PT2 - OHV Parking to I-75

[Gambit McCrae]

Now that the Sheltowee is complete I have moved on to the Pinhoti! I had completed the first trip to the Pinhoti back in 2020 when a trip to the ST was not feasible and now I will be completing the Pinhoti routinely on trips as I have time for them as I did the ST. Originally I pictured alternating the BMT with PT trips until complete but for not I think I will stick with the PT at least for a while. Perhaps if it becomes mundane I will flip to the BMT for a while but for now, its full push on the Pinhoti.

Okay trip 2! What to say....lol Road walking is what this section is ALL about. I began this trip about 4pm Friday at OHV trailhead off of peoples lake road. It is a nice forest service road that is has been pretty well maintained both times I have used it. I was dropped off by Ron Brown who had picked me up at my car on the north side of Dalton, GA. Friday evening I made it about 6.4 miles to a nice creek side campsite. The next morning I had about 1.8 miles of trail before hitting the road. This would be the last time of the 34 mile trip that I would have trail to walk on.

From Dennis Mill Trailhead to 1 mile north of I-75 this is a 26 mile total road walk, a lot of which has no shoulder and no suitable off road path...lots of nasty ditches and overgrown road side. I just walked the white as much as I could, and when large vehicles passed with oncoming traffic, I would step off into the weeds and wait for them to pass, then get back to it.

There was a 1 mile section of trail just south of the Chief Vann House that detoured from the highway thru overgrown, unmaintained trail that consisted of at first a poison ivy covered trail, and then transitioned into powerline weeds knee high. If I had known it was that over grown I would have just stuck to the highway as it was the same highway on both ends of trail here.

TICKS. More ticks than I have every found on a hike. I pulled about 6 off of me, and had to have pulled over 40 off Lori.

There were zero loose dog issues on this section.
After walking 23 miles Saturday I ended up 5.5 miles short of my car, and found myself in one of my least favorite predicaments. Where to camp. I was in town, and after miles of scanning the road side for a stealth spot for the night I had found nothing that suited my fancy. I reluctantly pitched my tent behind the dollar general at the corner of Tibbs Bridge Rd and Airport Rd. This is one of my least favorite activities...Tenting in public. I made the best of it and had some gas station dinner followed by babysitting myself until the sun went down. After dark I only had 1 visitor who was nice enough and moved along.

The next morning I was up at 6:15am and on the road by 6:45am. I got myself a coffee and continued on to the car about 5.5 on down at the McDonalds on I-75 where the trail crosses.

This was not a "fun" trip. My GSP Lori went with me as she always does and her road walking skills proved to be spot on. She walked directly behind me with very little correction through out the day. The ST was a great teacher for her as her first long trail completion, and she showed off what she has learned on this second Pinhoti hike.

The best part of this trip was all the gas stations I passed. Saturdays high was 90, and although it never felt really miserable, who doesn't like an ice cold Gatorade and slushy every few miles?
The road side trail community was very nice, I had a few people stop to ask if I needed anything, and a couple home owners asked if I needed anything as well. That was a nice feeling.

If someone is not dead set on completing every mile of the Pinhoti, I would strongly discourage walking from Dennis Mill Trailhead south to I75.

[Slugg]

It’s all smiles from here!

Lol, not exactly. While the longest, I would consider it the second-worst (or best ) of the Big 3 Roadwalks on the Pinhoti.

[Gambit McCrae]

Slugg - Yeah I was studying that earlier...Looks like I have a 20 mile down close to the AL/GA state line, and a 16 mile down close to the southern terminus.

Curious if you could rate all 3 from worst to best and why? Curious what could be worse than the one I just completed lol i guess the same conditions but with no sodiepops along the way? lol

[Slugg]

I would rate the one heading into/out of Cave Spring and outside of Rome in GA as the worst. The Dalton roadwalk at least had sidewalks on the part going through town with all the gas stations/restaurants/hotels. The Rome roadwalk has virtually no sidewalk. You pass a few gas stations on the northern end of the Rome roadwalk but no fast food and no hotels (I don’t think) so that’s another plus to the Dalton one. While the roads are similar, I would say I saw more cars on the Rome one. Some of the Rome roadwalk is on 4 lane highway in the country and people go FAST. I’ve also heard more reports of bad dog encounters along the Rome roadwalk but didn’t have a problem with dogs on either myself. It feels like the locals are least-familiar with hikers on this roadwalk.

The AL one I would rate as the “best” as in the least traffic and it feels like the locals are more accustomed to hikers than in GA. My experience with traffic on all 3 is largely dependent on day of the week and time of day of course.