Western NC Mountains over Easter - 1300 Miles

[Goldburg]

Sorry, No Pix. Good road report, though, for anyone headed this way.

I saw the weather forecast for last weekend and decided it was going to be perfect for a spring run to the western NC mountains. I was right! I’ll let you guys know what I did, where I stayed, and some road recommendations. Just don’t tell anyone else…

(Note on pix: some woman in my family has the camera that mounts on my bike, so all my pix were done with my new HTC TouchPro2 . I didn’t realize it, but I had cut the white balance OFF, so everything looks blue. My bad…)

Thursday - Left straight from work in Wilson, NC around lunch time and drove up I-40 to Marion, NC. Beautiful, winding road with light traffic (NOT!). It’s what you’ve got to do to get there from eastern NC, so lay off me, OK… The bike did beautifully on the interstate, but I did get pushed out of my lane twice on the ride up by cars not paying attention. In Marion, I picked up US221/226 and road up to where 226 and 226A split. I’ve been on these in a car before, but this was my first time on the 650. 226A was deserted except for the other bikes I came across, and we all were grinning from ear to ear. I passed several old guys on even older bikes just laughing away as the cruised down the mountain.) 226A gets high marks for technical requirements. Tons of twisties. Got a room at the Skyline Inn on 226/226A intersection at the top of the mountain. Place has tons of history. Room was in good shape. I threw my bags in the room and got back on the bike and road up onto the BRP. It was open to the north to Boone, but closed to the south. I rode up a few miles to the Altapass orchard and snapped some pix, and then turned around and headed up 226, above Spruce Pine, to catch SR80 and ride it back down to Spruce Pine. 80 was awesome! More pastoral settings around the bends than on 226A, which was switchback after switchback… still very little traffic. (I didn’t ride it all the way back to Marion as it was getting darker – next time…)I rode it back and stopped at BAMA-QUE south of Spruce Pine for supper. Recommend to everyone. Fantastic Q. Back to hotel around 8 pm. Slept like a log. 350 miles. 226A and 80 are both keepers!


Friday – (Little Switzerland to Cashiers) Rode 226 down off the mountain to Marion. It was a blast. Quick sweepers, with great views. Picked up Sugar Hill Rd./Bills Creek Rd over to Lake Lure. Lowcountry, down in the valley, stuff. Fantastic views and a nice ride. Nothing technical, but beautiful. Picked up US64/74 and road around Lake Lure and up into Chimney Rock. Lots of twists, lots of traffic… Road US64 through Hendersonville (yuk!) to pick up US276 west of Penrose. 276 was cool with lots of waterfalls, and turns, but lots of potholes as well. Most of these mountains got hit with snow and bad weather this winter and haven’t recovered yet…When I got up to the BRP I was able to ride up to the Pisgah Inn. I rode back and picked up 276 north until it hit 215 and then I road 215 back to US64. 215 was in worse shape than 276. It was in very bad shape with lots of pavement missing and it made for a difficult descent down the mountain. I did stop several time and get pix of snow still on the side of the road. Once I got back to US64, I headed for Cashiers. The drive through Lake Toxaway was tough, so much traffic. It felt like I was on a service road…But when I got the Laurelwood Mountain Inn in Cashiers, I knew I wanted to ride a little more. I checked in around 3:00 and asked the owner if he knew of any roads I should try. He was helpful and this was a GREAT, affordable place to crash for the night in a very expensive tourist area. He said try 107 north out of town. I looked at my map and found a cut through over to US 64 above Highlands that would allow me to stop and spend time at the waterfalls (I would tear through here Saturday morning on my way to Cherahola). I also had a GPS, but it didn’t like my idea. I had time and a full tank, so I thought, I can always turn around at 75 miles and have enough to get back to the inn. 107 was absolutely my favorite rid of the weekend. Gorgeous road with good paving and waterfalls jumping out of the woods around you as you snuck around, over, and through mountains. I finally had to stop once I got to Western NC University, because I knew I missed my cut through. I went back into East Laport and found some guys at a gas station. I told them I was looking for Pressley Creek Rd. They told me Cullowhee Mtn. Road feeds it, but they didn’t thin it went through to US64. Like I said, I had time and gas…I had to get on Tilley Creek Rd. to get to Pressley Creek Rd. (this is a constant theme up here, all roads go by creeks or rivers all the way). Well, I road Pressley for a few miles and around one corner, SURPRISE, no more pavement. A dirt road from here. So I turned around and got back to Tilley Creek and decided I still had enough gas… Off I go. After about 1 mile, the houses stop peeking out of the woods and the switchbacks get real sandy. Obviously not a lot of traffic since the snowstorms…Riding for miles, and miles in the woods…I kept waiting for this road to turn to gravel as well, so that I’d have to turn around, but it never did. Every so often US 64 or US23 would pop up on the GPS wait out in the distance, so I knew that it should feed one of them, but when? After I passed the last banjo player 10 miles back, I started to lose hope. If I have an accident back here, they’ll have to send 2 sets of paramedics to find me, or at least a paramedic and a gas truck for refueling...The GPS started calling this Elijay Rd. and eventually I trickled out onto US64 just below Franklin, NC. I though I’d be in Georgia, for sure! Well, the ride back down US 64 to Cashiers was worth it all. Waterfalls on the side of the road every 100 yards. Deep gorges, twisty roads – just fantastic! I also got my picture made ON THE BIKE under Bridal Veil Falls. Too cool. Dinner at Carolina Smokehouse in Cashiers was my only meal all day. But I made up for missing the others. Back to the Laurelwood and into bed by 9:30. 107 awesome; US64 from Franklin as well. Avoid 276/215 right now.

