Thursday, February 04, 2010


Getting There
From Dahlonega, Georgia head West out of town on Hwy 9.  Take a right onto Hwy 52, and then 4.6 miles later take a right onto Nimblewill Church Road at the old Grizzle's Country Store.  Pass the Jake Mountain parking lot sign, but take a right at the Bull Mountain sign.  Continue right up FS 28-1 (don't take the left towards the Bull Mountain Trailhead) and drive until you reach the fork of FS 77 and FS 28-1.  Park somewhere around there. Google Maps interactive trailhead locations

The Route
Pick up the Bull Mountain Trails map (red) printed by Milestone Press as your crucial navigational resource. Also, the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map #777 is awesome as well, and great for navigating all of the forest roads in the greater Blue Ridge WMA area. The actual length of the singletrack being ridden, if done all the way from the junction with No Tell at the top, is about 2 miles.





 There are two main options: Climb straight up FS 77, and either drop in at the half way point near the junction with Jones Creek Ridge (for about a 2, 2.5 mile ride), or continue climbing all the way until you see a forest road (which is the end of No Tell) split off to your right.  Turn down that, and then hang a right onto the Turner  Creek singletrack for about a 4, 4.5 mile ride. 

Or, from the parking spot, go right up FS 28-1, ride past the end of the turner creek trail, all the way up to the beginning of No Tell (223P).  Ride No Tell back across and down and hook up with Turner Creek for the final singletrack run. This would be approximately a 5-6 mile ride.

From the bottom of the Turner Creek Trail, turn right on what is FS 28-1, and go up and down a couple of hills (overall climbing) back to your car to complete the loop.

About the Trail
In my honest opinion, this section of singletrack running down from No Tell, and down along Turner Creek is the best-quality singletrack in the entire Bull Mountain and Jake Mountain network. It is definitely some of the narrower trail in the area.  The majority of the Bull Mountain network isn't true singletrack at all.  Rather, it is a series of old, neglected road grades that has degenerated into singletrack.  It doesn't have the beautiful, narrow appeal of genuine singletrack.  Turner Creek, however, is a gorgeous piece of trail!  It is an excellent downhill, contouring along the side of the ridge with some undulation along it's length, which allows it to drain better than most of the trails in the area, and has kept it from getting worn into a big rut.  Ridden the other way as a climb, it isn't too steep to be ridable, and is still enjoyable.

If I can, I try to work Turner Creek into whatever ride I am doing out in the Bull Mountain area.

Video




 The Rest of the Trails in the Bull / Jake Mountain Network:

Rides on this trail:
http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com/2010/02/lazy-rider.html
http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com/2010/02/brand-new-brakes.html 
http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com/2010/02/pedaling-for-balance.html 
http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com/2010/02/sunshine-makes-all-difference.html 
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/07/movie-night-friday-flight-crew-update.html 
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/07/friday-flight-crew-update.html 
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/07/airborne-zeppelin-elite-mountain-bike.html
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/06/friday-flight-crew-update.html
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/08/piling-on-miles-friday-flight-crew.html

Originally published on GregRidesTrails.com in 2010.
Monday, February 01, 2010


Getting There
From Dahlonega, Georgia head West out of town on Hwy 9.  Take a right onto Hwy 52, and then 4.6 miles later take a right onto Nimblewill Church Road at the old Grizzle's Country Store.  Pass the Jake Mountain parking lot sign, but take a right at the Bull Mountain sign.  Take a left on the next FS Road, and follow it all the way up until it dead ends in the parking lot. Click here for the trailhead's Google Map placepoint

The Route
Pick up the Bull Mountain Trails map (red) printed by Milestone Press as your crucial navigational resource. Also, the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map #777 is awesome as well, and great for navigating all of the forest roads in the greater Blue Ridge WMA area. The route involves several turns, but on a map it is a pretty apparent loop. There are several different options to shorten it, if you so desire..  I seriously recommend picking up the little red map, and doing the longest loop (around the outside) and riding it counter-clockwise.   

