Macon Magic - Three Mountain Bike Rides in Middle Georgia

Middle Georgia's lack of national forests has not been a deterrent to its development of mountain biking trails. The trails, however, have been located in some rather unusual sites. This is not to say they are inappropriate, just the opposite. The little over three miles looping through the creekside singletrack in the forest near the Hephzibah Children's Home is a perfect example.

This institution has been serving middle Georgia since 1900 by providing complete residential care to children ages 6-17 who are primarily referred to them by the Department of Family and Children Services. The goal of Hephzibah is to provide the care and counseling necessary for the children to become incorporated back into a normal existence. Currently, there are 40 children in residence and plans have been made to bring the capacity to 120.

Part of the counseling program, of course, uses recreation, which has helped bring about the biking trails along the Colaparchee Creek. The trails, designed and developed by Macon's Bike-Tech owner, John Hall, are free of charge for the community's use as a support service provided by Hephzibah. The intent is to keep this trail open for public use as long as the scenic forest course remains free of debris.

Riding this trail during spring can be wonderfully distracting as you steer through some beautiful patches of painted trilliums, rue anemones, and Easter lilies scattered among mockernut hickory, buckeye, and maples. Hollies jut their prickly crowns over ferns growing along banks of springs trickling into the Colaparchee. Pay attention, though. There are some demanding maneuvers required in order to ride this one straight through.

General location: The trail loops and dips through a mixed hardwood forest just off of Zebulon Road west of Interstate 475 and west of Macon.

Elevation change: The steeper sections can be jaw-snapping in their degree of descent and near unrideable when you attempt the climb, but most of the trail can be characterized as gently rolling.

Season: The trail's location near the creek makes for some boggy spots in the wetter weather; wait for drier days. The creek, however, makes it awfully nice to drop your feet in and cool off on those hot summer days.

Services: All services can be found in Macon.

Hazards: There is one particularly difficult creek crossing that calls for a sharp turn to the right as a steep descent dumps onto a sandy oxbow of a small creek feeding the Colaparchee. A double dipsy-do alongside the creek, which is great fun, calls for care so that you don't hightail it and tumble down the creek bank.

Rescue index: This trail is fairly heavily used, and other users would soon pick up on any distress you might experience. You are less than a mile from either the entrance to Hephzibah or Zebulon Road.

Land status: This is land owned by the Hephzibah Children's Home.

Finding the trail: Take I-475, exit onto Zebulon road and head west. The bridge at the bottom of the hill marks the trailhead on the right-hand side of the highway. Park on the shoulder of the road on either side of the bridge.

Notes on the trail: A well-constructed bridge across the creek links two sections of trail on either side of the Colaparchee Creek. The northern loop drops down from Zebulon Road and goes along the creek for about 0.5 mile before veering off to the left in a couple of places. The first fork is a sheer climb, which is better off left for riding down. The second fork to the left reconnects to the trail in 0.25 mile or less and serves to shorten the approach to the difficult creek crossing. The third fork to the left loops back toward Zebulon Road and picks up the second fork before crossing the small creek. After making this technical crossing, the trail splits. The right fork swings wide to go along the bank above Zebulon Road. The left fork comes back into the trail down the sheer drop mentioned earlier. This is a very amusing section of trail.

You'll notice the bridge across the Colaparchee Creek before taking the third left fork along the creek. By taking this bridge, you can ride another, shorter section of trail that dead-ends into Hephzibah's main entrance road. It did appear, though, that plans were under way to construct more single-track on this side of the trail. I sure hope so.

Sources of additional information:

Hephzibah Children's Home
Zebulon Road
Macon, GA
(912) 477-3383

Bike-Tech
3003 Vineville Avenue
Macon, GA 31204-2405
(912) 741-8356

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