Updated: 12/23/2008
How this trip came about...
It was a last minute thing, planned just a couple days in advance. I had vacation that I needed to use before the end of the year. My buddy Ted already had time off and wanted to ride somewhere. We are both going with several others in May to Deal's Gap to ride The Tail of the Dragon, but unlike them we have never been there before. We thought "why not do a scouting trip ahead of time and see what it's like?"
We loaded the bikes in my truck and took off to my cousin's house in North Cove, NC. They were nice enough to leave a key for us since they were out of town. We left Delaware Friday morning and arrived and settled in Friday evening. Saturday morning we drove to The Dragon and rode for several hours there. Sunday we rode around North Cove, then packed everything up and drove back to Delaware on Monday.
The Bikes:
2008 Husqvarna SM610 (left) and 2005 KTM 625 SMC (right).
The Conditions:
Saturday at Deal's Gap -- Temps in the high 50s to low 60's. Patches of light rain till about 1:30pm, wetting all the roads, then constant rain through the night.
Sunday at North Cove -- cold and very windy. Temps in the mid 30's till about 2pm, then dropping into the 20s after that. Wind gusts upwards of 45mph, which dried the roads completely.
And the trip begins...
We packed up the bikes Thursday night, and I picked up Ted at his place Friday morning at 7:20am.
Driving the truck from Delaware to North Cove, NC
(Google Map link). We hit tons of traffic from Baltimore to D.C.
On Interstate 81 in Virginia we passed through lots of green rolling hills.
Welcome to North Carolina.
We crossed many rivers.
As we got closer though, the clouds got more menacing in appearance. The contrast between them and blue skies beyond though was really cool looking at times.
Instead of getting off of 81 and taking 77 south to 40 (see map below), then 40 west to Marion, and 221 North, we took a more scenic route since it was still light outside. We went another couple miles further on 81 and got off at 11 south, then got on 21 south and 221, which took us through Boone.
Our Destination – North Cove, NC…
Situated on 221, the house is about 17 miles north of the town of Marion. It is located at the base of several mountains, and is about 4 miles south of the Blue Ridge Parkway. In the picture below you can see one mountain in the background. The Blue Ridge Parkway is up there somewhere.
Standing in the front yard looking south towards Marion.
Looking north on 221 towards Linville Caverns (1.5 miles north) and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Across the street were cows!
Saturday morning we started our drive to Deal's Gap. We left North Cove around 7:30am and followed the route in the map below (Google Map link).
We went by several lakes that had very low water tables. I guess this past summer was not good to the area in regards to rainfall.
A scenic overlook along the way.
Here we are, on 28, getting closer to Robbinsville and Deal's Gap.
Deal's Gap & The Tail of the Dragon...
Finally, we made it to Robbinsville! We turned north on 129, following it for about 17 miles to Deal's Gap, where we would unload the bikes.
We got a couple nice pictures of Lake Santeetlah along the way.
We originally planed to park and unload at Tapoco Lodge. However, because this was the off season and the weather was poor, it was closed forcing us to continue north another 3 miles to Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort, located at the intersection of 129 and 28, also known as the Crossroads of Time. This is where we parked the truck and based our rides from.
Just prior to getting there we passed by this dam. The very next turn is where the roads got VERY steep and VERY twisty! There was a warning sign coming the other way that said "12% grades for the next 3 miles." Wow!
Here is Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort. Point "A" on the map below shows this location. As you can see, the place was empty this time of year.
We could tell the place was closed, and initially we were worried about where we would park and unload, perhaps having to drive the 17 miles back to Robbinsville. There was a gentleman standing outside that worked there, and after asking for directions he said that we could unload and park there as long as we left everything as we found it. He moved the barricades and let us unload our bikes using their loading ramp. We unloaded and moved the truck back out to the gas station area.
Here is Ted posing in front of the recognizable sign they have out front.
Here is a map of the section of 129 we rode, including The Tail of the Dragon (Google Map link). Again, point "A" is where we parked the truck. Point "B" is the gas station shown in pictures below.
About a half mile from Deal's Gap is where you cross into TN. Unfortunately the roads were very wet the entire way. The entire time it was like we were chasing a downpour.
We just rode conservatively and quickly became comfortable with the conditions. The best part about this is that we didn’t come up behind a single car, and only had one or two pass us in the other direction. We stopped at the dam overlook for some pictures.
Ted and the dam in the background.
Continuing north from the dam for another 3 miles or so dropped us out of the hills and twisties and along a river and flat roads. We followed this for another couple of miles, passing another dam, and eventually coming to the gas station where we filled up.
We filled up and made a return pass through the Dragon.
With about 3 miles to go it started to rain lightly. By the time we got back to the truck is stopped, and we decided to continue on towards Fontana Village on 28 (see map below). This road, 28, is also known as the Hellbender
(Google Map link). Although lacking the drastic elevation changes and extremely tight turns of The Dragon, it still has tons of nice curves and is a complete blast to ride. Much faster in some sections, but still plenty tight in others. Point "A" to "B" was just over 20 miles in length one way.
28 borders the Great Smokey Mountains National Park (as does parts of 129), so we stopped to take a picture of the bikes next to one of the signs.
This picture shows a mild section of 28. I'd say it is half way between tight-and-slow and wide-and-fast. Not a very good example on our part as we were having too much fun riding, but hopefully it will give you some idea of what the roads were like. Notice the slight banking to the turns? This was NOTHING compared to what was on The Dragon!
We stopped for fuel at the Hellbender Pitstop in Fontana Village. It was 12 miles from here to point "B" as shown on the map above.
