Skyline Drive & the BRP, aka 574 Miles of Curves

[Nice Goat]

Last month, Speedfire, Mojo1, and I went to enjoy the fall colors up in Virginia and North Carolina.  The plan was to ride 650 miles of interstate the first day up to Front Royal, Virginia, then take our time (three days) riding back south along Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  574 miles of curves at an average of 35mph.

Some people would wince at that.  35mph feels almost glacially slow to me on a motorcycle.  Patience is one of my struggles.  But I've wanted to do this ride for several years.  Kind of a bucket list item, I guess.

The starting point was on Sunday, October 22nd, from the Waffle House in Cullman.  I arrived first and snapped a quick photo.  Greg and Shane arrived shortly after.  We ate breakfast, then hit the road about 6:40am.  It was a bit foggy at first, but it cleared up quickly.



Gas stops were planned for every 125 miles, and I had GPS routes prepared so I wouldn't screw it up.  We arrived at our first gas stop in Chattanooga around 9:00am central/10:00am eastern.  As I was filling my tank with gas, I noticed a drug addict hovering around my helmet, waiting for me to turn around.  It was actually a bit comical.  When I would look toward him, he would look away, but there was about a 1.5 second delay.  Finally I finished filling my tank and picked up my helmet.  I stood there looking at him, and he walked off around the back of the gas station. 

We decided to take our rest break somewhere else, so we rode 10 miles up the interstate to Shallowford Rd.  Since it was Sunday morning, everything was closed except a Starbucks (where some lady in a Beemer almost ran over us on her way to getting a latte) and a gas station that we had to drive around the world to find.  I've never heard of a place with so many stores and shopping centers and we literally had to drive five miles to find a gas station.  I guess they all drive Priuses (or is it Prii?) in Fancy Pants, Tennessee.

We finally found another gas station, got all refreshed and back on the road.  The rest of the day was uneventful, stopping for gas every two hours, until we hit heavy traffic around Harrisonburg, VA.  We did find a cool gas station that had a huge wrap around porch with tables and chairs.  Only in Virginia!



We made it to our hotel in Strasburg, VA, around 8:30pm.  We met back in the lobby 15 minutes later and walked next door to Castiglia's Italian Restaurant.  The place didn't look like much, but the food was really, really good.  Didn't take long to fall asleep after that meal.

[Nice Goat]

Our route for day 1 .... all interstate    :'(

[Nice Goat]

Forgot to mention that the hotel in Strasburg allowed us to park our bikes under the awning, right in front of the door.  Awesome!  There was already a Harley parked there, so we just lined up next to it.  We thanked the desk clerk profusely for that privilege.

The next morning, we were all packed up and pulling out of the hotel about 6:30AM.  We took Strasburg Rd (VA 55) over to Front Royal.  Because the sun was just coming up, and we were headed east-southest into the mountains, we were treated to the most colorful sunrise that we had ever seen.  Bright blues and bright oranges and just the right amount of haze and long shadows.  It was absolutely stunning.  Unfortunately, there was no place to pull off for photos, and there was too much morning traffic to stop in the road.  So we only have it in our memories.

For breakfast, I had picked a local spot, L'Dees Pancake House, in Front Royal, which was about 20 minutes away and right at the beginning of Skyline Drive.  Imagine a home-cooked breakfast with thick cut bacon and sausage infused with maple syrup.  And a friendly and attentive waitress who seemed to know exactly what we needed before we knew.  It was a homerun.

As we were paying our tabs and getting ready to leave, an older guy started chatting me up.  He seemed friendly at first, then turned hostile.  He told me that we took up too many parking spaces.  When we had arrived, there were very few cars and the parking lot was almost empty.  Because we were all loaded with bags, etc., we each took a parking place, rather than trying to consolidate into one or two spots.  Old Grumpy told me that was not proper "biker etiquette."  I tried to handle it graciously, since we were the guests.  I told him that the parking lot was empty when we arrived, and we didn't know that the place would fill up so quickly.  Also, I told him, it is not easy to climb on and off our bikes with all of the bags, so I didn't think that we could all park in one space anyway.  He seemed to ponder that for a moment looking for a comeback, but I said "Have a good day" and walked out the door.

