Fall Colors at Stone Mountain: 8-mile Loop Ride + extra 5 mile option

IN A NUTSHELL:   The weather is shaping up to be perfect for a bike ride this Sunday afternoon - blue sky, 70 degrees, and the fall colors near their brilliant peak!  Please join us for - take your pick - one or two leisurely "loops" around beautiful Stone Mountain Park.  We'll stop often to enjoy the scenery and for everyone to catch up.  Any type of bike will do - a road bike, mtn bike or hybrid - but smooth-tired bikes will be easier to pedal since 99% of our route will be on hard smooth pavement.

WHERE & WHEN?  We’ll gather at 2:30 PM in the parking lot beside the "Red Caboose" Welcome Center, OUTSIDE THE PARK! in the quaint Village of Stone Mountain.  We'll have FREE parking (detailed directions below) and FREE entrance into the Park via the quarter-mile "PATH" entrance Trail, similar to the Silver Comet.

RIDE PLAN:  After introductions and a quick bike & gear check we'll ride into the Park together via the paved PATH Trail.  We'll first do an 8-mile clockwise "outer loop" that includes Robert E Lee Blvd, Stonewall Jackson Drive and Jeff Davis Drive - likely finishing that loop by about 4:15.  Feel free to "split" then if you like - it's easy to return to the cars.  All who feel up to it will then continue with an optional 5-mile "inner-loop" around the mountain, mainly via Robert E. Lee Blvd and finishing by about 5:30.  On the outer loop the total elevation gains of our uphill climbing portions will be perhaps 400 feet, and on the inner loop perhaps 250 feet.  Feel free to walk your bike if necessary on the few steep uphill climbs.

FOR  MORE ON STONE MOUNTAIN and its TRAILS: Below are three links that might be useful.  Perhaps too often we Georgians "take Stone Mountain for granite!" It rivals almost any other natural area in the country with its spectacular rock formations, beautiful lakes, rare native plants, and abundant birds & wildlife. The mountain has a fascinating human history as well, of which its gigantic memorial carving is but one part.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain

http://www.stonemountainpark.com/faq/#Recreation
http://www.stonemountainpark.com/park/download-map.aspx

DIRECTIONS TO OUR MEETING PLACE:
"RED CABOOSE" WELCOME CENTER OUTSIDE the PARK in the Village of Stone Mountain: (You can click on the above Red "Location Teardrop" for a color online map of the exact meeting spot.)

1.  From "Spaghetti Junction" (the I-285/I-85 interchange in NE Atlanta) take "I-285 East" (actually southward) toward Augusta about 4.7 miles.

2.  Take I-285 Exit #39B (bearing Right off I-285 in a clockwise loop).  Merge onto Stone Mountain Pkwy/US-78 E (toward Snellville/Athens), and go about 5.9 miles.

3.   At Exit #5 bear Right onto the Memorial Drive/Stone Mountain Bypass, and go only about 0.6 mile—then bear Right again at your first opportunity up the E. Ponce de Leon Ave. access ramp.

4.  Turn Left onto E. Ponce de Leon Ave. and go 0.5 mile to the first traffic light.

5.  Continue straight ahead at the light onto Main Street and go southward here for about 0.5 mile (through Stone Mtn village) to the "Red Caboose" Welcome Center and parking lot on your Left, just beyond the RR track crossing and traffic light at Mimosa Drive.
   
6.  Free parking is available by the Caboose, and in the event that these spaces are filled there's normally plenty of free parking nearby on Main Street and its adjoining side streets in Stone Mtn Village.

NEED MAP or CUSTOM DIRECTIONS? If you'd like a map or directions from your specific point of departure, go to Google.com/maps and in the "Search Maps" window enter:

   891 Main Street, Stone Mountain, GA 30083

Then click on "Search Maps," "Get Directions," enter your personal "Start Address, and click the grey "Get Directions" box.

As a destination for your vehicle's GPS system use the above address or the following  Latitude/Longitude Coordinates of our "Red Caboose" parking lot meeting point and trailhead:

33.8053,-84.1700

Free Event with Free Parking!