Mile High Camp & Ride

Me & Earthrooster (Jesse) did a 2-day ride & tent camping trip. Since our wives couldn't make it this time we decided to just do a guys trip and tent camp for the night. We camped at the Mile High Campground in NC on top of the Blue Ridge @ 5,400'. It's right on the edge of the Cherokee Indian reservation off the BRP between Cherokee & Maggie Valley. The weather was terrific and felt very Fall like at these high east coast elevations.

TRIP BY THE NUMBERS:

4 - Black bears spotted (Female with three young)

860 - Total 2-day trip mileage

450 - Total mountain portion mileage

700' - Base elevation starting point

6,300' - Highest elevation point along the route

51,079' - Total elevation gain along the route



Interactive Route Map

We met at Waffle House (of course) in GA at 8am and after fueling up we headed north to the starting point of the mountain portion of the route in TN. After riding alone Lake Ocoee we turned and headed up 1,500' in elevation to gain a better perspective of the area at Chillhowee Overlook.



After taking in the view we headed back down and turned north to start riding the twisties on Hwy 30/315....love this road! We came into Reliance, TN along the shores of the Hiawassee river and a old baptist church.



Just down the road by the rafting outfitters we climbed up the overhead railroad tracks to see the river & valley from up there.



Back on the bikes we road north into Tellico Plains but instead of riding the Cherohala we took the terrific power sweeper road hwy 360 north into Vonore and made our way onto the Foothills Parkway.



As we climbed in elevation we made a stop at "Look Rock Overlook". Jesse was caught taking in the view.



Persimmion tree fruit.



Dogwood tree showing some early signs of Autumn.



As we continued into the Smokey Mountains we made a side trip to check out Cades Cove.





The going is slow on this portion of the trip both in Cades Cove & along the Little River stretch. You just can't be in a hurry and it best to just take your time and soak in the views and relax. Turning north at Gatlinburg we starting climbing 441 and made it to the top of Newfound Gap at around 5pm.





Daylight was starting to fade already and we had to get down the other side of the Smokey's and then climb back up on the BRP to go set up camp for the night. But as we headed down elevation we had to stop one more time to check out this roadside view.



We got to the Mile high campground right at 6pm and started setting up for the night.



Hell of a nice view from the tent site!



Now it was almost 7pm and we were starving and it was getting close to dusk so we headed down to Cherokee for some terrific BBQ. Man was that good! But I had to stop and check out Soco Falls along the way. It's hard for me to pass up a good waterfall.



Back at the campsite it was nothing but clear & totally bright star filled skies. No light pollution to be found anywhere. A cool breeze was blowing up the ridge and we had a fire going and it was terrific just chilling out and appreciating being out in nature. As a funny coincidence in conversation we discovered we had the same birthdate...Sept 26...the day before. I just turned 40 and Jesse just turned 44. So my flask of cognac was my birthday drink and my Drew Estates Cigar became by birthday smoke. Had been a pretty damned good "birthday" trip so far. lol

It got down to 40 degrees overnight which to me is terrific sleeping weather. We rose at first light about 7:30am the next morning to this view waiting for us outside the tent.



After breaking down camp & packing up we headed down into Maggie Valley for a hearty breakfast at Joey's Pancake House. I got coffee, scambled eggs with cheese, corned beef hash and sweet potato pancakes. No oatmeal pouches & trail mix on this ride!



We headed up hwy 209 and rode up to Hot Springs, NC after breakfast. 24 miles of twisties.



We even hike the Appalachian Trail!



Hwy 209 turns into hwy 208 then hwy 212 then hwy 352 and climbs up and over the mountains and then follows the river. We turned south and took the amazing stretch of perfect twisty blacktop of hwy 19W back south and stopped at this old country store along a river.





Marshall, NC along the route south.



We made our way back up onto the BRP outside of Asheville and stopped at the Pisgah Inn and then continued over to Graveyard Fields and then down hwy 215 to another set of roadside waterfalls I know.





Ultimately we finally had to say goodbye to the mountains and drop down into SC. We finished off the 2-day trip in downtown Seneca, SC for an awesome steak & Salmon dinner along with a well deserved ice cold draft! Holy crap was that ever good!

There are a lot more pictures I could post and there were hundreds of other photo op's we had to force ourselves to just keep riding past. It was a great trip overall, awesome weather, great campsite, terrific food & of course amazing roads. We already want to plan another one and hopefully bring our wives along so they can experience it as well.

Definitely a great two days! Now let me drag myself out of bed and see if I have a few decent photos for this ride report. I'll be back...

Great report and really wonderful pictures Nathan!!!You have beautiful landscapes there..!!!

Thanks for sharing with us!!!

Nice...as usual. I did get to ride some of those roads at this years EOM...what a blast

Wow another great ride report and the pictures are just fantastic....as usual!

very nice

Ok, here we go. Ready for some photos? Food porn, maybe?

As Nathan said, we took a two-day ride with a night camping to break it up. I hit the road at 4:45am on Friday



I ran through a bit of fog on the two and half hour ride to Waffle House but it was a good ride in the dark and about 60 degrees. The sun came up toward the end of the ride and I tried to get a shot of what it was doing to the fog. I'm trying out a new point and shoot so I haven't worked out the best settings for on-the-go shots. And, well, I didn't want to stop so this is what you get.



I also made a quick stop at a spot I've seen before in Cave Spring, GA



A bit later I made it to Waffle House. Our plan was to meet at 8:30. I made it at 8:15 and Nathan had already been there at least ten minutes. No matter, we scarfed down breakfast (sorry, forgot the pics) then hit the road headed north.

