Biking the Silver Comet Trail, Smryna Georgia to the Alabama border

 

• Date Biked: March 14-17
• Posted Mileage 61.5
• Total miles Tracked:  122
• Type of Trail:  Paved rail-trail
• Conveniences:  Nice trailheads, good signs, plenty of bathrooms and picnic tables near trail
• Best Features:  Great surface, access to downtowns
• Worst Features:  Busy road crossings, though all with lights. Also, "Surprise Hill." 
• Wildlife spotted: Hawks. Turkeys. 
• Vegetation:  Hardwoods, pines, wildflowers
• Associated Website:  https://www.silvercometga.com/index.shtml
• Primary Author: James

I don't know if anyone ever looks at the labels we attach to these posts, but for this one we're introducing a new label: Vacation Destination. A lot of the trails we've written about are near where we live, and they are perfectly fine trails. But, no one is going to take off a week to ride, say, the Thermal Belt Trail in Spindale. Vacation Destination Trails need to be long enough to justify hotel stays (or camping), plus several days exploring them. Of trails we've already written about, the Greenbriar Trail in West Virginia is in this category. Also the Tammany Trace in Louisiana, and the New River Trail and Virginia Creeper in Virginia. 

Our latest vacation destination trail is a twofer. The longest continuous paved rail trail in the eastern US is the combined Silver Comet Trail (Georgia) and Chief Ladiga Trail (Alabama.) Combined, they offer nearly 100 miles of riding. Some bikers might be tempted to race along the whole length in a single day, but we took our time, taking photographs as we went and spending a little time in the towns the trail passes through. We planned to do the whole trail system as out and back rides from different trailheads each day, over five days. Fortunately, we'd built in a buffer for a rain day, because, yeah, it rained. A lot. 

The first day, there was enough sun to cast shadows...

...by midweek, we counted this as dry. 

The nice thing about rainy day rides is that it does tend to thin out the crowds!

We did get nearly perfect weather for our first day, when we started at mile 0 in Smyrna and rode to Hiram, logging about 29 miles round trip. It was a Sunday, sunny and warm, and the trail was crowded! As often happens on popular greenways, there's a tension between serious bikers out to race as fast as they can and whole families leisurely meandering along the trail with strollers and leashed dogs. As avid bikers, Cheryl and I get annoyed by families spreading out to cover the whole trail, but even more annoyed by bike racers who treat a mixed use trail like an interstate. Our ability to really enjoy the ride was offset some by witnessing numerous near collisions. Still, we finished the first day excited by the potential of the trail. The surface of the trail was excellent, there were bathrooms, parks, and even a bike shop along the route. We also liked that each town we biked into had their own customized trail signs. We did find the mile markers on this section odd, since they aren't placed at any sort of regular intervals, so that you might have a mile marker 3.9, but no mile marker 4. It's more quirky than annoying. 

Mile 0.0 is the last obvious mile marker you'll see for a while.

Trailside bike shops are a great feature of any serious rail trail. 

The towns along the route all seemed proud to be part of the trail. 

The next day we biked from Hiram to Rockmart, a round trip of 45 miles. This section leaves behind the more populated sections of the trail, taking you through forests and farmlands, and through the Brushy Mountain Tunnel. Rockmart welcomes you with a lovely small town center and ample places to sit at a picnic table and enjoy a long break. We expected some crowd-thinning on a Monday, but were surprised to find ourselves alone mile after mile on this section. But, we were riding in the face of an oncoming stormfront. We lucked out and made it back to the car before getting too much rain. After two days, we'd already knocked out so much of the Silver Comet, we started to think we'd maybe finish it the following day. 

The caboose in Hiram is actually a sheriff substation. An officer patrolling the trail on bike was very helpful.

Many of the trail heads had little libraries, so I could mix a little business with pleasure, seeding Georgia with my books! And thus began the legend of Johnny Dragonseed.  

Right on the verge of spring, little flowers were peeking up everywhere. 

Brushy Mountain Tunnel. 

Then, the rains came. We hung out in the hotel as long as we could stand it, then headed back to Rockmart for a short afternoon ride in between bands of the storm. We only logged 16 miles on day 3, but this turned out to be a lucky break. Past Rockmart, the Silver Comet stops following a former rail bed, and turns into a hilly ride next to a highway for several miles. It's got enough climbing to be a real workout. We'd gotten our bikes tuned up before the trip, a good thing because we did a lot of gear shifting, and really needed our brakes as steep downhills lead to road crossings directly off a highway. That said, in the parts of the trail where you get away from the road, this section is lovely, with rolling farmland along both sides of the trail. We got behind a pair of wild turkeys grazing on the margins of the trail and they took off running down the greenway ahead of us, so we had escorts for about a mile before they finally veered off into the woods. We got back to the car soaked, but pleased with our progress. 

