BRP from Roanoke, VA to the Southern end at Cherokee, NC

[ratatouille]

Good points Brian. I am basically using the BRP as a more scenic route to Cherokee. Thought it'd be fun. I think I will have plenty of time once I get to Boone to check out their local twisties. Plus I'll have 3, maybe 4 days of riding to do, since I'm staying in Cherokee. Should be able to hit all the really fun stuff. Saving your SE rally route maps also.

Anyway, if you think of the BRP more as the "spine" connecting "rib" routes to either side, you can use it as the basis for any number of absolutely epic riding days in the mountains. So instead of just plodding from one end to the other in a couple of days breathing Hawg fumes, I'd take five days or a week or more.

There's also lots of hiking at various points if all the Federale radar guns are starting to make your brain warm and mushy.

Much the same goes for the Cherohala; the really fun parts are all the unpaved roads off to the sides.

[ratatouille]

DOH! lol Not the same thing, but a guy and myself travelled to Harrisburg for work several years ago. He rides a Harley. Open pipes. On the way home, I stayed behind him for maybe 10 miles. I had the Concours at that time. Told him, and he knew, that it was too loud behind him. lol

One funny story about my bike tuning experiences at 5,000+ feet on the BRP... I changed engine configurations but did not spend much time rejetting my mains at home, 900 ft above sea level, before departing on my road trip... I noticed I was lacking in passing power on the BRP. I stepped down 2 sizes on main jets. Yet still, this was not enough, as my friend was no longer following 100-150 ft behind me after many long hours riding per day. Eventually at our next stop, he said the reason he was niw consistently 500 ft back was because of the fumes of my bike running too rich, particularly on the high altitude sections! Oops...

[ratatouille]

While I'm at it, any suggestions for Day trips out of Cherokee are welcome. I have 1 day sorta planned. 74 out of Cherokee to 28 up to Deals Gap. Prolly ride the Dragon up and back, buy my ceremonial pink dragon and move on. Then ride the Cherohala towards Tellico. This would be a week day, so hoping the traffic and LEOs won't be abundant. I'm undecided on this section of my plan. Another option is to skip the Dragon at that point, ride 129 S From Deals Gap to the Cherohala. Catch 360 N out of Telico, up to 411 N to 72 S and ride 129 south, thus the Dragon on the south run. I can't tell if 360 N out of Tellico is pavement or gravel. ha ha. The FJ can handle gravel, but eh. Anyone have experience on that 360 N out of Tellico?
After those decisions, I would head down 129, catch 74 N at Topton. Catch 28 south, as I just can't get enough of 28. Prolly 28 to 23 N and meander back to Cherokee.
As for another day, I figured the same route to the Dragon, ride it North and catch the Foothills Pkwy to Townsend. May do some sight seeing, catch Cades Cove. I am fairly familiar with that area, Townsed/Pigeon Forge, as we have rented cabins around there before. I know some cool back roads up into the park, bypassing all the tourists crap. But open for suggestions. I would prolly end up riding the main drag thru the park back to Cherokee. But any suggestions would be great.
Day 3, not got there yet.

I should change the name of this thread to "Help Me Plan my Twisty Get Away to NC".

[bwringer]

Yes, 360 out of Tellico Plains is paved. The area is pretty populated, so it's going to be more of a cruise.


Cades Cove is best avoided if at all possible. It's a bleak inescapable hellscape of brainless minivan pilots from Nebraska going .00001 mph and stopping dead in the middle of the road whenever exotic creatures like squirrels or deer are spotted.

And yes, black bears are often spotted, which leads to an instant half-mile backup as people abandon their vehicles in the middle of the road to get as close as they can to the wild animals with claws, teeth, and immense strength. If there are bear cubs, there will instantly be a couple dozen people competing for their Disney moment, waving corn chips, cameras, and Slim Jims at the beasts... it's honestly pretty terrifying, even if you're not sitting on an overheating motorcycle with your tasty flesh exposed. It's kind of amazing we don't read daily news stories about eviscerated tourists.

I'm not exaggerating in the slightest; Cades Cove used to be the route to a few interesting dirt roads (AFAIK, Parson's Branch is still closed, and it seems unlikely they'll ever re-open it; Rich Mountain road back to Townsend is neat, but not worth the aggravation), so I've been on it many times while dual-sporting. Overall, it's a horrible experience and not even that incredibly scenic.

I guess you know what 441 is like already... I've always done my absolute best to avoid it unless I'm headed to a hiking trail or something. As long as you're fine with breathing diesel and staring at RVs at 5mph for a few hours, it's fine. It is mighty damn scenic, and you'll have plenty of time to gawk!


South of Townsend, off 74, Wayah Road and many or most of the surrounding roads are paved and a lot of fun. Some parts can get a lot of traffic. Many are paved but only one lane, so you have to be super-careful about sight lines. There are tons of great roads around and through Franklin, Highlands, Cashiers, etc. and down into Georgia.

[Chuck78]

Ahhhh yes...Wayah Rd!
Go that direction!

Also, I just remembered River Rd through Cherokee National Forest... This sort of runs parallel below the Cherohala Skyway down far below it (elevation) whereas the Cherohala is like a ridge running BRP type road but more wide open turns that you wouldn't have to slow down below 90mph to navigate 97% of them... After jaunts on the BRP, & tons of amazing WV / VA / NC / TN tighter twisties and breathtaking scenery starting from Southern Ohio & running the course of nearly my entire route by the time I usually make it to the Cherohala (usually right after US129), I'm over the Cherohala with not as tight of curves and more similar views...

So River Rd is my preferred last run through that area, typically on my week long journey to Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival every October, usually my last mountain motorcycle camping road trip of the year every season, ending the 1st weekend of October.

River Rd is jaw dropping in a remite back country way, following an amazing boulder filled bedrock bottom river with abundant cliffs and rock outcroppings the entire way... And a couple of very epic waterfalls nearly roadside. I believe one is called Bald River Falls?
If starting at the Western end of the Cherohala Skyway, River Rd starts/ends not far into the Cherohala on the south side of the Skyway - quite a good return trip option to Cherokee I'll add!
Eventually River Rd heads south deep into the forest and away from the Skyway, but you'll have opportunities to run back up to the Skyway before the two part ways. I believe there's also a River Rd East extension or something of that sort, which goes under the Cherohala Skyway at some point by a National Forest service building, and then you can link back up onto the Skyway, but that route is partial gravel iirc?

Definitely look into this scenic gem of a paved forest service road... It took my breath away in a scenic backcountry sense...
Keep in mind, it's not a twisty racetrack whatsoever, but does have nice pavement.

[ratatouille]

Thanks Brian, appreciate the input. We'll see how it goes. My "hope" is that on a weekday in early/mid May, the tourists aren't out in full force. I'll play that by ear. I'll Def check out the roads around Franklin, Highlands, Cashiers. I was looking at that SE route down to Suches, Ga. I remember some of those roads. Too bad Two Wheels Only isn't there any more. If I recall, Suches has nothing left but a gas station?

[Chuck78]

The western end of River Rd & it's junction with the Cherohala Skyway, Google Maps places a scenic marker pin on, calling it the beginning of the"Tellico River Gorge," by the way...

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Suyp5efBwRDLGcWT9

(& a tip for our scenery / motorcycle interests, always toggle on the terrain layer in Google Maps to see the elevation contours).

At minimum, take that to Bald River Falls, or preferably a ways beyond that to keep sucking up the gorgeous scenery.... Slightly before Bald River Falls, you would've passed another paved road that sharply tees into River Road and goes uphill, Turkey Creek Rd. This is the paved route back up to the Skyway. At some point, make a u-turn in your southeasterly travels on River Road, and pass Bald River Falls again headed west this time, and then take Turkey Creek Road up to return you to the Skyway if you desire.
You could continue until you pass a highly developed "summer home" type "campground" area and a ranger station and a few national forest campgrounds, and hang a left on a road called Sycamore Trail which appears to be gravel, but this takes you up towards the North Carolina side of the Cherohala Skyway. It actually merges with N. River Road which is what I was trying to recall the name of earlier, and then comes back to a service building on the skyway and definitely appears gravel at that point via satellite imagery. N River Rd tees off of a gravel loop which starts and ends on River Road that I camped off of my last time down there. You could take that also if you didn't mind gravel.

At any rate, making your return trip on the Cherohala, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND veering off at the beginning right where the Skyway begins climbing away from the river up to the ridgelines, and taking River Road to Bald River Falls and points beyond, and then u-turning back up past the falls again and taking Turkey Creek Road back up to the Skyway. It is quite a refreshing scenic pleasure....

[Jedz123]

I've done it a couple times, my preferred way of travel to the Smokey's. I budget 1.5 days to do it. You can do it in one day but breaking it up into 2 days makes it more enjoyable and you can check out some of the side roads like Mount Mitchell or little Switzerland loop IE.

Best

[ratatouille]

Thanks Chuck. That River Rd, Bald River Falls looks awesome. Sounds like a great place to stop and eat lunch!!

[ratatouille]

Didn't realize Nardy moved down that way? Good for him.