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I'm 68 years old and rode the 66 miles from Anniston and back. I enjoyed the entire trail but the last 10 miles or so through Talladega National Forest were beautiful. Very well-maintained trail. The old train depot in Jacksonville is nice and Piedmont struck me as a typical Alabama town. Very glad I did it though strong wind gusts made it difficult at times in open areas.
Nice trail pavement. Lots of rest stops if needed. Will return in future.
Well maintained very safe trail. Crosses several roads that are well marked. Each crossing had a signal to stop traffic. Heavily used by walkers. Everyone was friendly and stayed to the right. Made passing easy. A lot resting spots on the route. Definitely a must ride.
We rode these two Hall of Fame trails, west to east, on Dec. 27 & 28, 2021, overnighting in Cedartown, GA. Daytime temperature averaging 70. Trail is well-maintained, with excellent surface, well-lit tunnels and interesting trestles. Scenery was peaceful and serene with streams, ponds, and alternating woods, meadows and pastures. A super breakfast/lunch stop is Elevated Grounds Coffee Shop in the sleepy little town of Piedmont, AL. Also, bike shop next door will do repairs, etc. Another must stop is Rooted Trading Company in Powder Springs, GA. Both businesses offer shuttle service.
I've ridden this trail between these 2 points a few times now and I always enjoy the ride. The most difficult is getting up the hill at one of the bridges , but the best part is going back down that same hill. I felt like a kid again.:-) Make sure you have a comfy seat on your bike to make the ride even more enjoyable. There's nothing worse than a sore butt! :-) looking forward to starting out from Hiram and exploring even further out and eventually to the other end.
The Chief Ladiga trail, to me, is a great extension of the Comet (or the Comet is an extension of the Ladiga?) in my opinion, the trail is a very fun trail, but you need to understand it to ensure it is fun for you. Coming from the Georgia border, the trail is very picturesque but there are some rural sections that are a little bumpy for the high pressure 700c crowd, although the 2" tire MTB crowd wouldn't notice anything. In my opinion, Piedmont to the border trailhead is fantastic, and Piedmont to Jacksonville State University is equally awesome. The ride from Jacksonville State University to Anniston is pretty pointless unless you are riding it just so you can say you did the whole thing. The Anniston terminus is very underwhelming, kind of just ending in the middle of nowhere near a small park area.
At the time of this review, Ebikes are not legal on the Chief Ladiga trail, regardless of class. In reality, they are fine IMO since there is zero enforcement and from what I understand, zero plans to enforce. Currently there is no legal distinction between a class 1 Ebike and a full dress Harley. As far as I know, Alabama is simply behind in recognizing Ebikes. We rode half the trail on Ebikes and half on acoustics and even used the Police Station parking in Piedmont to load/unload our Ebikes and had no issues. Ebikes are fun and this trail makes them more fun!
Lastly, there is a time change at the border of the Comet and the Ladiga. The comet is in Eastern time and Ladiga is in Central time. Great place to do some time travelling, and if you want to go for a record, you can start just barely on the Comet then ride to Piedmont to collect your new record time (at least by the clocks)!
I have ridden the complete trail and just wanted to let people know where the best places are in my opinion. Riding from Rockmart up to the Brushy Mountain Tunnel is perhaps the best part of the trail from a beauty and interest standpoint, and being approximately 8 miles one way, it is a great afternoon jaunt with causal riders. Along the way you hit some nice waypoints to rest.
The trail origin location near Atlanta to Rambo trailhead is really nice and there is a lot of traffic out there. From Rambo to Rockmart is also very nice, but there are some unleashed pit bulls/ferral dogs to contend with from time to time. From Rockmart to Cedartown is not necessarily awesome due to it paralleling the highway, but it is not bad by any stretch. From Cedartown to Piedmont is rough leaving Cedartown near the landfill, but once you get through the hills, the trail to the Chief Ladiga/Silver Comet junction is pleasant as well.
Like most, there are a number of parking locations along the way and we usually tried to keep our segments to 10 miles one way when doing this trail.
Near the Atlanta region, expect a lot of walkers and plenty of riders going extremely fast/racing. We have seen some harsh wrecks when a very fast rider wanders off the concrete into the dirt and tries to get back on, leading to a yard sale crash with ribs and collar bone awesomeness. Be careful.
Trail in excellent condition until you get past rockmart. Then a lot of leaves and debris on the path. Also is a busy trail near Smyrna but thins out quickly when traveling west bound
I LOVE the Silver Comet Trail! I ride on it about twice a week (usually from the beginning near Nickajack School), and it's just great. Keep it up!
I biked the Silver Comet Trail with my wife to the trail end at the GA/AL state line in 2016. The trail surface is paved and one of the best converted rail trails in the southeast. Very smooth.
I rode the trail's namesake Silver Comet train in the late 50's with my Mom and brother from Birmingham to Atlanta. Biking this trail brought back many memories of that train ride. Definitely worth a bike ride, especially during the week when it's less busy.
My wife and I rode from Piedmont to the AL/GA state line. The asphalt pavement was pretty good and the areas where tree roots had pushed up the pavement have been ground down. The trail is a steady climb starting just east of Piedmont up to the state line. The bridge transitions are fairly smooth. Starting at 8.7 miles (state line is 0.0) to 4.8 miles, we encountered many "road apples" (aka horse poop) on the pavement. Fortunately, the trail was not busy and we were able to dodge them. Apart from that, the trail is a nice ride.
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