Half-A-Cake Ride

This was supposed to be the weekend for the overnight ride to the Cherohala and Smokey Mountains. Didn't happen, as the realities of life had many folks tethered to home base for one or both of the days. A few riders decided to make it a one day ride to the Cherohala and Wayah Road. Here's Larry's account of how it went:

At 8:00 Larry, Frank, Bob K and Sally, and Mike (a neighbor of Bob's with a beautiful Goldwing) met at Hickory Flats Chevron for full day of riding.  In spite of a few minor challenges, a great time was had by all.  Weather was perfect (agreed by all riders, disagreed by one passenger!)  The unseasonably cool morning caught Sally off guard as she geared for a hot day's ride.  We blasted up 575 to Blue Ridge (as much as a KLR can "blast"), then up through the Ducktown, TN area. 

Rather than warming up, it was getting cooler and cloudier since they received rain earlier that morning.  Judging from the amount of gravel wash on the road, it has rained a lot up there - we proceeded cautiously.  Just as TN 68 was getting good (and by good, I mean twisty!), we encountered a tour bus with a major attitude.  This guy simply wouldn't pull off to allow traffic to pass and kept 30 or so at a crawl for many miles as he negotiated turns at 10 mph.  We finally pulled off to let bikes and tempers cool.

Near Tellico, we passed Hunts Motorcycle Campground and all looked well.  The BBQ joint / lodge across the road appeared (mostly) repaired from the storm - yeaaah!.  The folks at the Cherohala Visitor's Center are still as friendly and helpful as ever.  They let us know about a huge bicycle rally that morning on the Cherohala - uh oh.  I consulted our resident Ironman (Bob K) and he felt they left early enough to be out of the way.  He was right because although we saw many (including a bicycle built for four!), they were headed toward us and not with us - much safer!

The sun broke out and the Cherohala was awesome... until we managed to get separated.  After a Keystone Kops routine of running back and forth then waiting, we finally regrouped near the Robbinsville end and headed for our (late) lunch.  The BBQ place I researched was non existent, but we found a local diner, Lynn's Place, which was very good.

After lunch we headed down 129 toward Nantahala and then Wayah road.  Luck was with us and we encountered no traffic making the "upper"section of Wayah a real highlight - for both its riding and views.  I believe the mountain area around the eastern side of the Cherohala and down thru the Nantahala Gorge/Wayah area is the prettiest I've ever seen.

As we neared Nantahala Lake, we reassessed our time.  We felt the Chatuge / Trackrock / Blood Mt return trip would get us home too late, so we rode back across the upper portion of Wayah and then home via the four lane of TN 74 / GA 60 / 515-575. By this time Georgia was living up too the forecaster's claims and layers came off to enjoy the warm weather.

Total mileage was 330 and trip time was 10.5 hours (with riding time well over 7 hours) - a full day in spite of our changes.  We enjoyed riding with Mike and hope to see him again.