Twisties all day up and down in Southern Appalachia

We left the hotel in Cleveland, TN at 7 am, just as the sun was starting to rise. Thunderstorms were predicted for later this afternoon, and we were excited about a day riding in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Thanks to Butler Motorcycle Maps we had two major rides planned:  The Cherohala Skyway and then the Moonshiner 28.

On our way to the start of the Cherohala Skyway we followed narrow, 2-lane paved roads that wound through the countryside outside of Cleveland. We stopped at a gas station to ask directions, and the helpful woman at the counter told me to be careful on TN 30 since 'it's really twisty'. Just what we were looking for!

The Cherohala Skyway winds its way for 40+ miles through the mountains and Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee and the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina; hence the name.

We had the highway to ourselves in Tennessee, giving Mike the opportunity to sweep through the corners and curves around the mountains at whatever speed felt good to him. We climbed from 900' above sea level to 5400' at the top, watching the clouds build all around us. As we started winding our way down on the North Carolina side, we rode into the clouds for a few miles before breaking out again into the sunshine.

We found a perfect spot for a photo of the bike next to a small lake as we neared the end of the Skyway in Robbinsville, NC.

Our next destination was the 100+ mile Moonshiner 28 that twists through the mountains just south of the famous Tail of the Dragon. We saw a few more motorcycles on this twisty route, but most of the way we once again had the road to ourselves.

Mike got into a rhythm of swinging the BMW back and forth through the twisties that never seemed to end. Check out this video to get a sense of all the fun we had:

We started on Moonshiner 28 in North Carolina (our 11th new state), wound south into Georgia for a few miles, then finally into South Carolina, our 12th new state.

Just before we reached Highlands, NC, we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls, a 120' waterfall that cascades over the original path of the road. We've never ridden the BMW behind a waterfall before!

Our day riding twisties and sweepers in the mountains wasn't over yet, as we turned north onto NC 107 to finish our day's ride.

7 hours after we left our hotel in Cleveland, TN we pulled into the Waynesville Inn Golf Resort & Spa in North Carolina for the night. After we unloaded the BMW, the thunder and rain started, reinforcing our decision to make an early start today.

Not only is zooming through the mountain curves a lot of fun, it's also much cooler at the higher elevation. We had a perfect day on the BMW, and are looking forward to riding part of the Blue Ridge Parkway tomorrow. The rain should end tonight, giving us another clear day on the bike.  Here is today's route

Into the Clouds and Lookout Mountain

What a day! We had a shorter route planned so we slept in, enjoyed a later breakfast, and started out from LaGrange, Georgia about 9:30 am - just in time for the heat and humidity to kick in. I think we're getting used to it, because somehow the air felt cooler. It also helped that we climbed from about 780' above sea level in LaGrange to over 2,000' later in the day.

We love the names of the towns and rivers in this area, many of them based on Native American names. We crossed the Chattahoochee River, from the Creek 'chatta' or rock and 'hoochee' or river early in our trip today.

Our route mixed 4-lane divided highways with sweeping, curving 2-lane roads that wound through the Georgia countryside.

We eventually made our way to GA 157 which runs around and over Lookout Mountain, which is located in three states: the northwest corner of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the Tennessee line near Chattanooga (from the Creek 'rock coming to a point' meaning Lookout Mountain). We were hoping for open views to the valleys, but had to settle for quick peeks through some of the trees as woods line both sides of the highway.

We started to fear that once again we wouldn't find a place to eat lunch and finally reached the town of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, and had a wonderful lunch of fresh salads with grilled chicken at Cafe on the Corner.

It took us 4 hours to ride from LaGrange, GA to Lookout Mountain, but only about 15 minutes to zoom down the mountain into Chattanooga. This was the most twisty and steepest part of our ride, and a definite highlight.

Plus we finally were able to look through the trees into Chattanooga far below us.

As we rode down off Lookout Mountain, the traffic increased and so did the temperature. We decided to take the Interstate to avoid sitting in traffic at stoplights, and ended our day in Cleveland, TN. We're planning local BBQ for dinner and an early night because tomorrow we have a lot of fun planned on the mountain twisties in Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina.  Here is today's route