desteig
12-30-2008, 02:32 PM
Folks
Lori and I have been making plans for a spring time mountain biking road trip to Chattanooga Tennessee and I think we have come up with the final plan. The trip is planned for April 3-6. We plan on leaving the local area by 3:30 am (Compromise between Lori and I) so we can arrive in the Chattanooga early enough to get in a ride in that afternoon. Either Saturday or Sunday will be dedicated to the Raccoon Mountain trail system. We are planning on camping in the Cherokee National Forest which is actually 50 miles from Chattanooga but the big plus camping here is there is over 30 miles of SORBA maintained trails in the park and from what I have read it sounds like some good riding. Things to consider for this outing is fitness and skill levels. In case you don’t know Chattanooga sits in a valley surrounded by the Smokey Mountains. I have never ridden off road in the area but I have done 3 State 3 Mountain many times and I can tell you what we consider hilly they consider flats. There is no flat land in the area just hills and mountains. Also April in the mountains could still be sort of cool or even cold at times. The first year I did 3 State the temperature was 38 at the start but was 80 by noon.
Accommodations; Our plan is to camp and if we get enough interested folks to camp I am planning on getting a large tent that will sleep at least 6 comfortably. According to camp rules each tent requires its own campsite. If you are adverse to camping in the mountains in April and would like more civilized and modern accommodations you would be responsible for making your own plans and travel arrangements. I myself am looking forward to walking out of the tent, grabbing my bike and have 30+ miles of SORBA maintained trail accessible without cranking up the van to get there. For the folks that are willing to camp we will work out travel arrangements as we get a good idea of who is going and how many vehicles it will take to get us all there. Attached below are links to SORBA and the Cherokee National Forest. The trails we are concentrating on are Raccoon Mountain and the Cherokee National Forest – Tanasi (Campground Location). Thunder Rock or Chillhowee Campgrounds is where we want to stay. Both offer flushing toilets and hot showers. This is also the location of the Atlanta Olympics white water kayaking and there are many outfitters available if you are interested, I myself am going for the mountain biking.
Please if you are interested let me know as soon as possible. Lori and I are in for sure and I plan on reserving our camp site by the end of January. Looking forward to allot of great riding with friends. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.
http://www.sorba.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=71 (SORBA Tennessee Trails)
Cherokee N. F. - Tanasi <http://www.sorbachattanooga.org/trails/trail_guide.php?state=TN&trail=2>
OCOEE RIVER Recreation Zone <http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee/recreation/roz_socoee.shtml>
Dan
Lori and I have been making plans for a spring time mountain biking road trip to Chattanooga Tennessee and I think we have come up with the final plan. The trip is planned for April 3-6. We plan on leaving the local area by 3:30 am (Compromise between Lori and I) so we can arrive in the Chattanooga early enough to get in a ride in that afternoon. Either Saturday or Sunday will be dedicated to the Raccoon Mountain trail system. We are planning on camping in the Cherokee National Forest which is actually 50 miles from Chattanooga but the big plus camping here is there is over 30 miles of SORBA maintained trails in the park and from what I have read it sounds like some good riding. Things to consider for this outing is fitness and skill levels. In case you don’t know Chattanooga sits in a valley surrounded by the Smokey Mountains. I have never ridden off road in the area but I have done 3 State 3 Mountain many times and I can tell you what we consider hilly they consider flats. There is no flat land in the area just hills and mountains. Also April in the mountains could still be sort of cool or even cold at times. The first year I did 3 State the temperature was 38 at the start but was 80 by noon.
Accommodations; Our plan is to camp and if we get enough interested folks to camp I am planning on getting a large tent that will sleep at least 6 comfortably. According to camp rules each tent requires its own campsite. If you are adverse to camping in the mountains in April and would like more civilized and modern accommodations you would be responsible for making your own plans and travel arrangements. I myself am looking forward to walking out of the tent, grabbing my bike and have 30+ miles of SORBA maintained trail accessible without cranking up the van to get there. For the folks that are willing to camp we will work out travel arrangements as we get a good idea of who is going and how many vehicles it will take to get us all there. Attached below are links to SORBA and the Cherokee National Forest. The trails we are concentrating on are Raccoon Mountain and the Cherokee National Forest – Tanasi (Campground Location). Thunder Rock or Chillhowee Campgrounds is where we want to stay. Both offer flushing toilets and hot showers. This is also the location of the Atlanta Olympics white water kayaking and there are many outfitters available if you are interested, I myself am going for the mountain biking.
Please if you are interested let me know as soon as possible. Lori and I are in for sure and I plan on reserving our camp site by the end of January. Looking forward to allot of great riding with friends. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.
http://www.sorba.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=71 (SORBA Tennessee Trails)
Cherokee N. F. - Tanasi <http://www.sorbachattanooga.org/trails/trail_guide.php?state=TN&trail=2>
OCOEE RIVER Recreation Zone <http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee/recreation/roz_socoee.shtml>
Dan