Saturday – (Cashiers to Cherahola Skyway to Waynesville) I knew I had bitten off a lot with today’s target, so I had left by 8:00 and went back up 64 to Franklin. This road is completely different heading west. You miss all the waterfalls that are visible from the eastbound lane. Just as well. I’m in a hurry. I take SR 28 up to Lauada where I pick up US74 down through the Natahala Gorge and right onto US129 up to Robbinsville, home of the Dragon and Cherahola Skyway. I knew that the Dragon had a rock slide and would be closed off, so I went on to Cherahola and rode it over to Tellico Plains. Made my only bad riding mistake between Robbinsville and the skyway on 143. Came to a T intersection (in the mountains) where I had to stop on a right/left slope with me turning right. I saw a pickup truck coming up from the left and knew I needed to hop on out if I was going to be in front of him (thinking I was just about 100 feet from being on the skyway – been behind enough pickup trucks in the mountains already…) So I goosed the bike at the stop sign looking back at the truck and then I looked ahead to realize that there was another immediate left curve, so I was going too fast, leaned over far enough to scrape the center stand/side stand and then overcompensated on the right curve that this left fed and crossed over just a little bit (3’). Fortunately, no one coming. But it shook me up and I was mad with myself for the rest of the morning. Ride behind the truck next time, I told myself. Better behind one that the hood ornament of one… Stopped at the first overlook on the skyway and got a cola and a protein bar out of the cooler (tunnel bag) and chilled out. Literally. It was freezing up on the skyway Saturday morning. The wind was howling. Road over to Tellico Plains, TN and hung out at Tellico Motorcycle Outfitters with Mike. Great guy, great shop. At lunch at the bakery around the corner and then went back and talked to Mike some more. He told me I might as well ride up to the Dragon since I’d come this far. So I rode back across the skyway (already planned to do this part) and picked up US129 and road up to the TN border and stopped at the Deal’s Gap Motorcycle Resort and got a few pix. Met some guys that had just come up SR 28 on their sports bikes and we talked about where we’d been that day. I decided I would take 28 back to Bryson City and then follow US74 over to Waynesville. 28 was super! I enjoyed that as much as any road (other than 107). Very isolated (not as much as Tilley Creek Rd.) but in good shape. You go by Fontana Village, which would be a great place to stay on a vacation, I would think. Once you get to US74, it’s 4 lane all the way into Waynesville. Once again, it was about 3:30 when I got there, and I road into the Oak Park Inn and found a room for the night downtown. I parked the bike and walked through downtown. They were having a ride taking off from the Hess station and a ton of bikes (including a couple on matching Burgmans) were also going through town. It was a great hour of watching bikes go through. Went into the Mast General Store (a must do) and then walked through all the cool restaurants and decided to stop at the Subway at the Hess station. Spent enough money this weekend already… then I settled into the room and watched the Final Four. Fell asleep in the first half of the Duke game…SR28 fantastic on both sides of 74 – better on the north side. Cherahola (Cherokee for “dang windy”) was beautiful as well.

Sunday – (Waynesville to Rocky Mount) – Coolish morning, but the Oak Park has a beautiful view of the mountains in the background. Got my heated gear out and took off by 8:00 am headed down the mountain. The first 90 minutes on I-40 were hard and I got warm, so I pulled over and unwired my gloves and took off my fleece jacket (liner) and headed on down the road. Pulled over 5 miles later and put the fleece back on! The Exec adjustable windshield comes in handy in cooler weather when you’ve got heated gloves. Crank it up and the wind stays off your upper body very well. Once I got down to Winston Salem the temps were rolling up, so off came the fleece again. I made it back in 5 ½ hours, averaging around 80 mph the whole way back. Lot’s of traffic – and no one pushed me off the road this time…

Hi Gberg. We were a day behind you. beautiful weather for sure. We did a bunch of the same stuff. There were three of us in our group. An FJR, FZ6, and a Versys, loaded with a bunch of camping crap.

Al