Richard Russell Scenic Highway

Georgia 348 over the Blue Ridge: switchbacks, laurel and the highest paved road in the state.

Open this ride in the planner →

Why this ride

62 km from Cleveland to Blairsville, about 1 h 12 of riding. The climbs: Hogpen Gap and Wolf Pen Gap. It tops out at 940 m. The line favours views over speed.

Roadbook

1. Helen start · 430 m

   Helen is a Bavarian village in the Georgia mountains, an improbable idea that somehow works. Founded as a lumber town in the early twentieth century, it fell on hard times after the timber ran out, and in the late 1960s local businessmen, looking for a way to attract tourists, hired an artist to redesign the town in the style of an Alpine village. Today, half-timbered buildings with painted facades, flower boxes, cobbled alleys and signs in German script line the streets, and the Oktoberfest, held from mid-September through October, is among the longest in the country.

   The setting is real. The Chattahoochee River, which begins in the hills a short way north, runs through the middle of town at an altitude of about 430 meters, and in summer crowds float down it on inner tubes. Nearby, Anna Ruby Falls drops in twin cascades from the slopes of Tray Mountain, and Unicoi State Park offers a lake and trails. The surrounding hills of the Chattahoochee National Forest are steep and wooded, with oak, hickory and rhododendron, and the southern Appalachians' blue haze hangs over everything.

   For riders, Helen is the start of the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway, Georgia 348, a short, twisting mountain road that climbs over Hogpen Gap, at roughly 3,400 feet, crossing the Appalachian Trail on its way to the Vogel State Park area. The road has tight curves, steep grades and glimpses of long ridges, and it is well maintained, with light traffic outside weekends. Georgia 75 and Georgia 180, the Wolf Pen Gap road, are other good routes, and the notorious Tail of the Dragon in North Carolina is not far away.

   The village has fuel, restaurants and parking that fills on weekends, and Cleveland, a short ride south, has larger supermarkets and stations. The best months are April and May, when the dogwoods bloom, and October, though Oktoberfest brings traffic jams that can last for hours on peak weekends. Summer is hot and humid, and afternoon thunderstorms are common. Winter can bring ice on the high gaps. Watch for gravel, wet leaves and other riders pushing too hard on the bends.

2. Hogpen Gap pass · 940 m

   Hogpen Gap is the sort of name that sounds like a joke until you ride up to it. It is a notch in the crest of the Blue Ridge in the Chattahoochee National Forest, in north Georgia, where the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway, State Route 348, crests the ridge and drops down the far side. The road is named for a long-serving senator from the state, and it is one of the few in Georgia that feels like a real mountain pass, with a good deal of rock, dark rhododendron thickets and the smell of damp hardwood leaves.

   From the Helen side it is a proper climb. The highway goes up through tight, quick bends, some of them hairpins, with steep wooded drops on the outside and the odd gravel patch where rain has washed the verge. Cut-in pull-offs let you look across ridge after ridge in the blue haze that gives the range its name; on a still October morning the view is exactly the one on the postcards. Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia, is a short way off, and the Appalachian Trail wanders along the ridges nearby, so there are often walkers at the pull-offs.

   It helps to know that this is also where the gold fever of the 1820s began. Dahlonega, down the hill to the south-west, saw the first major gold rush in the United States, in 1828, before California was anyone's idea. The Cherokee, whose land this was, were pushed out in the following decade on the Trail of Tears, and the name of the nearby town comes from a Cherokee word for yellow. The Cherokee name for the whole area lingers on in rivers and gaps.

   Nothing is sold at the gap itself, and the nearest towns are small, so plan your tank before you start. Dahlonega is the nearest place of any size, twenty-seven kilometres off, with a square full of cafes, shops and the old courthouse that is now a gold museum; Cleveland and Blairsville are the other places to try. Autumn weekends bring a procession of cars, bikes and tour buses, so go on a weekday if you can, and aim for the early morning, when the cold air lies in the hollows and the sun hits the ridges first. Frost can linger on shaded bends well into spring.

