Up To The Highlands

The sun had just peeked over the horizon and the bank's clock said 7:15, temperature 29 degrees. The seven riders that had signed up for the ride to Highlands, North Carolina had dwindled to two hardy souls ( Steve, Bob S.) that were equipped for winter riding with heated jackets and gloves.

Their ride up warmed up through Dawsonville and Dahlonega but the ascent up Blood Mountain to Neels Gap brought the temperatures down again to the point that they scoured every nook and cranny of the store at Walasi-Yi looking for wool socks for one of their frozen tootsies. No such luck.

After warming up a bit they rode down the mountain past Vogel State Park to pick up SR 180 heading past Brasstown Bald to pick up SR 75 headed north toward Hiawassee. A turn east onto US 76 took them over to Clayton where they picked up Warwomen Road. Normally this is an excellent motorcycle road but this day they had lots of company. Not other bikes mind you but all types of slow moving contraptions; diesels pulling horses, horses pulling wagons, and that dreaded mountain road sight, Volvos with Florida tags.

SR 28 up toward Highlands was better until hitting the far flung city limits of Highlands itself, where the speed limit got lower every few miles until the riders finally crawled into town behind a line of cars. Highlands, a nice town in a beautiful setting, has gone the way of many towns  similarly blessed, by catering to the boutique and art gallery folks. The guys backed their bikes to the curb next to a Porsche Carrera (you get the picture) in front of Pescado's, the place to go if you like enormous burritos that are not vulcanized to their plate, and can actually be picked up and eaten. Hooray! Viva Pescado's

Out of Pescado's they headed east on US 64 looking for Buck Creek Road, a way around some of the expected congestion near the falls, allowing a one way run up through the Gorge and along the Cullasaja River to the major waterfalls. Buck Creek Road was a mixed blessing. It had the feel of a paved Forest Service Road, lots of tight turns, up and down hills in a remote area. The negative, it had been patched recently and the patches consisted of cut-outs filled with tar, topped with pea-sized gravel. Now all gravel or no gravel are both fine but loose gravel spilled on hard pavement leads to some interesting lateral tire movement, especially on switch backs. But it was fun and brought the guys on to US 64 just below the gorge and falls. The gorge were spectacular, the falls a disappointment. Dry Falls was very dry and Bridal Veil, where you can ride behind the falls, reduced to a trickle. Even Bust-Yer-Butt Falls (aka Quarry Falls) on the river was pretty tame, not worth a prolonged stop.

Coming out of the gorge area the guys bypassed Highlands by getting on SR 106 headed for Dillard, Georgia, also a great motorcycle road that had a bit too much slow moving traffic to be at its best. From Dillard they four-laned down to Clarkesville, picked up SR 115 headed back to Dahlonega and home about 4 p.m. Mileage round-trip from the start point (Citgo) 260 miles.

Although there were some disappointments the ride had many high points making it very worthwhile, a do-again perhaps in milder temperatures, or after a group buy of heated gear.

 Here's a video with some of the trip's highlights: