Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga - Cedartown GA to Piedmont AL

The Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga combo of bike trails forms the longest rails-to-trail bike trail in the US, from Smyrna GA to Anniston AL.

This ride is the penultimate in our series to complete this trail combo in stages. We'll start from where we left off last time at the Cedartown Depot. From there we'll go ten miles west thru woods and pasture to the Alabama line. The name of the trail changes in Alabama to Chief Ladiga, but it still follows the old Seaboard Air Line rail bed. We will enter the Talladega National Forest for a few miles and there we cross the Pinhoti foot trail as well as a high trestle over a scenic mountain stream. The elevation will not affect our ride, since we stay on the gradual grade of the old rail bed. When we emerge from the forest we pass thru more pasture with views of Dugger Mountain, the second highest point in Alabama, on our way to the town of Piedmont, which we find 14 miles past the state line. 

Piedmont is an old mill town not unlike Cedartown or Rockmart.  The mills have long since closed, but the people and town are still there.

We will have lunch near the Eubanks Welcome Center there and then turn around and ride back to Cedartown the way we came.