What's north of Dahlonega?

Besides Tennessee? Actually, in the two years that Jenn and I have lived on the outskirts of Atlanta, we have never actually ventured north of where we live except to go into Dahlonega to hit our favorite Mexican restaurant. To my delight, Jenn and I drove up to Unicoi State park (map) after work last night so I could do little mountain biking. I might have been inspired by my brother in-laws recent post (Sam and David Infanger, and his recent post). SO, we got up there and I thought there were 6 trails to choose from and I had my mind made up to try this very easy 2.5 mile track to warm up. I couldn't figure out why it said it would take 2.5 hours to complete. I was thinking, "wow, this must be pretty hilly." These turned out to be hiking trails only. To my sad surprise the only Mountain biking trail was the one they used for Mountain bikers to train for the 1996 summer Olympics. The actual course that was used was located in Conyers, GA. That being said I was a bit worried that my first outing of the season might be an unforgiving one.





That was not the case. The course ran about 7.8 miles and I think I made a wrong turn that reduced it to about 4.5 miles. 4.5 miles was the perfect break in ride. It took about an hour and there were a couple of pretty steep climbs. The course itself was in great shape and a lot of fun to ride. It also splits off and you can ride to the nearest town, Helen. This town has a fantastic history. It was revitalized in the 60's and became an alpine themed German town in an effort to boost tourism. They hold one of the largest Oktoberfest's in the country. Click here for the complete chronology.





I look forward to my next adventure up in northern GA.
























Here are a couple of Pics from the evening...