Mistletoe State Park - 07/03/09

This park is located on a 72,000 acre lake (Clarks Hill Lake) near Augusta. It took roughly 2 hours to get there. We went there to meet one of the requirements of the "Muddy Spokes Club", so the only thing we did there was mountain biking. You're supposed to do the 6.25-mile Rock Dam Trail, but you're going to have to do part of the Cliatt Creek Trail to get to it, so figure on 7+ miles of biking. The Rock Dam Trail is very well marked in blue, but you have to keep your eyes out for the markings because there are several places where people have made other side trails. This ride was the toughest one we've done. I would not let small children do this one. There are 4 water crossings, a few places where you could take a nasty drop off the creek bank and several places where trees are down and you have to either drag your bike under a tree or carry it over. The worst section is a very rocky section overlooking the lake where you have to lean into the hill to stay vertical, but then your tires want to kick out from under you. A seasoned mountain biker could probably handle this trail with no problem, but I fell a couple times and that had not happened on any of the other rides we've done.

Donnie
Mark