richard martin trail

We had previously ridden the southern half of this trail which is about 5.5 mile s long. We parked at the Elkmont trailhead which is approximately the hallway mark of the trail. This time we headed north from Elkmont and first thing I noticed was it seemed to be down hill for most of the ride which is about 5.2 miles long. The northern portion of the trail seemed to be not as well maintained as the southern portion and the ride was much rougher. Definitely would not be able to use a road touring bike. At the northern end point there are bathrooms but I did not see any water fountains. Probably would not ride this trail again as it was a bit rough for biking.

This trail is part of the rails to trail program and extends from just north of Athen AL to almost the TN state line for a length of 10 miles. There are mile markers throughout the trail which seemed to match up very closely with my bike computer. We actually parked at the Elkmont AL trailhead next to the Red Cabose which is about midway on the trail We biked south to the southern trailhead just north of Athens AL. There is a bathroom facility there as well as covered picnic tables and parking. Also a large pecan tree which had been shedding it's pecans which we ate a few. The trail was flat and fairly smooth although I would not recommend riding it using a road touring bike or racing bike. We used comfort bikes which had the larger tires and that was just fine. In Elkmont there are a few stores and at least 2 places to eat, a BBQ joint and a cheese store that offers a lunch time sandwich menu. Horse riders use the trail and while we saw none as it was a weekday there are the horse dropping you have to watch out for although not excessive.