4th of July on the Blue Ridge Parkway

[LOKi]

With the 4th of July holiday I took a vacation day to make it a four day weekend. I had heard a lot about the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) from the forums and others who have been there and had to see for myself. Really if you get a chance to ride these roads do it. It’s a good 650miles from New Orleans to the BRP. While I know I can hammer out 650 miles with no problem I decided to take off directly after work and nick off a few hundred of those so the ride in on Thursday wouldn’t be so long. My boss told me to wrap up what I can and go ahead and take off around 1:00. Who am I to argue with the boss? So I’m on the road by 1:00. OMG it’s hot at that time of day in Louisiana.

7/1/09
Not too many pictures the first day. It was boring and flat highway travel.


A quick rest stop….somewhere.


The sun is going down. Am I where I intended on going? Not really. The camp ground I had quickly picked out realizing I could make it much farther with the extra time did not pan out. It was a trailer park not camp ground. Google Maps had it listed as a campground. I just keep riding east and north. Looked for camping on the GPS but it keep trying to take me to places like Bob’s Camper Emporium.  So around 10:30 I give up on finding a cheap campground and check into a hotel.  

7/2/09
I’m up early. Easy to get up when after a very short stent on the highway you will be riding nice two lane ever twistier roads.


Off in the distance….what is that? Almost looks like a hill. It’s a big change from Louisiana where the closest hill is….well I guess these would be the closest hills.


Done with that highway for a while. Nice rolling hillside roads.


Those are not hills. Those are mountains! Getting close now.


The GPS says there is a short cut through here to the beginning of the Tail of the Dragon. Well maybe if I had a boat there would be. On a side note. Boat launches. If you are looking for a quick place to throw up a tent or hammock for the night these are relatively safe. In Cherokee and Nantahala National Forest it seemed ok to set up camp just about anywhere. So if you get there late just look for a body of water (lakes or rivers) and just look for a pull over. Not a place you want to leave your bags while riding around but some great spots to camp.


Roads are starting to get a little curvier. OK a lot more. This is at the foot of the Dragon.


I stop at the turn around point where there is a nice lookout. Holly gorilla Jesus it’s pretty up here.







Had to get the bike in there. Proof I was there. Sorry no pictures of the road up. How about a little video? Actually took this video the next day but might as well show it here.






I really didn’t come out to ride that one road so it’s off to see what else the area has to offer. Saw this little foot bridge and decided to stop for a closer look.





Walked out to the middle of the bridge to have a look around, and just to test it out.


Could not resist taking a picture of the bike under this water fall.










Looking glass falls. Looked like a fun place to hang out. Lots of people though.


My home away from home for the next three nights.


This older guy and his wife pull up with a trailer. I’m thinking I would never want to pull something that big. Then it pops out into this.


This is quite the setup. If you are going to pull anything it should be nothing short of this! He said it weighed less than the old utility trailer he used to pull.


7/03/09

The night before I spent my time rigging my camera to a base so I can mount it on my handlebars (ram mount). The threads in the bottom of my camera are stripped out. So I put Velcro on the bottom of the camera and zipped tied the crap out of it. Had to get some video of these roads.


This is from camp up the hill to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It starts off a little slow and just gets better and better as you go. Somewhere around the middle the road just gets sick.




I take the camera off the ram mount to snap a couple pictures when I get up to the Parkway.


While driving around I stumble across this gem of a road. The GPS was showing a lot of tight turns so I turned on the camera. Every time I thought of turning it back off to save some memory for other roads the GPS would show some more tight turns coming up.


On the 4th I stay away from the Dragon all together. After riding around just enjoying to roads and scenery I come across a dirt road. GPS says it goes through so what the hell. Nice little spot to chill out for a little bit.


The pictures don’t do the road justice. It was steep but rocky so I got good grip.


At some point after this shot I think I kinda broke the wingrack. I was getting a little over confident in how the bike was handling the rocky road bed and did a wheelie over a hole. The back bottomed out and I believe this is what cracked the upper part of the wingrack. It wasn’t until the ride home and another bump with a full load that it completely broke. With a few straps I was able to secure the load enough to get me home. On the up side the horn did not hit the finder. I’m pretty sure I bottomed out the front as well on this road. Probably about ¼ second after the back bottomed out. No scuffs from the aftermarket horn.


That’s it for the 4th. I killed my camera batteries on the 3rd with the video and all. My picture taking was limited the rest of the trip.


7/05/09


It starts to rain in the morning so I sleep in a little later than planned. Rain tapping away at the rain fly will do that. Once there was a break in the rain I got out of the Hammock and got my stuff together as fast as I could. I was out of there within 30 or 40 min. Back on the road I decide to cruse the Parkway all the way to the end before jumping on the HWY for a long burn home. I stopped at the top, 6000+ feet for this one picture. It’s cold as balls and raining to boot. The thought crosses my mind to get my ass off the top of this mountain so I can warm up a little. Then I remember that 110 heat index I left at home and decided to continue on cold, and enjoy it. I’ll be hot soon enough I though. Good choice, although the Parkway can be terrifying in the rain and fog. Not able to see what’s coming up in front of you. Trusting the GPS knows how sharp that turn actually is. By this time my rear tire is pretty mangled from just under 1000 miles of these roads and has no tread left in the middle. My rational on riding twisty roads with a tire like that in the rain was that the sides of the tire still had some tread left so I had better traction in the turn than on the straightaways. It all worked out and eventually I was back on the flat HWY heading to NOLA. It rained off and on most of the trip home. Then it looked like it was over. So I took off my rain gear. About 60 miles down the road I saw another front. Couldn’t tell how big it was but decided to not put on the rain paints and just throw on the top. After a while it really started to come down got a bit chilly. Water had filled my boots and mist had gotten on the inside of my visor. I couldn’t see for s??? and the cold was getting to my core. I did find that I could warm up the water in my boots by holding them to the side of the block. The warm water helped heat up my core and I was fine the rest of the way home.  

[isleofmanfan]

Thanks for the excellent coverage, it was fun riding along with you!  I dream of taking rides like this!

[JordanA]

Nice ride report.  I like it.

[LOKi]

I'll be heading back this fall for the "changing of the leaves". Really I just want to go back. Back at a time when the cold chases away the fair weather riders. Most of the cruisers and a lot of the tourists. The other bikes where good about maintaining speed through the corners. In the cruisers defense they really can't take the corners much faster than they did. The clearance just isn't there to really lean into the turns. Some where complete noobs and would just about come to a stop before taking any turn then get on the gas hard after they clear the turn just to make it hard to pass.

[green427]

Wow, those are nice views! I would love to ride there one day. We camped in the Cherokee National Forest a couple years ago, and those roads are the twistiest I have ever experienced. Had white knuckles maneuvering a travel trailer through there.

Thanks for posting!!!

[Brittles]

Great pics and sounds like a nice trip.

[hockeyhawk]

WOW, what a trip. Looks like you had a blast. I would guess that you were riding alone, if so how was it on such a long trip by yourself? Thanks for the pics and story, enjoyed it.


Ride Safe, DoubleH 

[LOKi]

WOW, what a trip. Looks like you had a blast. I would guess that you were riding alone, if so how was it on such a long trip by yourself? Thanks for the pics and story, enjoyed it.


Ride Safe, DoubleH  

Thanks. I enjoyed riding solo on this trip. There was no waiting around for anyone. I was able to just wonder aimlessly and make decisions on the fly. As I come up to an intersection I would look at the GPS. If the road made a bunch of turns I would peal off onto the side road like it was just another twist in the road. You can't do that if your riding with a group. With a group there is usually a plan. A route with stops and lunch and all that crap. I would only stop for lunch when and if I passed a place to eat while thinking 'hmm I'm hungry'. One lunch was a quick pull over to let slow traffic clear out while I ate a power bar.

Not that riding with a group would be any less fun. Just less spontaneous.

[hockeyhawk]

Well done, thanks for the reply. Hope to do a ride like that some day.

Ride Safe, DoubleH 

[LOKi]

Well done, thanks for the reply. Hope to do a ride like that some day.

Ride Safe, DoubleH 

Your only a days ride away. 750 miles at the most. That is one hell of a day but not so bad as to make you not able to enjoy riding around after that big day. Take off directly from work and cut out a hundred miles or so from the trip if you want to make the drive out not so punishing. My return trip was 715miles and I was fine at the end. A 3 day weekend would give you a full day of flogging it around some of the best roads in the country. I would take two days off and make it a 4 day weekend though. After the first day you will REALLY want another day of doing the same. Or burn it down, ride the roads for a day then take two days on the Blue Ridge Parkway / Skyline Drive on the way out. I don't have that kind of option here in Louisiana. No mountain top road goes this way. You need mountains for that.

I'm planning on another trip around mid to late September. This time with the group I usually ride with. The leaves will start to change in the higher elevations but it won't be 'peek' color season yet. It will be cool enough to chase away the fair weather bikers. Not enough color to attract huge road clogging crowds. Should be one of the better times to go. Anyone here is welcome to join us.

[DesignFlaw06]

Man that looks cool. Definitely on my bucket list.

[thomas.clark]

dude watching your videos makes me very nervous.  i think you made that cruiser a little nervous too - so satisfying when he tried to run but eventually gave up and waved you by 

I've done some fun roads in Alaska and W. Canada, but those roads you were riding are just intimidating!  Twist after turn after twist - or maybe it was just how fast you were moving!  I want to do that trip soon, though I'll probably take it a little easier.

Thanks for sharing - ride safe!

[LOKi]

Could you here when I shifted? Most of the times that would be a shift to second gear. My average speed up there was 32mph.  That includes some of the high speed (90mph +) slab sections. The cruiser I was behind was going like 15mph.  So it wasn't how fast I was moving...the roads are really that twisty. The one with the cruiser in it was the dragon and that thing boast 350 turns in 11 miles. Or something ridiculous like that. It's one of the few places you can scrape the pegs repeatedly and not exceed 40mph.

[Hangster]

LOKI  that has to be one of the most awesome rides ever , super nice and a nice job on the videos  ...I don't have enough experience to ride that far yet but if you're planing on doing this trip again next year i wouldn't mind joining you ....

[hppants]

I'm doing that trip next year - that one is one the top of my bucket list.

[fishball]

Great report, I mean spectacular.  The photo work alone is a cut above.  That dirt road ride would have thrown me, very impressed.