As many of you know, hidden within the Great Smoky Mountain area are paved roads that are a biker’s dream. Many of us on this site have traveled them, roads like…Tail of the Dragon, Cherohala Skyway, Little War Gap, Big War Gap and dozens of others. I have been fortunate enough to travel all of these and will do it again soon. However, one experience I have never had until recently was to conduct this on dirt and gravel roads in these Great Smoky Mountains. Hence the name of this thread, The Tail of the Dragon – Dirt/Gravel Style.
Here we are planning our journey at Caesars Head, North of Greenville, SC to pick up our rental off-road bikes.
Contained within the very area we travel are roads that take you into the mountains with views you have never seen and are even longer and more twisted then the best paved ones. I was treated to this experience by way of a friend who lives in the area. He often spoke of this experience, however up until now I had no way of conducting it until Cheohala Cycle Rentals.
http://www.thundermountainnc.comHere you will find late model Kawasaki KLR 650 Dual Purpose Bikes for rental at reasonable rates. The owner is very cooperative, friendly and worked with us in every way. Came in early and stayed late!
Once we picked up our bikes, it was time to head towards the Cherohala Skyway on dirt. We reached heights of over 5,000ft and over looked the parkway on a number of occasions. In addition, we went under the parkway twice. During the day, we match the Trail of Tears on several occasions and experience several old cabins.
From our experience in the Cheohala area, we headed towards the Deals Gap area, all on dirt/gravel roads. All of this time, no end to the twisties nor the ups and downs of the roads. Extremely intense riding at high speeds…no guard rails, no pavement, no signs, two way potential traffic on a one lane road with little forward sight. Talk about being alive in the moment.
In all, we experienced over 200 miles with only 20 of them on pavement. As for the experience, the Trail of the Dragon as WE know it is tamed when you compare it to what I just experienced. It had been over 20 years since I rode dirt bikes. This ranked as one of my Top Five riding experiences.
The following are some pictures from this exciting event...
Author
Topic: The Tail of the Dragon - Dirt/Gravel Style (Read 11735 times)