GeorgiaRoller
Exit Stage Left
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.
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.
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