Silver Comet Trail

05/03/06

Family bike ride through the 'burbs, or Tour de North Georgia? You make the call.

by Contributor at Citysearch

Overview
This is the Yellow Brick Road for bikers, joggers and in-line skaters. The 37-mile trail blazes through the backwoods of Cobb, Paulding and Polk counties. Following an abandoned railroad bed, it's a mostly flat path ideal for families and seniors. Thirteen parking areas along the way--from Smyrna to Rockmart--let you decide where to start and where to stop.

The Experience
Families crowd the first several miles near Mavell Road, but head west and silence settles in. In Paulding County the path enters a wildlife refuge, then visits 120-foot-tall Pumpkin Vine Creek Trestle and 700-foot-long Brushy Mountain tunnel. The last seven miles coast downhill through Polk County, by the site of a 19th-century plantation. The journey ends at a swimming hole in Rockmart, but will soon reach the Alabama border and continue on the 33-mile Chief Ladiga trail. In all, that's 101 miles of clear riding from Atlanta to Anniston.