(Starting this post I'm doing something different. I'm not back-dating my post to the day it happened. I'm posting it when I post it, with the event date in the title.)
After returning from our two week of camping in Florida with the Mouse the next logical thing to do was to go camping again... To be fair, "camping" on-site in Disney World is on the far end of the comfort scale above almost anything but sleeping in a hotel room with cable TV. For a couple of weekend nights I took Jake and Chan to sleep in a tent near Piedmont to hang with friends and bike on the
Chief Ladiga Trail for a few miles.
We set up at the
Chief Ladiga Trail Campground. I have mixed reviews of the campsite... The website is pretty horrible at providing accurate information or anything vital like the cost. The site lists both "semi-primitive and full service sites available" but I can tell you for a fact that the only running water and power hook-ups are right next to the bathhouse and are being used by the person that is staying on-site. This is the same person that will answer the phone (on occasion) but not, we suspect, the actual owner.The "store" that is listed on the site as having "drink, snacks, supplies and souvenirs" was locked and closed and appeared to be mostly empty. Maybe it opens in the busy season? Of the information on the site, the most accurate is that for the bathhouse. These were some nice, big, clean and warm bathhouses. I have no complaints about the water temperature or the available room in the bathhouse. The sinks are limited, but the toilet and shower stalls are nice.
The actual camping sites are nice by the creek, but aside from three other sites and the area where we set up, shade is limited. Like I mentioned, water and power are not an option. The campsite was not bad, overall. If you were expecting something different or you weren't able to contact the caretaker on the phone, you might be in for a surprise when it comes to amenities.
We were charged $20 a night per family (per site). I'd love to find out what the other people that were staying paid for their sites. $20 for primitive camping, even with access to a bathhouse, is not super competitive but the guy is the only game in town.
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| This land shall be ours and we shall sleep in our sacks and snore |
The trail itself, I'm love with. The Chief Ladiga (if you didn't click the link) is 33 miles from Anniston, Alabama to the Georgia state line. From there it becomes the
Silver Comet Trail. The whole thing is paved from end to end and is relatively flat considering it's built on mostly train beds.
Along the way are several bridges of different designs and construction.
A few local businesses have sprung up to support the heavy bicycle traffic on the trail. The picture below is of a "snack shack" that was closed during our trip but other places like
Cottonmill Krawfish Bike Shop seem to be doing well.
That night we worked out a few issues with our gear (prepared for electricity, not so much for campfire) with the help of our friends and souped and dined.
On Friday we biked about 7 miles round trip but after a night of cooking out and huddling around the campfire we headed into Piedmont for a proper lunch and a more extensive ride on Saturday.
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| I'm screaming because my butt is sore |
Along the way we paused (coming and going) at the
Eubanks Welcome Center that is just off the trail and extremely welcoming to bikers.
This was our lunch destination, the
Solid Rock Cafe. They serve a verity of sandwiches and deli food. I've found they get fairly high marks at
Urban Spoon and favorable reviews through
Google+. I have no complaints about the food and the price was a bout what I expected. I think the size of our group (5 adults, 5 teens and 5 younger kids) kind of overwhelmed them and we did accidentally manage to arrive in town in the middle of a celebration of sorts... there was a little waiting but it was a beautiful day and once the orders were straight I think it turned out just fine. We found the most room for our squad on the courtyard out back. Bonus- we could smell the barbecue being cooked past the alley and across the street.
The street was shut down all around the deli and there was some sort of town festival happening that we just sort of walked all the bikes in to. Nobody seemed to care and everybody was friendly. I thought it was odd that no other bikers were stopping in town.
After wandering around and looking at old cars we all sort of took to the trail in groups- the kid group and the not-kid group (with two in tow). I took the time to find a handful of geocaches on the trail with some help from some of the adults. The kids had expressed interest in looking with me earlier but it was the grownups that came through for me in the end. It can go either way.
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| There was a geocache on this bridge |
The next morning there was a consensus among my clan we headed out before bike riding could happen to our delicate bottoms. It's been a while since any of us have done any lengthy ride and were were on borrowed bikes that were not specifically sized to us. Having the bikes there to use was awesome, but our backsides were done for the trip and we skipped out on the next ride. Sadly, we missed biking to the state line (which would have been cool).
Thanks to our two families of friends that helped us cook soup and get hot water as well as let us borrow three bikes and the helmets. Thanks for the beverages and the conversation around the fire, it was a great trip to come home to after Florida!
Thanks also to my wife who opted to stay home with the one sick kid and let me have the adventure with the kids this time.
All the pictures from the
17th and
18th.
