This greenway, despite its weaknesses, is great for a few hours, or an entire day, outdoors.
I'm not the sort to spend hours with a bike seat up my ass, and thus far haven't ridden a bike on the Silver Comet, so I can only speak for now of my impressions as someone who has walked/jogged the trail. I always park at the Mavell Road trailhead. It's usually busy, but I haven't yet been unable to find a space there. Plenty also park at Nickajack Elementary or at Highland Station (Publix). There are other paved and dirt lots to be found.
It's like most rail-trails, except that it happens to be 60+ miles long. It's paved in asphalt, probably not quite 20' in width, and maintains a gentle grade. There are poorly designed curves approaching/leaving some of the bridges, where a total lack of visibility, and douchey cyclists' inherent desire to take curves as sharply as possible to save that quarter of a second, can make for some harrowing encounters. The trail itself is relatively well-maintained, except:
* The wooden planks on at least one bridge have seen better days. You won't be re-enacting the climax of Temple of Doom, but if you're not vigilant you may have a bad day.
* People are kind enough to (usually) clean up after their dogs, but they seem to believe that tossing bags of crap to the side of the trail is proper disposal. Which brings me to the lack of trash receptacles and the poor maintenance of restroom facilities...
* There are almost no trash cans along the trail. The restrooms look as though they haven't been cleaned in weeks. Trail markers are huge and each likely cost at least a couple hundred dollars to install. Smaller distance markers would have saved money and those savings could have gone toward other uses, such as more garbage cans. Of course, paying crews to collect the trash and more regularly clean the restrooms is another story...
Vegetation growth along the trail is controlled, but poison ivy is still one of the most prevalent plants I see within a few feet of the trail. By the way, to the dipshit driving the white RX 330: in case you were wondering why your kids' evening and next few days (and yours, as well... I really, really hope) were a bit hellish... Maybe next time, don't let them play Tarzan on just any vine they see in the woods.
About 40% of the cyclists here on serious bikes, wearing serious costumes, ride recklessly in the presence of so many other people, and especially kids.
The portion I've seen (up to Anderson Farm Road) is always filled with the rushing sound of nearby traffic, so you'll never be lulled into thinking you're more than a few hundred feet from those packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes, so to speak.
Generally, you see a little of everything along the Silver Comet. Most of the usual cast of trail characters are represented daily:
* The elderly gentleman strolling with his portable CD player held up like a pizza box for the entirety of his walk.
* The father who, either despite or because of his morbid obesity, proudly takes his kids for a ride but inexplicably fails to realize that a third of his ass is showing because his shirt is too short and his pants hang far too low.
* The creepy old guy who turns his head with each passing female jogger, without any shame or attempt to conceal, because fuck you, you try going home each day and pushing rope into the wrinkles and folds of the woman you've been stuck with since 1973.
* The gents who've read far too much Mark Frauenfelder... or Dr. Seuss... riding any number of bizarre, wheeled contraptions they either designed themselves or built from kits or bought from specialty shops for obscene prices.
* The dude who smiles so brightly as he passes you... and then a few minutes later passes again going your way. And then smiles again a few minutes later as he again passes... and so on... I can only imagine women probably deal with the same sketchy shit, but even more often.
* The girl who excitedly waves and says "Hey!" in passing, as though you know each other, but you can't recollect her face at all and are sure she must have just been a polite stranger, but you're afraid that you'll hear about it from someone later that Whatserface told So-and-so that you were rude to her and jesuschristwhenwillpeoplegrowup...
* The fuckstick who brings his/her unfriendly & unsociable dog to the trail and makes comments that it's everyone else who's to blame for the dog's grouchy behavior.
* That asshole who rubs it in my face that he can ride a bike straight with no hands while the State of Georgia has worked into its constitution an act requiring that I, specifically, must keep using training wheels.
Lots of kids. Lots of bikes. Lots of kids on bikes. Most better riders than I am. Quite a few rollerbladers. Some well beyond the age of discounted coffee from McDonald's. All more adept on inline wheels than I could ever be, I'm sure.
Happy to have found a greenway comparable to those back home. read more