Hi everyone!!!
I'm trying to plan a little family trip to Fort Mountain the 2nd half of April. We plan to do some hiking (& geocaching) on Fort Mountain State Park & up at Lake Conasauga.

We also plan to break in our new bikes while we are up there. So I'd like some advice & opinions about which trails might be easiest (& safest) for 3 people who are used to cycling on FLAT ground. Oh yeah, keep in mind that 55 pounds of Chaos will be attached to MY bike.

According to what I've found online, there are 20 miles of forest service roads between Fort Mountain State Park & Lake Conasauga Camping area. I'm not sure if we're up to 20 miles there & 20 miles back on our bikes, but we'd like to bike more than just a couple of miles around the lake. I was wondering if we could drive part way & bike part way. Is there anywhere along the way where we could park the truck & head out on the bikes? Or should we just park at the Lake?

This won't help you with your question...but this is my story.

The fisherKings went camping at Lake Conasauga when Rainbow was(if I remember correctly)6-8 months pregnant with little Guppy. Gravel, bouncy, curvy road for 20 miles. She had to sit on a big ole pillow and have one on her belly. Real slow going. Had a wonderful time..we think it is a real nice area. Guppy seems to have turned out okay despite being all shaken up. She'll be 2 on Sunday.

-Sushi of the fisherKings

Fort Mountain has a lot of paved roads for biking, but I am not sure if you can go
on the trails with mountain bikes. I like the trails up there and have hiked them all.

I hate to say this but right now the roads to the top of the Cohutta Mountains are closed.
The winter has taken a toll on them and a Volunteer working weekend has been moved
to lower trails recently because of this. Here is the web page that give information about this.

Current Road Conditions -- Armuchee-Cohutta Ranger District, Chatsworth, GA

Here is the map of the closed roads:
(Conasauga Lake is by Grassy Mtn. Tower)

Can we park at the gate & bike the rest of the way to Grassy Mountain & Johnnie's Mountain View Cache? Or at least bike to the lake/campground & then hike up Grassy Mountain.

Or am I getting over ambitious? That would mean biking 10 miles, hiking 4 (easy miles according to the cache page) and then biking 10 miles back to the truck! But it really sounds like FUN to this Granny! Oh yeah, there's a benchmark up on Grassy Mountain too! I've gotta get up there!

That would be an interesting bike ride

Here is the profile from Holly Creek Gap to Grassy Mtn

quote:

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Originally posted by AllenLacy:
_That would be an _interesting_ bike ride_

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See.... that's why I posted my question here for the experts.
Anybody got a helicopter to get us up there?
I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed that the roads are reopened in the next 3 weeks.

I had hoped to have a picnic lunch at Johnnie's Not 2 EZ our first day up there. Best I can tell from my internet searches, that road is open. Anyone know any different?

(Rubbing my lucky St. Patrick's leprechaun until Easter)

looks similar to a few of the Tour de France profiles. Is Lance going with you?

FRANCE! - Did I say France? - I meant Tour de Freedom!

We had a picnic at The Barns Creek Falls today.
It was wonderful, the falls are pretty, and the weather was very nice. I give the NOT2EZ cache some TLC and added some new goodies.
All the roads in the Cohutta mountains are open and in great shape. Fun day in the hills.

quote:

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Originally posted by johnnie:
We had a picnic at The Barns Creek Falls today.
It was wonderful, the falls are pretty, and the weather was very nice. I give the NOT2EZ cache some TLC and added some new goodies.
All the roads in the Cohutta mountains are open and in great shape. Fun day in the hills.

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I'm SO excited about going up there, I started packing 2 weeks ago!
But I found a report (dated 2-5) that says they are draining Lake Conasauga. Anybody know anything about that?