After the restaurant, it only took about three minutes to get to the entrance for Skyline Drive.  I did not realize that you had to pay to ride it, but as we approached the guard shack, I saw the sign that said $20 for motorcycles.  Because of my lack of planning, and so that Shane and Greg wouldn't have to dig around for their wallets, I went ahead and paid all three entrance fees.  Then I ran ahead about a mile to stop and take a photo of the guys coming up the hill.  Little did I know ... it would be the only riding photo I took that day.

[Nice Goat]

Skyline Drive is 105 miles long, and runs from Front Royal, Virginia, to Waynesboro, Virginia.  Like many of our National Parks and National Byways, it was built during the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps.  We often think of the Great Depression as a national trauma, but it is nice to remember that some good did emerge from it.

After I took the picture above of Greg and Shane, we continued climbing the mountain and quickly reached the cloud layer, which was around 2,500 feet.  We stayed in it for the rest of the day.  There are over 70 scenic overlooks on Skyline Drive, we only stopped at one of them.

We did stop at the historic Skyland Lodge to use the restroom, visit the gift shop, and have some coffee.  They were out of cream and regular milk at the coffee shop, but he did have about a tablespoon of soymilk for me.  Any more than that, and I might have gagged.  I was really roughing it now.  The Lodge was really interesting.  In the early days, (rich) people would come and spend the summer on top of the mountain, enjoying outdoor activities, gourmet food, and fancy ballroom dances.  AC/DC's song "My Balls" came to mind...

We made it to the end of Skyline in Waynesboro and headed to a gas station for fuel and snacks.  We met a group of folks who had just finished the BRP in the northern direction.  They had a nice group of GoldWings, Spyders, and a 1200GS.  They said that they had been riding in drizzling rain for the last few hours, so we should expect the same if we were headed south.  I checked my doppler radar app on my phone and told Greg and Shane that we should be clear for a few hours, but we would hit the rain before Roanoke. 

I couldn't have been more wrong.  We had no sooner suited up and started to pull out when it started raining.  For the next six hours and 150 miles, we would be in the cloud layer, fog, and rain.  Our average speed was about 30mph, but there were times when visibility was so bad that we were below 20mph.  It would open up for a minute and we'd hit 50-60, then the door would slam shut again.  Several times we had to stop to dry our faceshields and/or glasses.  We spent about 20 minutes in a tunnel at one point, just to escape the rain.

Eventually, we made it to Peaks of Otter Lodge.  We originally planned to camp here, but with the weather and coming storms, I had reserved us a hotel room in Roanoke.  Peaks of Otter was a really nice place though.  Apparently it is a great place for romantic weekends, as the place was filled with couples of all ages.  Then there was Greg, Shane, and I, spreading our wet gear out on the floor and drying our gloves and helmets in the restroom under the hand dryers.  The weather was actually getting more dangerous outside, so nobody gave us any harsh words or dirty looks.  Everybody was gracious.

We made our way into the lounge and ordered some coffee.  That's when the fun began...

[Nice Goat]

Everybody wanted to know why we were so crazy as to ride in this weather.  The wind was picking up, small branches were falling from the trees, etc.  After they found out that we were just stopping to warm up and dry out, and that we intended to carry on shortly, the bartender sent the restaurant manager to our table to convince us to stay.  I told her that we didn't have any reservations and the lodge was full.  Then I suggested that we could sleep on the floor in the downstairs conference room, since it was unoccupied.  I already knew that she would have to say "not possible," but she said, "I would let you if we weren't using it this evening."  Now that was a surprising answer.  But I told her that we had reservations in Roanoke and it wasn't much farther, maybe an hour.  Then she asked if we wanted anything from the kitchen.  I asked about their blackberry cobbler ala mode.  She went to fetch it but came back empty-handed.  I asked about something else, and she came back empty-handed again!  Finally we ended up with some apple pie, and all was right in the world.

When we finally left Peaks of Otter, the wind was stronger and the cloud was still thick, but it was not raining.  We made it about a mile and then the fog opened up.  We increased speed to about 60mph for maybe five minutes, and SLAM! .... back in the fog and rain.  It would continue to be foggy and rainy for the next hour, all the way to Roanoke.  We made it to the hotel around 6:00pm, and just ate dinner in the hotel.  I fell asleep quickly, once back in the room.  Again, we were allowed to park under the awning, right outside the front door.  Scha-weet.

Our route for Day 2 is below.  Notice Google says 6 hours.  In reality, it took us closer to 12 hours.

[Nice Goat]

The next day, we slept in and had breakfast in the hotel.  Greg was having trouble with his kickstand and ran over to a nearby Lowes for a hose clamp.  Thanks to a heads-up message from a friend, I spent a little time online looking at BRP road closures.  So far, we had not been diverted off our path, but today would be different.  Because of the storms, there were four closures we would have to work around.

We left the hotel around 9:00am and stopped for gas on our way back to the BRP.  I knew from the Park Service's website that one of the closures was right where we had gotten off the BRP the night before.  Sure enough, the gate was closed.  There was a couple from Delaware sitting there on their Harley Roadglide Ultra looking confused and flustered.  They knew nothing about the closure and had no idea how to get around it.  I could see that on their faces.  But I already had a bypass planned using US 221 and Bent Mountain Road.  I asked them if they wanted to follow us to get back on the BRP.  You could see the relief on their faces.

We all took off back to Hwy 221.  After getting out of the Roanoke traffic, Bent Mountain Road was actually just as good as the BRP, only with more stuff lining the road.  Our detour was about 12 miles, and we re-entered the BRP exactly where the closure ended.  I pulled off at the first mountain overlook (Cahas, I think), because it was a beautiful, sunny morning, and it was time to get out the camera again.  We stood around chatting with our new friends from Delaware --- Bob and Isabel.  Isabel was so happy that we had lent them a hand that she gave me a hug and called me her savior.  Bob didn't seem to be paying attention, which I thought was odd.  But if I had a new Roadglide Ultra, I'd probably be distracted also.













After the short break, I ran ahead to get some photos of our group.







The rest of the day was uneventful.  The four expected road closures ended up being only two.  We made it to Meadows of Dan and stopped at the Mabry Mill Restaurant, which was over-crowded.  I told everybody that our scheduled gas stop was only two miles away at Meadows of Dan, but Bob and Isabel wanted to stay and also they wanted to ride a more relaxed pace, so we all said our goodbyes.  We would see them again though.

Greg, Shane and I proceeded on to Meadows of Dan and stopped for gas and a snack at Poor Farmer's Market.  They had some fried apple pies which were delicious, but a bit greasy.  There was banjo music playing over the market's outdoor speakers, and it had to compete with the mountain music coming from the place across the road.  It felt like I was in Frontiertown at Disney.

[Nice Goat]

As we climbed to higher and higher elevation, I noticed that the leaves were getting more and more colorful and beautiful.  Time to break out the camera again!

[Nice Goat]

Our other BRP closure was after crossing into North Carolina, between Hare and Cherry Lane, but it was only a couple of miles of closure.  We were able to go around quickly by using Shawtown Rd.

We made one last stop for gas in Blowing Rock, NC.  We had a planned gas stop in Linville Falls, where we were planning to spend the night, but we needed a break (remember the greasy fried apple pies?) sooner.  We made it to Linville Falls about 45 minutes later and had dinner at Spear's BBQ.  I noticed that the gas station across the street --- my planned gas stop --- no longer had any gas pumps.  Every one of my planned gas stops had been eyeballed on Google Maps streetview to make sure that the place was in business and had gas pumps, so it was a good thing that we had stopped in Blowing Rock.

After dinner, we proceeded to Linville Falls Trailer Lodge and Campground on Gurney Franklin Road.  This place was a little gem.  The primitive camping area is separate from the RV camping area.  There was a huge bathhouse with ten (10!) private rooms, each with toilet and shower.  They were clean, heated (somewhat), and the water pressure was great.  The bathhouse was only a short walk from the primitive camping area.

A couple owns the place, and when we checked in, the wife gave us a map and pointed us to the RV area.  We asked about the primitive camping area and she said that she saw how big our bikes were and how loaded down and thought that we might not want to enter the primitive area.  She explained that the driveway is steep and covered in rocks and gravel.  We told her that we would prefer to check it out and not camp next  to the RVs.  She said "no problem," circled the available campsites, and let us go choose which one we wanted.  She said to just come back and tell her which one we had chosen.

We headed down to the primitive camping area and found that the road was not that bad.  A decent rider could do it on a GoldWing.  We chose a campground that had several good trees for hanging our hammocks and proceeded to set up camp.  After we were done, we decided that we wanted a campfire, so we headed back up to the office to give them our site number and purchase firewood.  The wife said that her husband was eating dinner and he would bring the firewood to us shortly.  We headed back to the campsite, and sure enough, the husband showed up shortly.  Not only did he bring the wood, but he started the fire for us!  We thanked him several times and chatted him up about the campground.  He said that he does strong business for about six months of the year and uses the other six months to make repairs and improvements.  He used to own a company that cleaned septic tanks and rented those plastic outhouses, but he sold out about two years ago and purchased the campground.  He was obviously much happier talking about the campground.

We stayed up chatting and enjoying the fire until about 10:00pm, then went to our hammocks and crashed.  It had been a perfect day of riding the mountains.

I wish that I had taken some photos of the campground, but it was almost dark when we arrived (just enough time to set up the hammocks), and it was just getting light when we pulled out the next morning.

Our route on Day 3:

[Nice Goat]

The next day, Day 4, would be our last on the BRP.  We left the campground and went into Linville Falls to eat breakfast at Famous Louise's Rock House Restaurant.  Their claim to fame is that three counties intersect inside the restaurant.  There is an "X" on the floor marking the spot.  The entrance is in one county, your table is in another, and the bathroom in a third county.  Beyond that, the food was fairly decent but not special.  We hung out for about an hour waiting for the sun to come up a little higher, and then we got on the road.

About 30 minutes later, we pulled into Little Switzerland to get some coffee and warm up.  It was friggin' cold.  There was some ice in the road right in front of the Cafe & General Store.  Didn't get any photos, but I did buy some stickers.  Little Switzerland sits at the top end of Hwy 226A, also known as The Diamondback.  Someday, I need to explore more around this area.

Leaving Little Switzerland, the elevation kept climbing and the temperature kept falling.  By the time we reached Mount Mitchell, over 6,000 feet high, it was 33 degrees.  It had not rained in two days, but the trees were covered in a thin layer of ice.  I think it was vapor from the clouds congealing on the tree branches.  It made for a beautiful sight, a mixture of green and white.  I'd never seen anything like it.





The weather had been unseasonably warm in September and October.  I was hoping that it would stay warm, but the storms on Monday had brought cold air.  I had my heated gloves and my heated grips both running, but my toes were freezing.

Finally, we started descending in elevation into Asheville.  The temps started rising.  We stopped at Hwy 70 for gas and decided to go look for toe warmers.  There was a Walgreens nearby, so we went there.  No toe warmers.  We went across the street to Ingles.  No toe warmers, but they did have a Starbucks, so we took a break and enjoyed some hot coffee.  I searched Google Maps for a few minutes and found Black Dome Mountain Sports, an outdoor goods store, just a few miles away.  So we ran over there and found a KTM 1090 Adventure in the parking lot.  Turns out it was the owner's bike.  We chatted briefly with him and bought some toe warmers and stickers, then headed back to the BRP.

About 15 miles from Asheville, there was another BRP closure.  This time, there was no warning and nowhere to get off the BRP.  We had to backtrack about 7 miles to 191, take that to 280, and then up 276 back to the BRP.  276 was a great road through Pisgah Nat'l Forest, but we missed about 20 miles of the BRP.  There are a lot of tunnels on this section, so I'll have to go back someday to do this section.

The afternoon turned out to be warmer, and the farther we got from Asheville, the less people and cars we saw on the BRP.   The rest of the day was mostly relaxed and serene.  We stopped at Looking Glass Rock Overlook to get some more pictures.  We were there for at least 10 minutes and never saw another soul.







About ten miles before the end of the BRP near Cherokee, traffic started to pick up again.  We had to slow our pace because there was nowhere to pass, but I didn't really mind.  I didn't want it to be over.

We stopped for gas in Cherokee, then headed over to Bryson City for an early dinner.  Shane recommended Jimmy Mac's, and it was really good, especially the fried shrimp. 

From there, we took 28 over to Iron Horse MC Campground for the night.  It was not crowded, but there were some people there, some of them more interesting than others.  There was a woman staying there by herself.  She was there in her car, and admitted that she was not a motorcycle rider.  She seemed to be trying to hook up.  She tried real hard to pick up Shane, but he wasn't interested.  She was about 20 years older than him, but she was projecting a Lot Lizard vibe, not a cougar vibe.  We hung out around the fire until about 10:30pm, then when Lizard lady went to the bathroom, we headed for our cabin --- we didn't want her seeing which cabin we went to.  :D

Our route for Day 4:

[Nice Goat]

The final day, Day 5, was somewhat boring.  We had breakfast at Iron Horse, then rode 143 over to Robbinsville.  We filled up on gas, then took the boring route (129 to 74) over to Cleveland.  We found the downtown Starbucks and stopped to warm up and drink coffee.  Then we headed down to Pandora's European Motorsports to check out their inventory.  Shane has got me wanting another big ADV bike...

After Pandora's, we just took interstate the rest of the way home.

Route for Day 5:



That's it.  Report over.  I was glad that Shane and Greg were able to go with me.  It's always fun creating memories with friends.  For example, from this trip, I will never forget that Lizard Lady chasing Shane all around Iron Horse.  It was priceless.

Until next time....

[Chitza]

Thank you, Glenn. Nothing like starting off with a bomb diggity Ride report to get this party started!

[Fencejumper09]

Great ride report and pictures! One day I will ride this route!

[Brian A]

Good stuff Glenn. Thanks for telling the tale.

My first ever road trip on a motorcycle was in 1987.  My riding buddy and I did pretty much the same thing: Rode interstate to the start of Skyline Drive then rode it and the BRP. From one end to the other.  I was on the Nighthawk S and he rode a CBX. 

It was a good trip and felt, at the time, like quite an accomplishment. I had never been on a long trip and my first served to provide many great memories and a lot of pics. They are old style paper photos. I will look through them every now and then and smile thinking about the fun and laughs we had along the way.

I have ridden/driven many sections of the BRP in the years since, but never the Full Monty.

Thanks again for the RR. It really does make me want to go and do it again. It is a great ride to slow things down and enjoy the scenery and riding at a slower pace.

[norton73]

 Great write up.
BRP is one of the greatest mc roads, even if the speeds are low. You'd miss all the scenery if you tried to ride faster.
Like Brian, I've never ridden the whole thing in one trip, but I'm pretty sure I've done every mile on it at least 3 or 4 times, some sections 10 or more.

As for riding fast, the roads going off the BRP are great, I like 276 and 215 in NC, 42 in VA, plus a bunch more.

[Guidedawg]

Thanks for the report.  The BRP is definitely on my one-day list