FS Roads | ADV Bike ride plans

Rambler

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May 30, 2016
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812
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Up SR400 (GA)
I'd like to start planning 'day' rides up and around the North GA mountains using mainly Forest Service roads and trails.
I'm fairly new to this and would like to some help in the best sources to get road maps and or GPX tracks of FS roads starting off from around the Dawsonville / Cumming area - up 400 - and leading up to Suches/Volge/Blue Ridge.
 

RCinNC

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Aug 30, 2014
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Rambler, I don't have a specific source for FS road maps, but I do use a route planning program called Tyre to Travel. It's based on Google Maps, and you can zoom in on all the state and national forests to see the roads there. You can switch to an aerial photo of the road to see if it's gravel or dirt. I've used it to plan rides through places like Uwharrie National Forest, all on dirt and gravel. If you zoom in on the national and state forests, you'll see all the FS roads on the map.
 

Rambler

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May 30, 2016
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Up SR400 (GA)
RCinNC said:
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If you zoom in on the national and state forests, you'll see all the FS roads on the map.
RC,
I have Tyre to Travel (used with TomTomRider) - didn’t think about using it to create/plan a route - in the way you suggest. Thanks for the tip.
I’ll take a look later today. Are the FS roads labeled with the numbers ?
 

RCinNC

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Rambler:

This is a shot taken from Tyre to Travel of the Uwharrie National Forest. As you can see, the Forest Service Roads are specifically designated:



When you zoom in on a specific road using the satellite feature in Tyre, you can get a decent idea of whether the road is pavement or dirt/gravel. It's a little harder to tell if it's sand and not dirt, which I've found out the hard way on more than one occasion:



I've mapped out some pretty decent gravel and dirt road rides using Tyre for this.
 

RCinNC

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Well apparently, google photos doesn't make a good third party hosting service. I've put these photos up twice now, and they've disappeared. This is as good a place as any to see if my new Imgur account works:



 

Rambler

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May 30, 2016
Messages
812
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Up SR400 (GA)
RCinNC said:
Well apparently, google photos doesn't make a good third party hosting service. I've put these photos up twice now, and they've disappeared. This is as good a place as any to see if my new Imgur account works:
Thanks ! I tried it with Tyre and you’re right - shows up quite well.
 

nga

Active Member
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Jan 7, 2013
Messages
187
Location
Ellijay, Georgia
Rambler said:
I'd like to start planning 'day' rides up and around the North GA mountains using mainly Forest Service roads and trails.
I'm fairly new to this and would like to some help in the best sources to get road maps and or GPX tracks of FS roads starting off from around the Dawsonville / Cumming area - up 400 - and leading up to Suches/Volge/Blue Ridge.

You can purchase printed maps in person at the national forests office locations. They've got offices in Gainesville, Blairsville and several others places. I grew up north Georgia and I know lots of great forest roads. There's tons of them near me, the areas you mentioned, and many others areas across the north part of the state. I'll pm you my number.
 
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