If you are looking for some good biking trails in the suburbs north of Atlanta for your road bike, one of the really good ones is the Big Creek Greenway. This is a super long (mix of paved + boardwalk) trail that runs from Roswell up to Alpharetta and then proceeds all the way to Canton Hwy in Cumming. My personal favorite part of the greenway for biking is the stretch between Fowler Park heading all the way north and back again. This specific portion is shown below with a few points of interest – including trail heads and parking areas.

(1) Fowler Park Parking Area

(2) Bethelview Rd. trail head (parking is available but a bit limited compared to Fowler Park)

(3) Steep inclines begin

(4) A very long steep climb

(5) Northernmost point on the trail

For a kid-friendly biking trip, I would recommend parking at Fowler Park (1) and heading north as shown above or heading south towards Halcyon. If you head north, you can bike up to the Bethelview Rd. trail head (2) and return to Fowler Park (1). Depending on how fast you are able to go this will be a round-trip between 30 mins to an hour.

But if you really want a nice workout, keep heading north past Bethelview Rd trail head. The part of the trail between (3) and (4) in the map above has a couple of steep inclines and is definitely not recommended for beginners (although you can always dismount and walk your bike up). Make sure your brakes are in good shape when riding down these inclines.

The northernmost point (5) is approximately an hour’s ride away from Fowler Park so a round trip such as the one above takes about 2 hours. The south side of the trail can get pretty crowded at times but the northernmost part is the opposite extreme and can feel very isolated.

One day – maybe this trail will be extended even further north – right up to Sawnee Mountain. But for now, that circle above near Canton Hwy is where the trail ends. Enjoy the ride!