Atlanta can be an expensive city if you follow the crowds; a visit to the Georgia Aquarium will run you $35, Turner Field can be $25 a pop, even the World of Coca Cola will cost you $15. Well then its a good thing that the best things in Atlanta are free.
Silver Comet Trail
The Silver Comet Trail is a bike path that extends for 61 miles, starting from Smyrna, Ga and ending in Alabama. The Tuesday afternoon I visited, the trail was sparsely populated with joggers, walkers and bikers. Here’s a recap of my experience.
If you don’t own a bike, you might visit the Silver Comet Depot which is on the 4.4 mile marker of the trail. The Depot is a bike rental with a selection of trendy and well-maintained bikes ranging from $10-$16/hr, I choose the Comfort bike, which is a cruiser, Nicole went with the Milano, a hybrid.
The trail is a paved bike path with a good balance of tree cover and open sky, it avoids crossing any major roads or housing communities and passes next to golf courses and parks. Starting from the 4.4-mile marker our goal was to make it to the 10-mile marker before returning. My phone’s GPS gave us our speed, although it couldn’t always maintain a signal, biking at 6 mph felt like a good leisurely pace.
Close to the 8-mile marker, around the time we were close to finishing our first bottle of water, we started to see a curious road sign that seemed to indicate the location of a hand water pump. Like the kind you’d expect to find in developing countries, or Texas. Intrigued, we followed the signs down a diverging side path, thinking we’d fill up the water bottle with hand-pumped untreated ground water. Do not follow these signs, there is no pump.
We made it to the 9.8-mile marker and found a bridge overpass to camp under. I packed a cream cheese pastry from a Shell station, Nicole packed healthier, a homemade PB&J sandwich.
On the ride back, we had 30 minutes to ride 5.4 miles to make it back before 2 hours were up. Riding at 10+mph in 90 degree Atlanta heat proved to be challenging. We kept pace by trying to catch the speedsters on road bikes or racing to the fence up ahead, neither of which I would recommend on a cruiser style bike.
End Notes:
For an additional experience, consider taking Concord Rd if you’re heading back to Smyrna from the Depot. About a mile into the drive you’ll run into a covered one-lane bridge, the kind I’d only seen before in movies.
Shoot the Hooch
The term Shoot the Hooch refers to floating down the Chattahoochee river. Tubing is not an activity one would usually associate with a city, but tubing down the Chattahoochee from Marietta down to Smyrna is a great way to spend an afternoon in Atlanta. I didn’t want to risk taking my digital camera or smartphone with me on this, so I don’t have any pictures.
End at Paces Mill (3).
Start Floating at Johnson Ferry (1) for a 6 hr trip or Powers Island (2) for a 3 hr ride.
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So, here’s what a group of 6 Auburn IEs did on a 92 degree Saturday afternoon to Shoot the Hooch. Donuts shaped tubes are $15 at Dick’s Sporting Goods, we had 8 in total, 6 for people + 2 for beer & snacks. You’ll also need a pump, because blowing tubes up yourself is exhausting. Park a car at location 3, and drive a car to location 2 or 1 to cast off from. We were in for the long haul, so we set float from location 1. We tied our floats together with rope. The first 2 hours were lazy-river-esque; peaceful, quiet and liberating from technology. We hit the first white water challenge a little after 2 hours, and were back dropped to shiny office buildings and condos for the next 2 hours. Around the 5th hour we came up to a cliff which you could climb and jump-off of. The last hour was difficult, because we were tired and out of beer.
End Notes:
Bring more beer than you think you’ll need and have some road trip games in mind.
