Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Georgia, Cloudlands State Park

Cloudlands Tour, Day 4

Dog went for me in parking lot



Hike-in campsite








State: Georgia
Date: 2022-04-13
Route: Cloudland Connector Trail to Hinkle road and then to Long Branch Creek
Distance: 20 miles

Sunday, April 10, 2022

Kentucky, Mammoth Cave

Cloudlands Tour, Day 1

Winter is almost over in Chicago. Somewhere south Spring has arrived. Time for a road trip!

Perhaps troubled by fact the I had only ridden the minimum of ten miles in Georgia, this road trip's destination was Cloudlands State Park in northern Georgia with stops in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.



PLS: Muscatatuck NWR, Wood Duck Trail (4 miles)

After a stretch-the-legs ride and lunch in Indiana. I arrive at Mammoth Cave National Park. It's still early, so I immediately unload my 29er hardtail. The national park's mountain bike trails are on the other side of the Green River. The Green River has no bridge. Instead it operates a ferry until 6pm. Should be plenty of time to get some mountain biking in.

Green River ferry 

Ferry lean



Mammoth Cave NP has some nice single track





But the concrete picnic tables are the worst

When I camped here with Mona and the kids many years ago, we found a strange albino grasshopper. It wasn't until years later that I realized the albino grasshopper had wandered out of the cave system. Cave inhabitants are often albinos because color is useless in a cave. 


O'Hara's Nitro Stout paired with homemade spaghetti

Bike route through Mammoth Cave N.P.

Next stop, Prentice Cooper State Forest.

State: Kentucky
Date: 2022-04-10
Route: Mammoth Case NP: Campground to Big Hollow North Loop mountain bike trail
Distance: 12 miles