Parking at the Scales?

[GolfHiker]

My buddies & I are doing a short section, going NOBO into Atkins. The mileage just works out such that we’d like to start at The Scales ( mile 506.6). For those of you who’ve been there, the Scales are a large horse corral, with an open meadow, just West of Stone Mountain. My big question is, can you drive up to the Scales? We don’t need a parking lot or place to drop a car, but rather, just need our shuttle to be able to get us & leave us at the Scales.

My memory is fuzzy on this, but I thought ( and hoped) you could drive up there. If not the Scales, any ideas on a trail juncture near there. I’m not finding anything on Guthook.

Thanks.

[tdoczi]

dont know how the drive is but i hiked through there on a sunday morning and it was packed with cars that had driven up and spent the night. not all of them trucks if i am remembering correctly.

but really the people who would know for sure are the shuttlers in the area.

[Lone Wolf]

My buddies & I are doing a short section, going NOBO into Atkins. The mileage just works out such that we’d like to start at The Scales ( mile 506.6). For those of you who’ve been there, the Scales are a large horse corral, with an open meadow, just West of Stone Mountain. My big question is, can you drive up to the Scales? We don’t need a parking lot or place to drop a car, but rather, just need our shuttle to be able to get us & leave us at the Scales.

My memory is fuzzy on this, but I thought ( and hoped) you could drive up there. If not the Scales, any ideas on a trail juncture near there. I’m not finding anything on Guthook.

Thanks.

driving to scales is a 4 mile, 2 beer ride that takes about 40 minutes. very rough road. better off just parking at fox creek

[Slo-go'en]

Looks like a long gravel road with three switch backs on the map. I would think weather would be the big factor on whether you could get up there or not. If your thinking of doing this in the near future, that would be a concern. Late spring and on, no problem.

An alternative would be to start from the Hickory Ridge campground which has a paved road to it. That would add a little over 2 miles to the trip vs starting at Scales and it looks to be pretty easy miles. Maybe another hour, hour and a half of hiking. Once at the Scales, it's all down hill to Plum Orchard shelter. It's a pretty good grunt to get to Hurricane Mt shelter from there. So, either way I wouldn't go past Plum Orchard for the first day.

[MuddyWaters]

Seen school buses parked there....dropping off bus loads.
Unless i imagined it

[GolfHiker]

Thanks all for the info. I was right that there is a lot and road access to the Scales, but now I know it’s not so easy to drive up there, especially before spring. So we’ll be heading to the Fox Creek Camp, starting north from there. Problem solved!

[Dan Roper]

The road to the Scales is in awful condition, at least as of my ride in July '17. It's murder on cars. Trucks can make it but it's a long, hard ride.

Last year, we were starting at the Scales, where we had stopped in '17. Rather than get a shuttle directly to the Scales, we parked at Grayson Highlands State Park and hiked down to the Scales. There's a shortcut a half-mile or so past the shelter - a gravel road of about one mile that climbs straight to the Scales, cutting off about three miles of AT walking.

Last June 2 to June 5, we did Grayson Highlands to Atkins (we didn't do the shortcut, but I've done it in the past). The Grayson Highlands are a real highlight, but there are others. Some of the ridgetops north of Fox Creek Road are lovely fern gardens in late spring and early summer. And you can order pizza at Partnership Shelter.

[SawnieRobertson]

Thanks all for the info. I was right that there is a lot and road access to the Scales, but now I know it’s not so easy to drive up there, especially before spring. So we’ll be heading to the Fox Creek Camp, starting north from there. Problem solved!

Smart decision.

[Gambit McCrae]

You can park up there but I have heard it is a rough ride up there

[Alligator]

You'll want a vehicle with high clearance to avoid damage. Higher for instance than a KIA Sorento .

[Gambit McCrae]

You'll want a vehicle with high clearance to avoid damage. Higher for instance than a KIA Sorento .

Speaking from personal experience gator? lol

[Dogwood]

driving to scales is a 4 mile, 2 beer ride that takes about 40 minutes. very rough road. better off just parking at fox creek

I've never heard a trip defined by how many beers it takes to get there.

[TNhiker]

I've never heard a trip defined by how many beers it takes to get there.

my alcoholic neighbors growing up, this is how they determined what to bring...

not a "hey, the grocery store is ten minutes away"-----it was "the grocery stores is two beers there and two beers back"


for every errand they ran, it was like this....

[Alligator]

Speaking from personal experience gator? lol

Yep. I was driving super slow too, like a twelve-pack pace no less but there was one rock I couldn't get around. Knocked something on the steering/suspension, was about $200 repair bill. I didn't really notice an issue but wife did when she got the vehicle back!