Our final day on the Silver Comet, we parked at the visitor center in Cedartown. It was strangely devoid of information about the trail itself, but has all the trailhead essentials like bathrooms, water, parking, and a place to rest. It was still raining, but we headed east to Grady Road, where we'd stopped the day before. The stretch immediately west of Grady road is the infamous "Surprise Hill." It's very steep, but the worst is behind you in probably a quarter of a mile. We got back to our car as the rain died off and changed into dry clothes. We weren't finished! From Cedartown, it's only about 10 miles to the Alabama border, so we were determined to knock that out. Fortunately, after the challenging landscape between Rockmart and Cedartown, the ride to the border is once again a true rail trail, flat and straight for most of the ride, and through farmlands well removed from any traffic noise. There's a nice archway at the border between Georgia and Alabama, where the Silver Comet meets up the the Chief Ladiga Trail. You can read about our adventure riding that trail here! 

The cows looked at us like we were crazy to be out in this weather. 

The finish line! But only for Georgia! Another state awaits! 

All in all, the Silver Comet section of our ride was a grand experience. This is a well designed trail with a lot of support from the surrounding communities. There are any number of great day rides possible, and if you wanted to attempt the full distance purely on a bike, there are campgrounds and other places to stay along the route. There are numerous restaurants only a few blocks from the trail at many of the towns you ride through. There aren't many other trails that offer the same freedom to just get out and ride as far as your legs can take you. If you love biking, the Silver Comet should definitely be on your bucket list. 

Biking the Chief Ladiga Trail, Anniston Alabama to the Georgia Border

 

• Date Biked: March 18-19
• Posted Mileage 32.5
• Total miles Tracked:  66
• Type of Trail:  Paved rail-trail
• Conveniences:  Great visitor center in Piedmont, parks and benches at various points on the route
• Best Features:  Talladega National Forest, Elevated Grounds Coffee House
• Worst Features:  A few busy road crossings 
• Wildlife spotted: Hawks. Turkeys. 
• Vegetation:  Hardwoods, pines, wildflowers
• Associated Website: https://alabama.travel/places-to-go/chief-ladiga-trail-eubanks-welcome-center
• Primary Author: James

The Chief Ladiga Trail follows the same rail trail corridor as the Silver Comet, and the two trails combine into one long supertrail that makes a great destination for anyone who loves biking. We'd spent four days riding the Silver Comet before we tackled the Chief Ladiga, and were a little worried our growing exhaustion would dampen our enthusiasm for this trail. Not to worry! The Chief Ladiga may be the shorter of the two trails, but it's an amazing ride with unbeatable scenery and plenty of trail side conveniences. 

In theory,  this trail could easily be tackled as a single day 65 mile ride. The Chief Ladiga is a nearly perfect rail trail, with only a few road crossings that you'll need to stop at, and mile after mile of straight, flat, paved surface in excellent condition. But why rush the experience? We divided the ride into two days to take our time and enjoy the scenery.

On the first day, we headed from Piedmont toward Anniston. This takes you through the college town of Jacksonville. The surroundings are pleasant, but for most of the journey you're never far from a highway. After a few days of rain, the clouds were lifting and we had a little company on the trail, though it was never crowded. The Anniston end of the trail has a campground and park with picnic tables and bathrooms. There are a few mild grades, but the whole trail is easy biking that could be tackled by anyone without ever shifting a gear. 

Flat, straight, and a heck of a lot of it. 

Even though we got a little sunshine, it was windy, and we were cold  by the time we got back to Piedmont. Fortunately, the bathrooms at the visitor center in Piedmont have a welcome feature that more trailhead bathrooms need: benches inside that make it convenient to change your clothes and shoes after a long ride. The visitor center staff was very friendly, and there were even some trail cats that make their home there and were happy to greet us. 

I apparently didn't get a picture of the trail cats! But, here are some flowers made from sprockets. 

A few blocks from the trailhead we found the Elevated Grounds coffee shop. Again, the staff here was extremely friendly, and the pastries under glass at the counter were quite welcome after five hours of biking. They also do sandwiches, wraps, and breakfast bowls, so we knew exactly where we'd be eating breakfast on our return the trail the following morning. 

After breakfast on Friday morning, we headed toward the Georgia line. This takes your through the Talladega National Forest, and feels like a completely different trail. A few miles outside Piedmont you leave civilization behind and start climbing a long grade up into forested mountains. The grade is never really strenuous, but you'll definitely feel it. Trestle bridges offer excellent views of the river that winds through the area. We found the ride somewhat reminiscent of sections of the Virginia Creeper Trail in Virginia, though much less congested. 

One important similarity to the Creeper is that, once you finally reach the Georgia line and turn back, that long continuous grade you just came up turns into a stress-free glide back through the woods. Since we were on our sixth day of our combined Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga ride, being able to coast a significant portion of the way back to Piedmont made for a nearly perfect ending to the trip. 

Cheryl and I stayed in Rome, Georgia for the trip, choosing a single hotel for the week and a lot of driving to various trailheads over the hassle of packing and unpacking at a different hotel every few days. If we return, we might consider bikepacking since there are nice campgrounds adjacent to the trail. However you approach it, this trail will reward your time and effort!