After a week of school in Alabama, the weekend came and I was ready to hit the trails. I drove up to Monte Sano State Park and immediately found the McKay Hollow Trail. I later learned the locals refer to this trail as, "The Death Trail". 2 + miles of hike a biking through a beautiful hollow with a wee bit of riding between the steep and rocky entrances and exits. It was fantastic.
The previous two days of rain provided trails just the way I expected them to be in the southeast. Wet rocks and roots covered with slimy leaves provided a bit of excitement and it made me realize my technical skills for such riding was a bit rusty.
Couple that with a few steep climbs and this being my 1st time on a single speed in some time and there were a few hills that just had to be walked.
Funny enough, I was told to go to the Goat trail for the funnest technical descent and it was awesome but my favorite trail so far has to be the Mountain Mist trail. Rocks and roots line the trail and its flow is sublime.
One of the cool natural features on the Mountain Mist trail is the natural granite wall that parallels the trail for most of its length.
My second day at the park I found the Stone Cuts. It is a hiker only trail of maybe a little over half a mile but I shouldered my bike and made the hike up just to see it. The Stone Cuts are an exposed ridge of capstone that after thousands of years of erosion, split into two and created small caves and low walled " slot canyons".
I go home to Colorado on Thursday for 5 days of Christmas with my family, maybe a ride with friends on some snowy Colorado trails and then back to Alabama for another month or so of school with LG Electronics.
