On Memorial Day and all, I decided to take a ride up to Toccoa and run up the mountain made famous by the men of Easy Company (check out the first episode of Band of Brothers). The run starts at the Col. Robert Sink trail at the site of Camp Toccoa, which was where the US Army trained paratroopers prior to and during WWII. The trail follows what used to be Currahee mountain road roughly three miles up to the summit. I say roughly because it most likely does not begin at the same spot where the paratroopers began their “three miles up, three miles down” training runs, and according to my Garmin it was a shade short from the parking lot.
The trail starts out fairly moderate for the first two miles. It’s more rolling hills than mountain run, but just before you get to two miles you run down to the base of the mountain and arrive at a small cabin, from then on it is straight up to the summit. I set out with a plan to run the final mile climb three times. I didn’t really have a goal time set in my mind. I just wanted to get up it.
I’ve run up Currahee once before and I took Amanda and her sister up it last spring, so going into the workout I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. It’s a long grueling climb to the top, according to Strava it is 11.2% average grade, but the final quarter mile or so the grade ratchets up to nearly 30%...like I said rugged. It gains 602 feet over the mile and it’s rated as a category 3 climb.
When you reach the top there are a couple of radio towers, but no marker like it is portrayed in Band of Brothers. It seems like the land was sold off right after the camp was closed and no one really thought about the fact that the summit would carry such cultural and historical significance. However it still provides a really nice view of the surrounding areas.
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