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How can I summarize 3 days riding the best roads and trails the Smoky Mountains have to offer? In a word, perfect! Beautiful weather (clear, humidity-free days!), gorgeous scenery at every turn, and great fun and camaraderie riding and camping in God's Wonderland.
Thursday morning seven left Ball Ground for our Big Adventure - five on mounts suitable for road and trail (dual sporters, or "DS'rs", Dave - VStrom 650; Mel and Steve D - VStrom 1000's; Larry - KLR 650; Steve G - KTM 990) and two "roadies" (Paul - HD Lowrider his friend Bob - Honda Shadow). We enjoyed a crisp, cool ride across N Ga stopping first at Woody Gap near Suches, then enjoying Wolf Pen Gap on our way to Hiawassee, then Franklin NC for lunch. All were surprised how enjoyable NC 64 is to Franklin - fast, but straight, allowing you to take in the scenic views. After a nice lunch on the river, we headed up Wayah Road.
The DS'rs peeled off for a Forest Service (FS) ride up to the Wayah Bald overlook while the roadies finished Wayah road and headed down the Nantahala River Gorge to our meetup at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) for relaxation in Adirondack chairs sipping iced tea and watching the kayakers. The DS'rs soaked in the spectacular view atop Wayah Bald, then continued on Wayah Road and up Winding Stairs to Queens Lake high above the gorge (about 3000'), then taking FS down to the gorge floor. Nice views were available, but eyes were focused on the steep, switchback decent before we could enjoy our well earned break at the NOC.
From there it was on to Cherokee for last minute provisions before taking the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) to our night's destination - Mile High Campground on Cherokee Indian land. While primitive (no electricity on property), we enjoyed the quiet and beautiful mountain views. Dinner was backpacking style (dehydrated/dry goods meals made with boiling water from backpack stoves). Mel put his scout skills to use by striking up a roaring campfire which felt great as the temps dropped quickly in the dry, mile-high air.
Friday, June 10th, finally brought us to the start of our overnight trip to Maggie Valley. Six of us met at the home base Chevron in Ball Ground (Dan would meet us later), and had wheels rolling by 4:15 p.m. or so. After a few sprinkles around Tate the rest of our ride to the restaurant on the Toccoa was delightful. Dan rode down from Morganton and after our meal showed us the way to his cabin in the woods. "Cabin" really doesn't fit. No outside plumbing here but rather four bedrooms and three baths, more than enough to make the seven of us quite comfortable (thanks Dan).
In the morning we made our way down the gravel hills and road to the highway and Murphy, for breakfast.
In January Timothy's Motorcycle Club took a long shot and scheduled an all day ride to the Little White House for mid-February. Week after week they watched the weather trends to see if they would be lucky. Sure enough a week before the ride the forecast brightened to a prediction of sunny skies and temperatures in the 70's. The ride was on.
On the 19th they took off from Woodstock at 9 a.m. heading for Dallas (no not that on), Villa Rica, Carrollton, Newnan and points south, on the road to Warm Springs. Keeping off the Interstates brought them through towns that were only dots on the map before: Whitesburg, Sargent, Moreland, Luthersville and Allie. Arriving in Warm Springs it was evident that the warm weather brought many bikes out of winter storage and on to the roads. The town was packed with Harleys. Sta-Bil was in the air.
The Weatherman said it was 37 degrees at 10:30 a.m. and promised a high of 50 degrees by the afternoon. Taking advantage of the heat waver, Bob K. and Bob S. (the elder) took to the hills today for a round about ride to Amicalola Lodge for a buffet lunch. For the most part the roads were OK, though on really back, back-roads patches of melting snow were still in the roadway.
Up in the hills the snow line in many places came to road side and the hills all had a few inches of a white blanket. Quite nice. Sand and gravel strips paralleled tire tracks, occasionally causing a tire to step out and remind you that the surface was not ideal for continuous traction. Other than causing us to slow down to sub-normal speeds on wet looking curves, the conditions were really OK, except in the Lodge's parking lot.