Travel Experiences

Travel Experiences with Jeff Barganier Biking Chief Ladiga Trail

My first feature appeared in BOOM! Magazine during the summer of 2017 when I purchased a bike and rode from Jacksonville, Alabama to Cedar Town, Georgia on the Chief Ladiga and Silver Comet Bike Trails. On my five-year anniversary of writing for BOOM! I decided to bike the Chief Ladiga Trail again, this time from Jacksonville to Piedmont, Alabama and back—a daytrip of about twenty-six miles. in the Dugger Mountain Wilderness. At the Georgia line, Chief Ladiga connects to the Silver Comet rail-trail where it begins on a slightly raised rail bed before entering open fields, passing beneath canopies of pine, dogwood and other native trees alongside enchanting wetlands.

The Chief Ladiga Trail— named for the leader of the indigenous Muscogee Welcome Sign (Creek) people—begins in northeast Alabama and passes through friendly towns and bucolic countryside, following the old CSX railroad corridor. You’ll see stacks of railroad ties along the trail. Dugger Mountain and the southern Appalachians provide a backdrop to fields that transition to forests. Terrapin Creek skirts the trail. A bridge carries you over it. It’s a remarkably flat, smooth ride until east of Piedmont when it heads up a hill

I enjoyed touring Piedmont, especially the downtown where I met some nice folks like Neal and Kathy Gladden of Ladiga Trail Trikes. Their shop is next door to Elevated Grounds Bakery & Coffee House and just down the street from Shell’s Downtown Bar and Grill. “Our home shop is in Huntsville—Rocket City Trikes,” Neal explained. “The short story is, we began riding trikes about nine years ago, fell in love with riding trikes, and always wanted to open a trike shop. When COVID hit, our other (printing) business in Huntsville slowed down like a lot of businesses so we opened a trike shop in Huntsville. We came over here one day and enjoyed riding the trail so much; and liked this little town so much that we thought, you know, it’s crazy, but let’s put a little trail shop over here. We call it our trail shop because it’s only open on Saturday. We’re Monday through Friday in Huntsville. Business is great. It’s really been fun. We get a lot of people who just want a different type of cycling, a comfort level you can’t achieve on a two-wheeler. I enjoyed two-wheeling but it just wasn’t that comfortable for me. We also have people rehabbing from knee replacement, hip replacement or whatever their situation.” When asked if they were serving people coming off the Chief Ladiga Trail, Neal said, “We are. And some locals. In general, trike dealerships are not as common as bike dealerships. And we get a lot of people out of Birmingham and Atlanta. We’ve sold to some people in Montgomery, then up into Tennessee and Mississippi. People will come to ride a nice trail and test drive a trike. We’re a small shop and we can’t do everything. But our Huntsville shop kind of supports this. The trike business is a whole lot more fun than the printing business is. I’ll say that.”

A writer at www.traillink.com wrote: “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.” People come from all over to ride the Chief Ladiga Trail. In the parking lot of Piedmont’s trail rest stop I noted tags from Tennessee, Georgia, and even a 1954 Hudson Jetliner from New York! When I stopped in Shell’s Downtown Bar and Grill for a Farm Burger—with a fried egg, avocado, pepper jack cheese, pepper jelly, and I requested a slice of tomato— there were four Japanese tourists there. At the table next to me was a man and his daughter from Ohio. They had parked in Smyrna and were cycling to Anniston to spend the night then back to Smyrna.

Stopping for water at a service station, I encountered sixtyone-year-old Bill Taylor. “We’re riding with an organization called Alabama Randonneurs. Randonneur is a French word for riders who ride long distances, two-hundred-K, three-hundred-K, all the way up to twelve-hundred-K. Today, we’re starting in Anniston and riding to Rockmart, Georgia and back. It’s one-hundred-K each Before heading back to Jacksonville, I direction so it’ll be a two-hundred-K visited Elevated Grounds Coffee Shop, ride. It’s not a race. Just a ride. In fact, purchased an ice cream cone, and then when they show results, they just post relaxed in Elevated Grounds’ beautiful whether you finished or didn’t finish. It’s outdoor garden. all alphabetical order—no ‘who came in first’. So, that’s the reason I’m taking my Historic downtown Piedmont is not time. There are four of us today riding the merely host to a span of the Chief Ladiga two-hundred-K, a couple of people riding Bike Trail. The town is also near the scenic a one-hundred-K; and then a couple of Pinhoti Hiking Trail which starts at Flagg people riding a three-hundred-K that Mountain in Weogufka, Alabama and starts in Anniston and goes all the way stretches all the way to the Appalachian to Smyrna and back. (Smyrna is on the trailhead at Springer Mountain, Georgia. outskirts of Atlanta.) Our first control Someday, more smart people like the stop is in Cedar Town. It makes you feel Gladdens are going to see the golden like a kid—wind blowing in your face, a potential of this lethargic former mill big smile on your face. I went to Waffle village, transforming it into a true House at three o’clock this morning and destination venue and oasis for hungry, ate a big breakfast because I knew I was thirsty bikers and hikers. Indeed, that day going to burn it all up on the trail today,” will be an exciting one for Piedmont. And Bill said. might it not be too far off?

Jeff S. Barganier is a novelist, travel writer and manager of Cindy Barganier Interiors LLC. He travels far and wide upon the slightest excuse for something interesting to write about. Contact: Jeffbarganier@knology.net. Instagram: @jeffbarganier. You may print out Jeff’s features at www.jeffbarganier.com.