River to Clouds Route: Cloudland Canyon to Five Points (Dade and Walker Counties, Georgia)

 After enjoying a tasty breakfast burrito served up by the Georgia Conservancy, who organized this weekends trip to Cloudland Canyon, I wanted to get an early start on the trail and get some good miles in today. I've hiked nearly all of the trails at the state park and decided today to hike the longest one, which I haven't been on up to this point. I've always known it as the Cloudland Connector Trail, but along the route, I saw signs calling it the River to Clouds Route. After doing some research, I discovered that this trail system goes all the way to the Tennessee River near Chattanooga, TN, thus giving it the name.

The trail is well maintained and relatively flat. When I mentioned my planned distance to the other folks that are here with the Conservancy, I think I scared them off. Most of them were looking to do 5-6 miles and I'm planning for more like 14-15 on this hike. That said, I didn't see a single other hiker along this route today, but there were plenty of mountain bikers and even three horses and riders.

Overall, the trail is actually kind of boring. There aren't any dramatic vistas or really interesting stops. The most exciting thing along the entire route is a steel-framed bridge crossing Bear Creek. I wasn't exactly sure how far I was going to go to get in my desired mileage. I thought about turning around at the Ascalon trailhead, but I still had plenty of energy and turning back at his point would have only gotten me about ten miles round trip.

Instead, I decided to hike further north to Five Points. This area is named because it is the intersection of several mountain bike trails, but really nothing all that special. It did put me at about 7.3 miles one way though, which was good for my desired mileage. I used the privy at this trailhead, which was nothing more than a wooden platform with a fence around it and a hole in the bottom where human waste simply dumps out on the hillside. 

From there, I head south back towards the park. I did have to stop to care for a hot spot on my left pinky toe. I'm trying to break in some new hiking shoes and they actually did really well, but I don't to get a blister now. After I tended to that, I continued on. Around the 12 mile mark, I could sense myself getting a little tired and about that time, two of my best friends started a political discussion via text messages, which kept me occupied and distracted for the last couple of miles. 

Finally, I got back to my car at the trailhead and slurped down a big gulp of water from my Nalgene. I was tired, but nothing was sore and the shoes seemed to have done okay on my feet. Round trip, I was able to get in 14.5 miles, which is right about where I wanted to be. I wish there was more to see along this trail. It is really nothing more than doing a walk in the woods, but it was still nice to get a good stretch on my legs. For now, I'll head back to the lodge and relax.