We continued on 28 all the way out to where it intersects 143 (point "B"), and where we originally drove in earlier that day. We decided to turn around at that intersection. Just a couple moments later the skies opened up on us and we had to ride the 20 miles back to the truck in a heavy rain. It was heavy enough to really sting my nose each time a drop hit it.
When we got back there was not a single person around. Just us, the bikes, the rain and the truck.
We parked the bikes next to the Tree of Shame and snapped a few pictures before loading them into the truck.
The tree is covered in bent handlebars, broken fairings, dented gas tanks, magnled exhaust pipes, scratched up helmets and even a pink bigwheel!
If you crash on The Dragon, you hang your broken parts here for all too see -- The Tree of Shame!
After loading the bikes we parked under the gas station awning and changed into some dry clothes.
We took 15 minutes to relax and enjoy some food and drinks we brought along with us.
We still had an hour or so of daylight left so we decided to make a pass through The Dragon in the truck so we could get a better look at things. We stopped at the dam overlook to turn around, but not before taking another picture.
Here is the 12% Grade sign I mentioned earlier. It was no joke!
Driving home was a nightmare. The GPS ended up taking us another route, which followed 19 out of Robbinsville and over some steep twisty roads in the rain. At one point the GPS said we were at 4,369 feet, which was the highest elevation we had seen yet. Crossing the other side dropped us into Maggie Valley, a rather large resort town which looked pretty nice. Unlike many of the other areas we had traveled through to this point, there were many restaurants and bars there.
We stopped for dinner and a couple of drinks at a restaurant in Marion called Fatz's. Getting back to the house still rather early, and still not ready to call it a day, we had a couple more beverages while taking about the day's ride and what was in store for us tomorrow.
Riding the bikes at North Cove...
The next day (Sunday) we decided to stay in North Cove and explore the roads around there. I had a pretty good idea ahead of some good ones, so we saddled up and took off.
The map below shows some of the roads we rode Sunday. The red pin shows where the house was. You can see 181 in the top right, 80 in the bottom left, and 226A and 226 just to the left of center. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs from the bottom left to the top of center through Little Switzerland and Alta Pass. The cool gas station (Jonas Ridge Outfitters) I mention below is at the top of 181 where the gas station icon is.
To start things off we rode up 221 from the house, then took 183 over to 181 (Google Map link). 181 is also known as The Rattler as we were told, and is a 15 mile stretch of fast twisty turns. The sign at the top, near Jonas Ridge, said to expect a 9% grade for the next 11 miles!
At the top of 181 is a really cool place to get food and fuel called Jonas Ridge Outfitters. One of the owners, a fellow named Tom, was there and gave us the scoop on the area and some of the cool places to ride (several of which were already on our list).
(picture taken from the web)
Inside the store they had all kinds of motorcycle memorabilia as well as a TV that played motorcycle videos and movies. They had several flags and banners outside, including a orange KTM flag that matched my bike.
Inside there were pictures of the owners and their friends riding the local roads. In one picture (right), was a R6 Yamaha I believe that had earned several top speed records at the Maxton Mile.
The mens bathroom was a sight to see. This picture does it no justice, as I had no wide angle lense, but it was filled with movie posters and autographed rider posters from top to bottom. There was also other nick-nacks like the old helmet on the left.
Heading south on 181, we took some pictures of some of the turns. Again, the camera does them no justice. What you can't see is that around the bend, and also behind the camera, the turns just keep going and going. It is awesome!
After doing an out-and-back on 181, we came back to 221 and took it south to 226A (Point "A" on map below). We then took 226A north to Little Switzerland, got fuel, then took the Blue Ridge Parkway south to 80 (Google Map link).
A picture next to one of the many Blue Ridge Parkway signs.
Here we are in Little Switzerland. This was a VERY cool place, and I'd imagine quite busy in the warmer months.
With the temps in the high 30s, we were hoping to find a place to get some coffee. Unfortunately, the Little Switzerland cafe was closed.
A couple of pictures up on 226A. Not much action though, as most of these turns had very steep drop offs and I wasn't going to take too much of a risk for a cool photo. Perhaps next time when I get to know the roads more!
Here is an overlook right near the intersection of 226A, 226, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was an awesome view.
Over Ted's shoulder is where we had lunch. The name escapes me, but it was a nice place with good food. Although this angle doesn't show it, it had an awesome view.
After lunch we got on the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed south for 25 miles or so to 80. Pictured here is one of the two tunnels we went through. They were lots of fun to ride through...
...and wheelie through too!
Down near Mt. Mitchell we came across this overlook.
Once again, great views!
I wish I had some pictures of 80, but it was really starting to get cold and we could see ice forming along the roadside so we tried to get to lower elevations ASAP.
Once there, and getting close to where we would get off 80 in Marion, we came across this dam.
The trip back to Delaware...
We packed everything up Sunday evening and were on the road by about 10am Monday morning. 181 was so much fun on the bikes, so we decided to go that way in the truck and snap some more pictures along the way (those are the pics I used above).
We stopped again at Jonas Ridge Outfitters for fuel and a breakfast sandwich.
The temperature had dropped overnight, but on the top of the mountain it was really cold!
We took a slightly different round back to Delaware from North Cove, NC, stopping to see my sister in Durham, NC (Google Map link).
The rest of the drive was uneventful. We had plenty to talk about, including how we'd plan another trip back down there to ride some more.
2 days and 1,100 miles on the truck and 225+ miles on the motards. Cold, windy and wet at times. Hopefully the weather will be better next time, but would we do it again? Hell yeah!
End of story. Hope you enjoyed it!
-Banning.
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