Ocoee- Chilhowee Ride-September 12, 2015

First… no motorcyclists were harmed in the making of this ride report (only a minor bike “owee”)…

Saturday morning, Sept 12^th, six riders met for a beautiful ride to TN along the Ocoee river and Chilhowee Recreation Area – Mel (Larry’s coworker), his neighbor Dave, Mark, Larry, Paul and his friend, Bob F. Although cloudy and muggy heading to our start in Ball Ground, we could just begin to feel the season’s first real cold front pushing in refreshing, dry air.

Similar to last month’s ride, we took the back roads up through Tate, Jasper, and Ellijay for a leisurely trip to Blue Ridge. At Blue Ridge, we’d earned a seat break (again at the world’s busiest McDonalds), but when we parked, where’s Paul? I saw him just two miles back. Phone rings, “Hey, I think my battery is dead”. Bob and Larry head back to Paul and push start him easily, but suspected his bike wasn’t charging. He made it to a gas station a mile down the road, but it didn’t have enough juice to run consistently. We called a local shop which came out and jumped started him. So Paul and Bob headed to the nearby shop for further diagnosis (and an early return home). With Paul in good hands, the remaining four continued.

It had been too long since I’d been to the SE corner of TN and had forgotten what a nice ride TN 64 is along the Ocoee river (for car or bike). The road is wide, well-paved, and not too twisty to prevent us from enjoying the beautiful river and mountain views. The river seemed almost continual white water and numerous rafters and kayakers  were making the most it. After the 20 mile stretch of white water, we came to the Chilhowee Recreation Area where we looped around the east, north, then west side. The east side, Hwy 30 - Greasy Creek, is very comparable to Wolf Pen Gap, but in denser shade and less traffic – very enjoyable! The north stretch was similar. The west side was straight and empty roads providing an open view of the Chilhowee mountain area on our left.

The Ocoee Dam Diner was an enjoyable lunch stop with good menu and service. Since we were running behind schedule, we passed on heading to the top of Chilhowee (with its renowned vistas – another time!) and headed back to Blue Ridge and another helping of Ocoee river views! At the east end of the rafting stretch, we enjoyed the scenic Boyd Gap pullout for a view of the Big Frog Wilderness, headwaters of the Ocoee.                                                       

Once we hit Blue Ridge, it was the fast lane home down 515 / 575.

Mileage 240. It was a great ride and we hope to see you next time!