Cycling the Doodle Trail

Bike repair station
My new bicycle arrived a few days ago, and of course I had to find someplace to take it. I haven't owned or ridden on one in a long time, so I needed a bicycle path that wasn't too challenging (such as a rail trail), wasn't far away, and wasn't too heavily trafficked. The Doodle Trail, a rail-trail between Easley and Pickens in Pickens County, fit my criteria nicely.

I walked the trail back in February 2016. Since then the trail has been extended by about mile into downtown Easley, making the total length now about 8 miles. The current Easley trailhead is near the Easley Municipal Court building of NW Main Street, and that's where I started from.
Easley Municipal Court
Court must not have been in session today because the parking lot was nearly empty.

The Doodle Trail crosses over NW Main Street and enters Westview Cemetery at Wilbur Street.
Westview Cemetery
With the recent trail expansion, Wilbur Street has become a one way street for cars on the right hand side, and pedestrians and cyclists on the left hand side.

I didn't take many photos along the way, as concentrating on cycling was plenty enough when you haven't done it in a few decades. I also wanted to keep moving because the temperature was rather hot in the low 90s today. Most of the photos I would have taken would looked much like the ones I took back in 2016 anyway, except for the different season.

The Doodle Park is currently under construction at the intersection of Fleetwood Drive where the original trailhead was once located.
Future Doodle Park - 2
Progress reports on the park are being posted to the Doodle Trail's official Facebook page.

Another new amenity approximately at the halfway point along the trail, or between Elijean Road and Hayes Road, is Rotary Park, dedicated September 2016.
Rotary Park - 2 Rotary Park - 1
For me, this place served its purpose quite well. I rested a few minutes while drinking from a bottle of water.

The trailhead at the Pickens end still looks much the same...
Mile marker 1.0 Pickens trailhead - 1
The former Pickens Railroad buildings will soon be transformed into a park.
Leftover rail - 2
but work is just beginning on the project.

According to my GPS, the trip took about three hours from Easley to Pickens and back, including a few minutes rest now and then.

The new bike did quite well, but I don't like the seat. The seat became uncomfortable after a few miles. I'll want to find a better one sooner rather than later.

I've uploaded shared my photos to an album on Flickr, or you can go through them below:
Cycling the Doodle Trail - Sept 2017

Comments

  1. Tom TaylorOctober 5, 2017 at 10:01 AM

    Nice looking bike! I need to get a new one. When I tried paddling that section the gears messed up and I wound up walking much of the way. I also had to get a seat cover for mine.

    It's interesting to see the progress they are making.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MarkOctober 6, 2017 at 12:13 PM

      Thanks! It looks like improvements to both trailheads should be done or close by the time you get back. I remembered you posted about that, and I found it here.

      BTW, my kayaking friend, I think perhaps you meant "pedaling that section"? lol

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thanksgiving Hike near Burrells Ford

Image
The Thanksgiving holiday is a chance for most families to get together and eat a Thanksgiving meal. I didn't have that opportunity this year so I decided to go somewhere and visit some waterfalls I've not yet visited before. I've seen many photos of King Creek Falls posted online over the years and I thought that would make a fine place to visit for Thanksgiving. After analyzing a map of the area, I chose to begin my hike at the parking area for the Burrells Ford Campground , a quarter mile away from the campground off Burrells Ford Road (FS 708). When I arrived mid-morning several cars and trucks were already there. I had expected the place to be deserted, but it would seem a few other people had the same idea as mine! The trail begins at the end of the parking area down the Foothills Trail. A sign a short distance down the trail gives the distance to King Creek Falls as a half mile. King Creek Falls Trail begins off of FS 708B and joins with Foothills Trail jus...
Read more

January 2020 Hikes

Image
My goodness, another month has come and is almost gone! Time for a report on my hikes during January 2020. I went on five hikes this month. I had more planned, but rain forced some hikes to be canceled or rescheduled. Dupont State Forest - High Falls and Triple Falls The first Saturday of January I went with a great group up to Dupont State Forest. During the visit we visited High Falls and Triple Falls. High Falls was really throwing off some spray this day. High Falls was throwing off so much spray, I had trouble keeping my lens dry! The sun was at a perfect angle to backlight the waterfall. A few clouds would have been nice. Fortunately, I'd find better conditions at Triple Falls. The water here was also up, but the clouds moved in helping to even out the light. I'm not much on black and white photography, but I also liked how the black and white version turned out! We made it as far as High Falls Bridge... ...before turning around to hike back to t...
Read more

December 2019 Hikes

Image
I've been on a number of waterfall hikes since Thanksgiving, mostly with Meetup groups. Since I don't take many photos when hiking with the Meetup groups, these hikes weren't really worth a post on their own. I did post a few photos to my Instagram account, but if you don't happen to Instagram then these hikes will be news to you. I'll summarize the visits below. Wildcat Wayside On December 11th, I led a small group to Wildcat Wayside , a roadside wayside park located by US 276/SC 11 near Cleveland, South Carolina. First we hiked a trail to visit Lower, Middle, and Upper Wildcat Falls on Wildcat Creek. Then we went down to a trail by Slickum Creek to visit Last Falls on Slickum and Sweet Thing on Slickum. As a bonus, I then led them past a parking area where US 276/SC 11 split to a bushwack up to Spider Tunnel Falls , the top of which is visible from US 276 during the winter. My photos from this trip are in the album Wildcat Wayside and More - Dec 20...
Read more