Talladega Mountains, Alabama

I woke up shortly after the sun climbed over the mountain and started shining through the tent's walls. Mike was still sleeping so I went to check out the camp site. For me, there is nothing better than waking up in the morning, climbing out of a tent, taking a big breath of fresh mountain air, grabbing a Red Bull to fully wake up and going for a hike. This campground was really great. It was still very cold this morning but the sun was warm and the temperature was slowly climbing.



We were the only ones camping here



Frost on fallen leaves



This primitive camp site was littered with interesting ruins



Vegetation taking over



Morning dew sparkling in the sun



Mike makes some killer scrambled eggs





Breakfast is served: eggs, toast, orange juice and hot cocoa



Cooking and eating in the woods is the best

After a good breakfast we geared up and rode up to the registration office to pay for our camp site. The primitive camp site was $11 per day, kind of expensive for a camp site without a bathroom, but we enjoyed being alone so much that we decided to stay there tonight as well, even though we'd probably be cold again tonight without our electric blanket.

The bikes ready to go for a ride






Cheaha Road

The day was amazing, sunny and 62 degrees. We took of on Cheaha Road until we saw the sign for the Kentuk ATV trail sign. Then we took the forest road that went to the ATV trail, we didn’t ride the ATV trail, just rode the forest roads.

The forest roads were amazing, hard dirt with a bit of gravel with tons of twists and turns and many elevation changes. Actually, there were not a lot of straight sections here, nothing really tight either, just nice curvy roads. I'd have to say that so far these were the best dirt roads that I've ever been on. They were so much fun to ride. There were a few cars on these roads, mostly hunters and people that live around here.

Posing next to some river



The best twistie road of the day

The day consisted of 88% dirt - 15% pavement. We had no route, just the GPS. There were tons of dirt roads here, enough to ride for a week or more. And every road we tried was good but slightly different from the others.













Cheaha Road

It was getting late now, we looped around to Cheaha Road and headed back to the campsite. I stopped by Cheaha Lake for a few minutes, the colors were amazing as the sun was preparing to set.





Cheaha Lake



Back at the campground

We were leaving bright an early tomorrow morning so Mike was going to load the bikes on to the trailer tonight, so all we had to do tomorrow morning is tear down the tent and go

While Mike loaded up the bikes, I spent 30 minutes gathering fire wood. Tonight we were going to have a real camp fire.



The sun sets on our last night in Alabama



Campbells clam chowder for dinner

It was another beautiful night. It was still just us at the primitive campground. The sky was dark and the stars were many. Even though it was technically new years eve, to us it was just another night camping. At least it wasn’t as cold tonight as it was last night, the lows were going to be in the low 30’s tonight.



The camp fire was a good one tonight and kept us warm while we relaxed on the last day of the year



There was a light wind blowing tonight, but I wasn't cold at all. Tucked in to the two zero degree sleeping bags, I was very comfortable. Those extra few degrees make a huge difference.