What a fun drive! 
My decision to do this was a last minute one. I’ve wanted to drive these roads for a while now but never really took the initiative. And since I don’t have AC in my car I needed to make the trip at a time when it wasn’t so hot that I’d be sweating the entire time, or too cold that I couldn’t enjoy tire grip & t-tops off. After looking at the weather forecast I decided now was the right time!
I recently had my front bumper replaced & repainted and wasn’t in a hurry to damage it on a long road trip. Semi truck tire shards & small to medium sized animals might present a problem, if at least to keep me nervous and overly cautious. As it is my bumper sits low and I scrape everywhere. But I had already thought through this problem back when my bumper was replaced and made sure to keep the old one. So before hitting the road I removed all my center caps, rain-x’d the crap out of the windows (more on this later) and mounted the old bumper, turn signals and fog lights:
… The bumper no longer matches but at least this way if I clobbered a rabid raccoon I wouldn’t really care. And after that was complete (along with the usual road trip preparation) I was ready to go!
The trip down was uneventful for the most part until I hit rain… hours and hours of rain. But this wasn’t really a surprise and I had prepared for it by covering my windows with heavy coats of rain-x and not buffing the excess off. While I had to deal with some haze when the sun was out, once it started raining (and raining HARD) I didn’t even need to use my wipers except for a few instances where I was passing other cars. At one point however the topography of the road left me no choice but to sit behind a semi truck and let it push the inch of standing road water out of my way. The roads were acting like waterfalls as runoff flowed down hill and over the road. This did limit my speed quite a bit and increased my travel time to Knoxville where I’d be staying. 55mph was my max in areas where I should have been going 80mph. All told it was a 10 hour journey.
But that trip through the rain had to end eventually and left me a perfectly beautiful day to drive! All the roads had dried out and the temperature was in the low 70s. My plan was to drive this 120 mile loop by starting in the morning and returning in the afternoon, with the idea that an early drive would see less traffic:
Tail of the Dragon
The road that is “the dragon” isn’t as remote as I had pictured. It’s only a quick drive from civilization and maybe 20 minutes from the Knoxville airport. And it turns out going early was the right choice. It was also a Wednesday which I can only assume is slower than on the weekend. Car traffic was light. I only passed 1 Corvette, a minivan and a convertible Camry. However the area is certainly hog-heaven… lots of cruiser-style bikes, Harleys and those KTM Adventurer style bikes (the things you’d cross Africa or some other remote place on.) There were maybe 2 sport bikes. The bikers are considerate and would often signal things to me as I drove the road. I certainly understood the ‘slow down’ hand motion as we approached some guy and his Harley on the wrong side of the road… he may have dumped it and was just getting back on when I passed. Then there was the ‘head tap’ which I assumed was a cop signal as moments later I passed a car shooting radar.
The speed limit on this road is 30mph and you might think it’s possible to take at a higher speed… well you’d be right, but it would be very unsafe, lol. Blind turns with grandpa hugging the center line on his cruiser, pipes sparking all the way left me rethinking the urge to push it too much. One of the sport bikes was on the side of the road getting a ticket about half way in. At each sharp turn I could slide out the rear tires. I’m talking about 180 degrees of directional changing turns, with a moderate bank, zero shoulder and a rough looking guy on a Harley coming the other way. I was in 2nd gear almost the entire time, but my gearing is quite tall. I was faster through a few sections though and some bikes and the minivan pulled off to the side so that I could pass them. Thank you whoever you are, lol.
Along the way there are guys on the sides of the road taking pictures. After your trip you can visit their websites and buy the pictures they’ve taken. I actually purchased a digital copy today, but I’m waiting for it to come in my email. Once through the border into NC there is a stop where you can buy shirts, grab a bite to eat, etc. More hog-heaven here too. Bikes everywhere. But they were all cool and one guy even walked up to me to warn me about the cop I had already passed. I didn’t spend much time here.
On to the pics!
Gas prices are a bit better than up here:
The start to the winding road. I pulled over here to take off the t-tops and snapped a few shots:
Starting to get twisty!
Now we see the bikes:
Just inside where it gets really twisty. Note the trike in front of me, down the road a ways. I needed to take a piss…
One of the camera spots on the side of the road:
The rest area right near the end:
The damn at the end / valley floor:
Cherohala Skyway
After finishing “the dragon” my next road wasn’t too far away. The Skyway was something I didn’t know anything about, but I’m glad I decided to take it! Go here for more info: http://www.cherohala.org/
This was my favorite part of the trip. The roads were a more reasonable 45mph and while not as twisty, more fun in my opinion. No police in sight. Only one lone S-Class was driving behind me before pulling off at a rest area. There were still bikes, but much fewer. No photo-jockeys on the side of the road. The only problem was the trike and sidecar bike that I was behind for a little… these guys couldn’t seem to take the inclines very well. Once I found a passing zone I forgot about them. There was a lot of elevation change too, enough to make your ears pop several times.
And the view is awesome. Unlike the dragon, there is much more to look at and you can enjoy the ride instead of worrying about a downed bike just around the bend. It’s as if you’re driving right on the ridge of a mountain at times. There are also plenty of places to pull over, take in the view or eat lunch. There was even a public bathroom stop.
Keep in mind that this website shrinks pictures automatically so if you want to see full-resolution pictures, make sure you right-click and view them that way! These panoramas turned out great:
One of the rest areas with an elevated view platform:
I guess he hates bugs. There were none when I was up there:
Smaller field of view:
More of the rest area. Note the pesky trike and sidecar bike:
The last point where I stopped was one of the highest. A bit chilly up here but worth it. I don’t know where Mister B’s Tavern is in Niagara Falls, but I almost wish I had an NYSpeed sticker to tag the sign with, lol:
If you enjoy driving this area is certainly worth the trip. Definitely the best roads I’ve ever been on. I wouldn’t say the dragon is over rated, but it’s definitely more tourist oriented. It’s like a roller coaster that you can drive, but lasts about as long too. I only drove it one-way but I’m sure it would have been fun in either direction. If you enjoy tight turns but slower speeds you won’t be disappointed. And if you have a bike you’ll be right at home. Pairing the dragon with the skyway was great. A mix of both driving worlds and great views. I’m glad I went and will probably do it again at some point. :tup:
