{"id":283,"date":"2009-11-15T22:14:50","date_gmt":"2009-11-16T02:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wb4eje.com\/?p=283"},"modified":"2009-11-30T09:07:31","modified_gmt":"2009-11-30T13:07:31","slug":"cherohala-skyway-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/?p=283","title":{"rendered":"Cherohala Skyway Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fall is usually one of the best times of the year in Atlanta for riding.\u00a0 Fall is usually dry and the temperatures are on the cooler side, making motorcycle riding very pleasant. This year has been different.\u00a0 After record drought over the past couple of years we have been getting above average rainfall over the past months.\u00a0 We have had weeks where it rained almost every day.\u00a0 In September we had 12-18 inches of rain in a few days that caused terrible flooding in many parts of Atlanta.\u00a0 Just last week a tropical storm came though and dropped another 3-4 inches two days.\u00a0 This hasn’t been the greatest fall I can remember for motorcycle riding.<\/p>\n

This past weekend we got some really nice weather.\u00a0 The forecast was for temperatures in the middle 70s and sunny.\u00a0 I couldn’t see wasting a nice day doing yard work or working around the house so we decided to take a day ride.\u00a0 We rode up to Tellico Plains Tennessee to ride across the Cherohala Skyway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The morning started out in the very low 40s but by 10:00 AM it was warming up quickly.\u00a0 We bundled up and headed out at about 10:30.\u00a0 We rode north on I-575 \/ GA 515 through Ellijay up to Blueridge, GA.\u00a0 From there we took GA 5 up to Copperhill, TN.\u00a0 Then TN 68 to Tellico Plains.\u00a0 TN 68 is a twisty two lane highway that winds it way through numerous small towns and townships and up and down through the hills of Tennessee.<\/p>\n

It took about two and a half hours to get to Tellico Plains.\u00a0 Tellico Plains is a very pretty little town.\u00a0 \u00a0As the name implies it is on a plain of slightly rolling hills but looking to the east you can see the Great Smokey Mountains that are not far away.\u00a0 \u00a0We found our way to the downtown area, that wasn’t all that hard, and had a bite to eat in the bakery\/internet caf\u00e9.\u00a0 After lunch we checked out the Tellico Motorcycle Outfitters<\/a> store.\u00a0 Tellico Outfitters is a nice store with lots of motorcycle apparel and accessories.\u00a0 They have riding jackets and pants and full riding suits as well as all manner of riding accessories.\u00a0 There are also a number of motorcycle motels and resorts in Tellico Plains.\u00a0 We saw a couple of them coming in on TN 68.\u00a0 It would be a great place to do a overnight ride and explore the area on the bike.\u00a0 Apparently there are a lot of motorcycles that come through there on the way up to the Skyway.<\/p>\n

The owner of the Outfitter store told us about a side trip off the Skyway up to a waterfall.\u00a0 About five miles up the Skyway from Tellico Plains is River Road, and 3 miles up River Road is the Bald River Falls.\u00a0 River Road winds along the river that has numerous white water sections and lots of Kayakers and canoes.\u00a0 We went as far at the falls but according to the GPS River Road winds its way all the way to the state line.\u00a0 The falls were really flowing!\u00a0 Tennessee has had a lot of rain too as evidenced by the amount of water coming over the falls.<\/p>\n

\"cherohala-skyway-ride-11-09-004-640\"

Bald River Falls<\/p><\/div>\n

From the falls we continued on our way up the Skyway, we kept climbing and climbing.\u00a0 Tellico Plains is at an elevation of about 960 feet.\u00a0 The Skyway climbs to over a mile high.\u00a0 At one point I saw 5700 feet on the GPS.\u00a0 I noticed that the difference in the Cherohala Skyway compared to say, the Blue Ridge Parkway, is that the Skyway isn’t surrounded by other mountains.\u00a0 You can see for miles and miles from the scenic overlooks along the Cherohala!<\/p>\n

\"cherohala-skyway-ride-11-09-009-640\"

Scenic overview on the Cherohala Skyway (Approx 2000' elev.)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Skyway runs along the tops of the mountain ridges and winds back and forth.\u00a0 Traveling east toward Robbinsville, North Carolina you actually travel in just about every direction of the compass.\u00a0 Climbing higher and higher and seeing increasing greater views of the plains to the west and south, this is quite a ride.\u00a0 I highly recommend it!\u00a0 There are plenty of scenic overview stops along the Skyway to stop, rest, and have a look at the fantastic views.<\/p>\n

We arrived in Robbinsville on the other end of the Skyway just after 4 in the afternoon.\u00a0 It took longer than I thought it would to get across the Skyway and it was starting to cool off.\u00a0 It was supposed to be in the middle 70’s but up at that altitude I don’t think it got too much over the middle 60’s.\u00a0 At Robbinsville we picked up US 129 and then US 19 and headed southwest towards Andrews and Murphy North Carolina.\u00a0 With it getting dark so early now, I put the hammer down once we hit the four lane section of US 19.\u00a0 Passing Murphy and turning toward Georgia on Spur 60 we headed back toward GA 515.\u00a0 One more stop for fuel and a couple of hours and we would be home.\u00a0 Barbara was getting cold at this point, so I suggested that she put her Frog Toggs on to keep the wind off of her.\u00a0 The Frog Toggs kept her warm on the cool ride home.\u00a0 Frog Toggs are simply the best all around rain \/ warm suit that you can have for any kind of outdoor activity!<\/p>\n

Once on 515 I set the cruise and we hammered home arriving home at about O’Dark Thirty.\u00a0 This was the longest ride we have had in a while and we were both pretty tired when we got home.\u00a0 But it was a good day ride, one of the best we had this year.<\/p>\n

Ride Safe!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fall is usually one of the best times of the year in Atlanta for riding.\u00a0 Fall is usually dry and the temperatures are on the cooler side, making motorcycle riding very pleasant. This year has been different.\u00a0 After record drought over the past couple of years we have been getting above average rainfall over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harley-davidson","category-motorcycle-touring","category-motorcycles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=283"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions\/288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}