What an awesome day! I woke up, looked outside, and found blue sky. Some of you might be thinking, "yah, I see that every day!?!?". Well, I haven't here in Huntsville, AL. Plagued with 13 days of measurable rain in May with over double the normal rainfall, riding time has been scarce. And the few times riding haven't gone so well (just look at last weekend's ride report). Once I saw the sun, I couldn't wait to riding!

I get to the gas station and find a large crowd for the second weekend in a row. What is this? I find Charlie has arrived with a surprise -- a new silver GSX-1000. And it is one very impressive looking machine. Charlie was smiling from ear to ear, haha. Congradulations Charlie on your new ride! Be safe on that monster!

After thirty minutes of socializing, it's time to ride. After last week's mishap, I felt last week's route would be riddled with police officers. Thus, I thought it would probably be best to avoid that route today. Just then, Jeff spoke up and suggested a route through Guntersville, AL and south. I had never been down in that area before and it sound pretty interesting. For a change, I would be going into uncharted territory.

With such a large group, I figured some would not share my enthusiasm and want to go the normal route. I tried to do a little pre-ride briefing to see whom was going the normal way and who was going Jeff's way. I don't think it went very well for I really didn't know what to say. Next time, I will make sure I have notes to guide me through. Even though we still had some confusion, I feel pretty confident that something needs to be said before each ride. Hopefully, the group won't start throwing tomatos at me before I get something better organized.

Ok, so it is time to ride! We headed out the normal way on Hwy 72 to Gurley, AL. Where we normally turn left to hit Hwy 65, we went straight to Scottsboro, AL. There is only one way to describe Hwy 72 from Huntsville to Scottsboro -- BORING! I have to admit I was getting a bit nervous when we got to Scottsboro -- fearing a day of nothing but drone roads. Once in Scottsboro, we pulled off at a gas-stop. I think everyone was sharing my feelings -- fearing the day would include no excitement. Surely, though, something would happen to make this day a fond memory, right?

But not to fear, Jeff was going to take good care of us! We crossed over the Tennessee River on Hwy 35 and started down this road that runs right along the river. All I can is "wow, what a cool road" (minus being a touch rough). Unfortunately, we only got to see about five or ten miles before we find a small bridge out. WTH? Does Alabama take out every bridge during the summer? (see last week's ride report for clarification).

So, we turn around and find a place to pull off. At this point, a handful of riders don't think they are going to find any curvy roads in the near future. Being weak at heart, they decide to head back into Scottsboro. The rest of us decide to push on -- knowing that something good had to be just ahead. We watch at least 1/2 the group turn back. As for the rest of us, it was going to be sink or swim and little did we know we were about to be swimming like fish!

We roll out of the parking lot, go not even two-hundred yards, turn right, and we are immediately on some twisty roads. It was a blast. The best part of this road was a really low bridge bridge we crossed. I don't think you could really call it a bridge though. It was more like a concrete slab with some pipes in it to let the creek flow through. Had there been any rain the night before, the bridge would have been covered in water. Once crossing the bridge, we shot straight back uphill into switchbacks. The switchbacks were so tight that I thought I was going to have to stop, backup alittle, and go again. They literally curved around tree trunks. Way too cool!

Once out of that area, we had to ask for some more direction. Once we got a feel for where we were using the newly had directions (by a man who had one extremely large brush fire going) and some coordinates off my GPS, Jeff knew exactly where to go. Off to "Low Creek Falls" we go.

Before too long, we cross a bridge where I see this great looking stream. We pull off, ungear, and head down this little trail. After weeding through some wildly tree branches, we are all out on the rocks and enjoying the scenery. Had I known we would have stopped at such a cool spot, I would have worn a bathing suit and jumped in.

After soaking up the scenery for about twenty minutes, we were gearing up again and getting ready to head towards Guntersville, AL. That is when I saw the gang veer off to the left at a fork in the road. Then we turned off the main road. When we turned off the main road onto this part gravel/part asphault road, I was beginning to think Jeff had lost his mind. Little did I know Jeff was taking us to the coolest stop of the day!

We didn't even go five miles before we were in parking area. We all pull into the shade and get our gear off. We are then greeted by the nicest park ranger I've ever met. He gave us LOTS of maps and flyers about the area. I soon got a bit punchy and had to see what this "High Falls" was all about. Down the trail I went and before too long I'm at the first viewing area. This spot was beautiful! With one big waterfall section and a natural rock bridge, it was breath-taking!. Soon, I was down at the bottom and couldn't resist climbing onto the rock bridge. From there, I was getting showered with mist from the falls which fell maybe fifty feet below. I should have brought a bathing suit.

As we were looking around, I saw a guy jump off the rocks into the water below. Then, a girl jumped, and then another man. We all stood there in awe and wholesomely agreed there was no way in the world ANY of us would jump. Ironically, we all seemed to be ok with driving our motorcycles beyond 120mph just a few minutes before; yet we all thought these people were insane for jumping fifty feet into water. I guess the young man holding his "equipment" in pain after his last jump influenced our decision.

By this point, the gang was growing hungry and it was time to eat. Again, we geared up and headed out. I, unfortunately, promised M I would be home around 3:30pm. Once we reached Guntersville, I shot across Hwy 69, hung a right on the road that took me to Union Grove, and eventually migrated back to Hwy 231 while the rest of the gang shot down Hwy 431 to find food. As hard as I tried, I was still ten minutes late getting home.

In the end, today went beyond my expectations. The views, twisty roads, and company made for one awesome day. Even though we didn't stuff the day with twisties, it was still one of the best riding days I've ever had. I definately want to do this again sometime soon -- only next time I'm bringing M along and we will have our bathing suits!

Statistics:
Total Mileage	170 miles
Max Speed	111mph
Average Speed	56mph

The first one comes from Dimitrios Deves:

Hello people......
Today, Sunday-June 1st, we had a great ride and a lot of fun, with pictures 
to prove it.

Despite that some of the group broke early, the rest kept on in to the 
"unknown" with a great result.  We end up seeing the "Low falls creek" and the 
"High Falls creek", -don't ask me where they are- through some nice twisties 
and a beautiful scenery.

I include the attached file with some pix for all to enjoy.  Me and Lori thank 
all the people for the nice ride and the good company. We should do it again 
soon!  I do  not mind at all to repeat this "adventure" any time.........
So, let's set-up a date to do it with all the company that we can carry and 
we can have a cook out in one of these places, and even swim next time:-)
Have a nice riding life and thank you all.....
Dimitris-Busa'00

Y'all saw some great scenery but I had clear roads, no LEO's and even hooked
up with a couple of Gixxer 1K's for a bid-end run at Skyline. Earlier, I
Talked to a Trooper working a wreck (burned-out car) and commented "Well at
least it's not a bike". His reply, "Oh, they'll be along any time now".
:-)

Gotta visit that creek and falls. Looks awesome!

photos are great. sorry i missed out. spent the day at bankhead national forrest 
bouncing off rocks and trees on my xr. desoto falls and little river canyon are 
worth seeing. there is a nice parking lot with restrooms at little river canyon 
and swimming is definately available there. a little longer ride to fall creek 
falls is fun too. great twisties on highway 30 and a huge waterfall(over 200ft) 
at the state park.  bruce