A few shots along the way:















Just before entering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park we stopped for Nathan to get some shots of a creek with small waterfalls. While he was waiting for tourists to get out of the shot I was looking around and spotted this nest:



I'm REALLY glad the residents were out poking around! The nest was about 15 feet above the parking area.

After this stop we made our way into the Park and to Cades Cove to ride the loop around this little valley. The history is pretty cool and the scenery isn't bad either. It's kinda slow going but that's ok. A little flower sniffin' never killed anybody.





















Once we were out of the valley we hit a few more scenic spots along some awesome roads.





Around 6pm we made it to Mile High Campground near Maggie Valley, NC. We decided we'd go there first then go eat dinner. Getting to the campground before dark we could get the tent set up and get wood for the fire while we could see. We gathered dead fall and broke it up for kindling and bought some firewood from the folks running the campground.

Here's the view we found at our campsite:



Nice, eh?





We buzzed down to Cherokee and hit Country Boy BBQ. We were starving and ordered too much food. But it was GREAT food and the honey-based sweet sauce was fantastic!



After we stuffed ourselves we rode the 20 minutes back up to the campground.

We each had a headlamp so seeing to get the fire going was no problem. There was no light up there except for the stars and, honestly, once the fire was going we turned the headlamps off. There was no light pollution anywhere; nothing but darkness and stars and the breeze through the trees. It was perfect for shedding worries and just be-ing.

Most of these shots were taken with my headlamp on and all of them with the camera flash turned off. Nathan started the fire while I played with my cameras (point 'n shoot and the iPhone5 - my DSLR sucks at low light shots). So the circular dealio is not a effect from the camera or software, just a little spotlight from my headlamp.







Smoke from the fire blowing across between me and the tent and our bikes.





Nathan enjoying his birthday cigar and flask of adult beverage





Go here to see a short vid of the fire: campfire

By then we sat back and chilled. We chatted a bit off and on but mostly just enjoyed the fire, the stars, and the lack of man-made sounds. We had no cell coverage (perfect) and didn't even bother to look at the time. Whatever time we were tired enough and the fire had burned down we hit the rack.

....... insert great sleep here ........

About 7am the birds woke me. When I looked out the tent flap on my side I saw this:





After we broke camp we went into Maggie Valley, NC for breakfast. Dude. We ate at Joey's Pancake House and it was great. The food, the coffee, the service, all of it was great. Turned out we ordered almost the same things with coffee, corned beef hash, eggs (his scrambled, mine fried), and sweet potato pancakes. And yes, that's my syrup I dripped there.





After that we rode some more. We didn't take quite as many photos as we did on Friday but we did ride a lot of great roads. Here are some of the quick stops we made:







Along the Blue Ridge Parkway (our bikes are on the far right)



Graveyard Fields panorama looking over my bike



We rode up into the clouds



One of our last stops was at an old house with a couple of waterfalls out back. Even the house was pretty cool.









After this we made our way on out of the mountains. At that point we rode some country roads down toward the interstate so we could head to our respective homes. On our way Nathan found a steak joint on the GPS and we decided to try it. It was great! Yes, I know, you're tired of hearing about great food, right? Fine, skip these photos if you want but you're missing some great food!!

J Peters Grill & Bar in Seneca, SC https://jpetersgrill.net

Great atmosphere.







Nathan ordered the Hickory Fired Salmon "marinated in our special hickory bourbon glaze then oven-roasted until caramelized with flavor" with cheezy mashed potatoes. I ordered the ribeye with a baked potato. With the salads came these croissants with butter and a bit of honey that were freaking AWESOME (yes, we asked for more). We both saved this place in our GPS's so we'd remember where it is.







Aaaaannnd, that's it. After a great dinner we rode on down to the interstate at Fairplay, SC and headed southwest. We were both something like 4 hours from home, more or less. I made it home about 9:30 central time

For me:

Two days riding

One night camping

948 miles

Good night!

Also your report and photos are great Jesse!!

Thanks!!

You're welcome, Mihalis. I'm glad you like it!

Great stuff guys!! Thanks for the report and great pictures.

Thanks , it was a great trip!

Good reports Guys and awesome pics!

No place better for riding and enjoying life than the Smokies!!

Having just taken a vacation in Gatlinburg and riding these areas last month, these reports bring back a lot of fond memories. Thanks for the great reports and photos. On another note I'm reading and looking at these about half an hour before my lunch break and you're making me damn hungry!

Awesome! I need to learn to stop more often and get in more pics. I just can't resist pulling the plug on the fun. I'm thinking the older I get, the more this will happen.

You guys took it in with style NICE!

Top_Speed1 said:

Awesome! I need to learn to stop more often and get in more pics. I just can't resist pulling the plug on the fun. I'm thinking the older I get, the more this will happen.

Click to expand...

LOL...I think that's a common misconception in that if you stop & take a few pictures your not riding much. We rode over 400 miles each day and much of that was hard twisties riding. There were many, many miles where I was twisting the throttle and smiling for long stretches and leaning the bike in curve after beautiful curve. To me however it's nice to mix up a long day ride from daylight to daylight by not just riding hardcore 100% but stopping along the way at key spots to soak in the scene. And if your gonna do that, why not snap a few pix so you can remember the ride later?

And I just turned 40...it's not like I'm 72 and just fartin' around taking pictures all day & going the speed limit. .... ....

Just returned from there myself; rode the Parkway and Skyline Dr. from Gatlinburg to Front Royal for the umpteenth time. Beautiful country and great roads, can't wait to do it again. Thanks for the great RR and pics.

Soooo, you both slept in the same tent? How cozy was that?

Other than that, loved the report and the pics. Both of you do a great job with the photos and that area is just fantastic. If anyone can do justice to that place with a camera, it would be you guys.