I asked a fellow cyclist today at Tribble Mill if he knew where the trail was that would take you to the old mill site. He did and told me where to look. I had driven in my car to this particular parking lot before, but I hadn’t noticed the wooden posts about 8 feet back into the woods. These were the markers indicating the trail head. I headed down it, very down, a long way. I hit a hole and augered the front tire in, came off the seat and landed on the top tube. Ouch! And the left pedal came around and ripped down the back of my leg. Lots of choice words were uttered, but being alone in the woods, and no one was there to hear them…
Anyway, I continued down the trail and finally hit large sheets of granite. It looked like being at Stone Mountain. I could hear a fast moving stream nearby and headed for it. The stream was about 20 feet across and moving at a pretty good clip across the rocks, making lots of noise. It was a lovely sound, and a lovely sight. I didn’t even attempt to cross because I could tell that the rocks were very slippery and I would slip if I even tried to ride across. As for the mill, I don’t know what was supposed to still be there. I could see a man-made wall about 30 feet upstream from where I was standing, but no good way to get there. So I hung out by the stream for a few minutes then headed back out. That hill was now an ascent instead of a descent and was quite hard. I had to walk a little of it, but I ultimately made it out and headed for home. Total ride: 9.32 miles.
