteran) that bring the tab back to were it used to be.

After lunch the group was hooted out of the lodge by a very vocal owl that was part of the Raptor Show put on by the Park Rangers. Back in the parking area a few of the guys looked over the new zip-line facility. It doesn't appear to be as extensive as the zip-lines they previously enjoyed over in Lula but it may be a nice addition to a future ride to the park.

After leaving the park the group rode over to Ga 136 then over the mountain to Grandview (the lake is almost empty) then Ga 53 past the marble buildings in Tate to pick up Fincher Road going south toward Waleska. Before entering Waleska they turned onto Pleasant Valley Road and rode to its end at Salacoa Road. A quick mile east on Ga 140 brought them to the twisty Little Refuge Road adjacent to Lake Arrowhead, that ended back on Fincher. They headed south, but before reaching Ga 20 they took a slow and respectful ride through the Veteran's Cemetery. This is nicely done, a credit to the builders and the Canton man who donated the hundreds of acres necessary for its construction.

From there it was a short ride home (except for Tad) and the close of a great day on two wheels.