Skyway motorway

[McDowra]

Anyone ever drove down the unfinished part? I heard it starts  near Cheaha state park.

[Joshua Szulecki]

It um... Isn't finished. It is shown on maps as being done (asinine, imo), but it ends a few miles after Cheaha State Park where it meets two roads. One is a newly paved spur off of Blue Ridge, and the other is a FS road. At last check, the FS road is impassible to cars after about a mile or so, because there are several spots after the first house you encounter that anything shorter than a Jeep or SUV cannot get over. Blue Ridge is the unofficial/official way the frack off the Skyway Motorway at that end.

[dogwood]

Joshua, the forest road at the end of Skyway Motorway is now passible.  My wife and i drove it all the way to Clairmont Gap, a couple of months ago.  It is nicely graveled.  The part from Clairmont Gap to Talladega Creek is apparently still in bad shape.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Dogwood,

You're right, they just re-graveled it recently, sometime early to mid last year if I recall correctly. I can't believe I forgot that, since it was somewhat controversial. Actually, it wasn't poorly graveled when I attempted it, there was just a severe set of washouts just after that first house.

[Magic City Matt]

I tried driving up from on rebecca mountain and stopped just a couple of hundred yards in. 1 because there was a dog in need of help and 2 because it was late and did not want to get stuck up there. Is that portion for a lightweight truck?

[WolfVanZandt]

About 10 years ago, I drove the section to Claimont Gap in a van. I thought I would never find a way off (my tires were not in the greatest shape and I had my 10 year old nephew with me....), but, looking back, it was a great ride.

[Magic City Matt]

Ok so 2 questions on this.

1. is the mountain just north of bulls gap considered part Rebbecca Mountain? 

2. Has anyone driven the Skyway from 148 north?


M

[McDowra]

Had a friend tell me he drove from Cheaha to Sylacauga on the trail, only hit pavement for about a half mile the whole way.

[Chris]

1. is the mountain just north of bulls gap considered part Rebbecca Mountain? 

Dunno. It always seemed like one long ridge to me. I'm not quite sure how they classify them or seperate them.

[ednotmilkman]

answer to Matthews Q #1  from a look at the 2008 Forest Service map
 
Rebecca Mountain is the range south of Bull Gap. It turns more NE/SW

Horn Mountain is the range north of Bull Gap. It runs roughly north/south and ends at AL 77

north of AL 77 the map calls it Talladega Mountain as it runs more SW/NE again to Adams Gap. The font used is bigger, so maybe the whole range is refered to as Talladega all the way to GA ??

[Magic City Matt]

answer to Matthews Q #1  from a look at the 2008 Forest Service map
 
Rebecca Mountain is the range south of Bull Gap. It turns more NE/SW

Horn Mountain is the range north of Bull Gap. It runs roughly north/south and ends at AL 77

north of AL 77 the map calls it Talladega Mountain as it runs more SW/NE again to Adams Gap. The font used is bigger, so maybe the whole range is refered to as Talladega all the way to GA ??

That's kind of what I figured looking at it but the Alabama Atlas and Gazetteer has it labeled as Rebbecca Mountain. Hmmmmmmm

[Mountain Dog]

I've driven from Bull Gap to Duggar Mountain road, which is just south of 278 east of Piedmont.  There are two sections I will not drive again unless I know for sure the road has been widened.  The two are the south side of Horn Mountain and the section between Chandler Springs and Clairmont Gap.  Why?  The growth encroachment on the roads was so bad that I could not avoid it and I did serious damage to my paint job.  There was no place to turn around and the gulleys were so deep that you basically had to go forward and just go where the road demanded.  I was surprised at both roads because they both looked good when I first started on each (South to North direction).  But, they deterrorated and I was not wise enough to abandon my drive when I still had a choice.  The north side of Horn mountain was being used by a motor cycle club a couple of years ago.  The road was deterrorating quickly as the ruts washed out.  A high clearance vehicle had no problem last year getting to the fire tower from hwy 77.  I would not take a low clearance vehicle on that section now.  The road through the Talladega Forest north of 78, I think it is numbered 600 or 500, is wide and passible all the way north till it ends at a paved road just east of Piedmont.  The only problem I have had on the road north of 78, other than just being dirt and bumpy, was one of downed trees after a bad storm.  I was not able to go north of Coleman Campgrounds but a few miles last year.  I'm sure the road was cleared quickly though.

[Mountain Dog]

Missed one point in my last.  The only paved sections between Bull Gap and the area where Duggar Mountain Road ends  are Adams Gap to hwy 78 and a small section near Coleman Lake.  I'd guess this section around Coleman Lake would run about 5 miles. 

[Mountain Dog]

OK, so I need to add more.

When headed north from Bull Gap, the trail runs close to the dirt road until just north of the radio tower.  The trail drops off the west side of Horn and the road drops off the east.  The road and the trail reach hwy 77 about 1 mile apart.  From hwy 77, you use a series of paved roads to reach Chandler Springs.  The trail and the paved roads are not near each other untill about 1/4 mile south of the Talladega Creek bridge where the trail comes out onto the paved road and goes north to the creek.  From here, the road is dirt until you reach Adam Gap. and paved until you reach hwy 78.  You are on dirt as I described from this point except for the small section around Coleman Lake.  The dirt road crossing the trail down the hill from North Duggar Mountain Shelter runs you towards Piedmont after that point and not back across the trail.  If you are looking for this road when leaving Piedmont it will be labeled Duggar Mountain Road.  From High Point TH to Ga, Jackson Chappel TH, the trail crosses several roads but none parallel the trail.  You use a series of paved roads to get from High Point TH to the Jackson Chappel TH in GA.  From there, you can use a paved road to reach Cave Springs or, using the Pinhoti routing, use a series of dirt and paved roads to reach Cave Spring.   Now that I have totally confused you I'll sign off until I remember another missed point.

[Firedog]

Mountain Dog is correct.

[McDowra]

here is a LINK that show a group going this weekend. If you scroll down they have maps showing trail and next page has pictures.

[McDowra]

Thought i would drag this back up, we drove from 148 north to 77 with no problem. You will need a high ground clearance vehicle but really not much trouble at all. We met 2 forest rangers at the Horn Mountain Fire Tower that drove in in a 2wd ford f150 pickup. 

[dogwood]

McDowra, a buddy and i rode that part of Skyway Motorway a couple of Saturdays ago(77 to 148).  His truck was 4wd and decent ground clearance and it was a pretty nail-biting ride.  1/4 mile from Bull Gap, we met up with someone in a car(Buick Skylark, i think) who had just started in the opposite direction.  He asked if this was the rode that went over the mountain, Skyway Motorway.  I told him that it was, but he might want to turn around and go back, because the road only got worse!  Needless to say, he agreed...