All About the Trail
Bull Mountain is one of the most popular rides in all of North Georgia, and it is easy to see why. This 11 mile loop holds some of the steepest and most sustained climbing you'll find in Georgia, and really anywhere. Climbing, however, is useless without a good drop back down the hill, and Bull Mountain has an awesome one! Some of the sections of downhill are wide-open cruisers. Others, are loose rock garden slides. Still others, a gnarly drop fest down a steep, washed out gully where you just need to abandon the breaks and ride the bull! One of the things that I could wish for on this loop would be a straight climb, and a straight descent. When descending down the back side of the loop, the trail drops for a ways, then climbs back up a little, then drops a whole bunch more, then a hike-a-bike climb looms at you...  a nice, no peddles descent would be blissful. But as it is, the Bull Mountain gnar is some of the most enjoyable anywhere!

The Bull Mountain ride really delivers the feel of remoteness. While many of the other trails in the area are constantly criss-crossing fireroads, Bull Mountain really makes you feel like you're further out there.  With creek crossings a-plenty, hike-a-bike climbs, and gnarly descents... it is most assuredly an epic ride.

The only real displeasure I derive from this loop is the lack of singletrack. While, sure, it does have a lot of singletrack, it also has a lot of fireroad climbing. What singletrack there is, maybe 60-70% of it is not true, narrow singletrack. The vast majority consists of old road grades that have degenerated into basically a singletrack line.  While it makes for fast, ripping descents, it leaves much to be desired in epic-quality singletrack.


Update:
02/19/2011
The Bull Mountain Trail system is getting a face lift. Changes include a major reroute of the main Bull Mountain trail. The descent is still very sweet, but gone is the gnarly washed out trench and in its place is a much more sustainable path of narrow singletrack.


Bottom line:
Near Dahlonega and looking for a ride that is "out there" with steep climbs and gnarly descents? Ride Bull Mountain.

PS: "Bull Mountain" is the general name covering all of the mountain bike trails in Dahlonega, Georgia.

The Rest of the Trails in the Bull / Jake Mountain Network:

Video



Shredding Bull Mountain from Greg Heil on Vimeo.

Video review of one of my favorite rides, combining this loop and the Jake to Bull Connector Trail:




Other Rides at This Trail
http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com/2010/02/riding-for-living.html
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/05/week-of-contests-win-some-schwag.html
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/07/from-gnarly-to-flowy-friday-flight-crew.html 
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/07/lots-of-stuff-in-mix-friday-flight-crew.html

Originally published on GregRidesTrails.com in 2010.
Monday, February 01, 2010


Getting There
From Dahlonega, Georgia head West out of town on Hwy 9.  Take a right onto Hwy 52, and then 4.6 miles later take a right onto Nimblewill Church Road at the old Grizzle's Country Store.  Pass the Jake Mountain parking lot sign, but take a right at the Bull Mountain sign.  Continue right up FS 28-1 (don't take the left towards the Bull Mountain Trailhead) and drive until you reach the fork of FS 77 and FS 28-1.  Park somewhere around there. Google Maps interactive trailhead location

Alternatively, park at the turn off from FS 28-1 onto the actual trail. 

The Route
Pick up the Bull Mountain Trails map (red) printed by Milestone Press as your crucial navigational resource. Also, the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map #777 is awesome as well, and great for navigating all of the forest roads in the greater Blue Ridge WMA area.  



Ride up FS 28-1 about 1.8 miles, hang a left onto No Tell Trail  #223P (doubletrack). Take the highest route, and follow the doubletrack high along the ridge, ignoring any trails dropping down to the left.  Ignore those trails until the upper route has a sign saying no bikes allowed, with a singletrack splitting off downhill.  This is the No Tell Trail, and is a great downhill!

It feeds into another FS road/doubletrack trail. Hang a right, and ride over to the upper beginning of Turner Creek.  Descend down Turner Creek all the way to FS 28-1, and hang a right, back up to your car. This creates a maybe 6-7 mile loop.

About the Trail
It begins with a section of steep doubletrack climbing that towards the top tends to really test your resolve.  The singletrack descent is absolutely bomber!  Great descent, and the loop described above works the entire Turner Creek trail into it, creating one heck of a ride!

Rides on this trail:
http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com/2010/02/lazy-rider.html
http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com/2010/02/brand-new-brakes.html 
http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com/2010/02/pedaling-for-balance.html 
http://gregridestrails.blogspot.com/2010/02/sunshine-makes-all-difference.html 
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/07/movie-night-friday-flight-crew-update.html 
http://www.gregridestrails.com/2010/07/friday-flight-crew-update.html

Originally published on GregRidesTrails.com in 2010.

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