Mulberry Gap Shuttle

September 26, 2022 Prepped bike and gear, broke down camp at Mulberry Gap, and enjoyed another great meal at the “Barn”. This bike camp is absolutely fantastic with superior hospitality. At 10 a group of us loaded up the shuttle, apparently the 2000’ ascent was up a mountain called “Potato Patch” mountain due to the potato sized rocks encountered. The shuttle was much appreciated as that road up gravel would’ve been fairly brutal. The descent was magnificent through the woods of the Cohutta forest. Lots of roots and rocks and that yielded a couple of “endos”. In all the descent from the shuttle drop off was 2000’ of descent and 1000’ of ascent. It was a glorious fall day with the temps in the 60s. I was on the road by 2:00 after a “me” shower as well as a bike shower! The ride was nearly 3.5 hours, taking a stop at Walmart in an area called Blue Ridge for some supplies and gas. The last hour or so was through some serious winding climbing and descending mountain rides which made me wonder which was more treacherous, the mountain biking or the ride to get there. Passed over the Eastern Continental Divide a couple of times elev. 3868’ Notable treacherous roads were the Walnut Creek and Pine Creek over a gap, winding and crazy. Finally pulled into the Dupont Bike Retreat at a little after 6 where I set up camp in the Hill Top site, had some dinner from the cooler, tried to make a fire (wet wood-no go) and hit the rack early.