Mountain Bike Ride - Tanasi Trails

We were about to head back down to Atlanta, when Dusty called us late Sunday afternoon and asked if we wanted to go for a mountain bike ride. We headed down to Brush Creek trail towards Boydd Gap. We had just done it recently on our Hybrids, but this time we got a chance to borrow some real mountain bikes from Dusty at Raft One.

Since it had been raining all weekend, the trail was covered with puddles and mud, making some of the turns a little dicey. Neither of us could keep up with Dusty and Brent has they screamed in front of us. Instead of doing the 7 mile trail directly to Boydd Gap, the brothers took us along a side track that took us closer to the lake but was still a 7 mile loop. It was an excellent introduction to Mountain Bike riding.

This is the general area

If you are ever in the area and want to rent some bikes and get some advice on which trails are best for your skill level, the guys at Raft One have great information on mountain biking on the Tanasi Trails as well as whitewater rafting on the ocoee.

Ocoee White Water Rafting

Second Weekend of April. Spring is here. Last weekend was 75 degrees and beautiful. Last Tuesday it dropped below freezing and snowed. Today we went white water rafting anyway.

We have had our cabin now almost 4 months and have really been looking foward to doing some white water rafting. Last weekend we saw rafters and decided that it was time to try it out. I found some websites and started doing research because I always like being well prepared.

We found a company http://www.raft1.com/ and spoke to Dusty. He was so nice and helpful. He assured us that we would not be cold. Last night there were some crazy storms, tornado warnings and power outages. I was afriad it was going to rain out our trip. This morning we got up, had breakfast, and saw the clouds and wind. We were beginning to get worried and Dusty emailed us and told us if we still wanted to go we would have a great time because the water was higher than normal. We chose to go. We knew we would be cold, but figured we could just come back to the cabin and jump in the hot tub to warm up.

We headed up, geared up, and jumped in the van for the short ride to the put in point.

The trip was so amazing. Dusty did great to keep us entertained, educated us on the river, the rocks, the area (He even told us a great place to go one morning and see some deer and BEAR. Yes I said BEAR! I think Rod is going to make me get up at the break of dawn to try it)

I never got cold. I mean if I had fell off the raft and tried to swim, I would have probably been really cold, but just the water that was spilling into the raft was fine. We were using enough energy and adrenalin that we were never cold. I didnt have a watch, but we were on the water a long time. We even stopped and took a hike up a waterfall. It was beautiful.

I look forward to doing it again in weeks to come when the weather is warmer and we can wear our swimsuites. Jumping off the raft to cool off will be great.