3. Wolf Pen Gap pass · 900 m

   Wolf Pen Gap is a notch in the Blue Ridge of north Georgia, and the road that goes through it is a favourite of southern motorcyclists, with good reason. Georgia 348, the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway, climbs out of the valley of the Chattahoochee watershed in a tight series of bends, shaded by hardwoods and rhododendron, then drops down the other side toward Suches. At around 900 metres, the gap is not high by western standards, but the road feels a lot more serious than the number, because the curves come quickly, one after another, with little straight in between.

   The highway is named for a long-serving senator from Georgia, and it forms part of a scenic byway through the Chattahoochee National Forest, which spreads for hundreds of thousands of acres across the southern Appalachians. The forest is rich: oak, hickory, tulip poplar, hemlock and white pine, with laurel thickets, mountain streams and, in spring, flowering dogwood. Black bears live here, as do white-tailed deer, so dawn and dusk need care. Fall colour peaks in October, and the whole range turns a patchwork of reds and golds.

   On the road, take it carefully. The bends are tight, some are blind, and the surface can be damp and leaf-strewn, with gravel washed onto the apex after rain. In the warm months, the road draws plenty of other riders, and a few sections have been the scene of crashes, so traffic can be unpredictable. Cars cut corners, and so do bikes, so keep to your side and take the line you would be happy to be seen taking. Early morning on a weekday, when there is mist in the hollows and no one about, is the best time.

   The area has history, too. In 1828, gold was found near Dahlonega, setting off the first major gold rush in the United States, years before California. The Cherokee had lived in these mountains for centuries before they were forced out in the 1830s on the Trail of Tears, and their story is part of the landscape. Dahlonega, with its town square, gold museum and wine tasting rooms, is a good place to spend a quiet hour.

   Services are scarce up here. Suches has a little community and a small store, but do not rely on fuel on the mountain. Blairsville, around twelve kilometres away, and Dahlonega, twenty-six, have proper stations, so fill up in one of them. Cell signal drops out in the hollows, so carry a map.

4. Blairsville finish · 570 m

   Blairsville is a small mountain town, the seat of Union County, and it sits in a bowl of the north Georgia hills at about 570 meters, in country that Georgians think of as the high mountains. The town square has an old courthouse and a few shops, and the surrounding roads lead to some of the best scenery in the state. In October the town holds the Sorghum Festival, a local tradition with syrup-making, music and crafts that draws crowds from across the region.

   The hills around are a point of pride. Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia at 4,784 feet, rises a short distance to the southeast, with an observation tower on the summit and a view that reaches into four states on a clear day. Vogel State Park, one of the oldest in Georgia, was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, with a lake and stone buildings. Nearby, Neels Gap, a pass on US 19 and 129, is where the Appalachian Trail passes through a building, the stone Walasi-Yi center, now an outfitter, with hikers resting on the porch beneath Blood Mountain.

   For riders, the roads here are excellent. US 129 and Georgia 180 climb through the pass, with tight bends and steep grades, and the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway winds down to Helen from the northern end, a short, twisting road with good views. Georgia 180, around Wolf Pen Gap, is another fine, quiet ride, and Suches and Lake Winfield Scott lie to the south. The surface is generally good, but cars drift across the centerline in some bends, and gravel and wet leaves are common.

   Blairsville has fuel at several stations, a supermarket, diners and a handful of motels, so it makes a handy end to a day. Young Harris, a few kilometers north, is home to a small college, and Hiawassee has a lake and fairgrounds. The best seasons are late April, with fresh green and blossoms, and mid-October, when the whole range turns gold and red. Summer can be hot, with heavy thunderstorms, and winter brings occasional ice. Deer cross the roads at dusk, so slow down toward the end of the day.

Where this sits

Rides near here