NottaRally October 2021

[norton73]

I'm surprised to see I hadn't written this up. Too cold to go outside today, so here's report to get us all through to warmer weather.

NottaRally started many years ago as an offshoot of Rick's Eastern RDV over at AdvRider. As anyone who has attended an Adv rally knows, sometimes the campfire can get a little rowdy and go on late into the early morning hours. After one of the events at Hot Springs NC, the campground requested Rick no longer have events there. Next time he had one, he just posted up that he was gonna be there on a certain date and at a certain campsite and it was up to anyone who wanted to attend to reserve their own site. If the the campground owners asked, "it was not a rally".  :D

After a short period of time the campground owners got wise and NottaRally moved to other sites, and after Rick passed away, it was taken over by another inmate over at Adv, Cuttle.  Last fall, the location was Smokey Mountain Meadows Campground just south of Bryson City, NC 

https://smokymtnmeadows.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuO77gdG79QIVix-tBh2PhQhwEAAYASAAEgLD-fD_BwE

Lynn and i loaded up her XT225 and my KLX351 in the camper and drove up Thursday afternoon.

[norton73]

I hadn't ridden much in the Bryson City area except on pavement, so I had asked my friend Silke if she could show us some good routes over there. Unfortunately, she had ended up working late a bunch that week and never found time to work on her bike, so didn't bring it.

I went with plan B, got out some maps; and asked another friend about possible routes. Kevin has a V-Strom and knows the area well, but would want to travel faster than us, but we got lots of good advice.
I had bought maps here; https://americaridesmaps.com/t/unpaved-road-maps  several years ago, but don't see the ones I used listed. getting revised, dropped, dunno?

There were a few places I'd been to in the past, but Lynn hadn't so we planned a route for Friday. Her XT225 is pretty maxed out at 60mph, so we decided to try to avoid 74/19 between Bryson City and the Nantahala Outdoor Center. We rode into Bryson City, got gas and tried to find a route that parallel 74/19 over to the Nanty Gorge.

We found some fun narrow roads, but nothing that went across the lake.

[norton73]

We finally gave up after a bunch of dead ends and returned to 74/19. It was still worth the riding over on the little roads, they were fun with no traffic. We got on 74/19 and rode to the Gorge and then went south on Winding Stairs Rd.





It's a fun road, smooth lots of switchbacks, and some good views down into the gorge.

At the top, there's a small man made lake.

[norton73]

Shortly after the lake, there's a little network of 1 1/2 lane paved roads that we took over to Wayah Road. Lynn hadn't been to the Wayah Bald Tower before, so we headed over there.









From Wayah Road to the tower is a couple miles of easy dirt road;

[norton73]

[norton73]

After we left Wayah Bald Tower, we headed back out to Wayah Road to ride Forest Service 711.

[norton73]

I've heard several stories about FS 711. Some say it was meant to be an extenstion of the Blue Ridge Parkway, some say it was just built as a scenic drive in the Natahala Nat'l Forest. Either way, it's about 18 miles long and hasn't been maintained much in recent years. Coming from the south side, it starts as about 5 miles of smooth pavement, nice turns, and a few overlooks ala BRP. Then the road surface turns to crap. Shortly after one of the overlooks, there was a 4" drop off into gravel. There would be sections for a few 100 yards that were great pavement, then around a blind turn, there would be another drop off and several 100 yards of gravel and dirt again. This went on for then next 14 miles or so.
I thought it was fun and challenging on my KLX. Kinda like the old Superbikers/motard races, mix of hard cornering on pavement, then flattracking around the dirt corners. Lynn didn't enjoy it as much.  Later, talking to Kevin, he said it was better to ride North to South rather than South to North like we did. Either way, I had fun.

The entrance to 711 off Wayah Road;

[norton73]

At the North end of FS711, we took some more 1 1/2 lane paved roads back to Wayah Rd. Then we went north to Otter Creek Road, which took us over to Tellico Gap Road. Most of Tellico Gap road decends down a power line cut to 28 just north of Franklin.

Tellico Gap is nowhere near Tellico plains, Tellico River, don't know what the relationship is.





At the end of the road, there is a winery;



We then headed north on 28 back to the campground where we sat around the campfire with friends, drank a few beers, and lied about how tough our ride was. ;-)

[norton73]

Saturday we got rolling and went into Bryson City to look for Conley's Creek Road. After a few wrong turns and U turns we found it and started south.

it started as a fun twisty paved 1 1/2 laner through a nice valley. Then it turned to dirt with lots of switchbacks until it climbed to the top of the mountain. Then the road became Huckleberry Creek Road. There were lots of bear hunters driving around, we had to be careful, some were more interested in watching their trackers than the road.

[norton73]

The map showed a lookout tower on Government Road at Cowee Bald. We got partway there to find a gate.



We turned around and continued down Huckleberry Creek road to Leatherman Gap Road. Then we returned to 28 and headed north back to Tellico Gap Road.

After crossing the gap again, went north on Wayah Road to Old River Road. We stopped at the kayak put in for the Nantahala Cascades and ate our lunch.

[norton73]

After lunch, we continued down Old River Road;



Then got on Junaluska Road and went looking for Tuni Gap Road. Found it and rode it south;



It was supposed to make a loop with Tusquittee Rd. Tusquittee Rd started paved, and after we passed a few houses, there was a sign saying "No Through Road" We continued anyway, the road turned to dirt, then rough exposed rocks and started climbing steeply and had some steep hairpins.





We topped out at a gap and then my GPS no longer showed a road. We continued on and my GPS first said "Unpaved Road" then changed to "Clear Creek Rd". There wasn't a Clear Creek Rd on my map, but we continued anyway.



We passed a few houses way out in the middle nowhere, then a couple creek crossings.

We finally came out where i thought Tusquittee Rd should connect back to Tuni Gap Rd, so i guess we crossed a county line and the road name changed.





We then rode back up Junaluska Rd and old River Road to Wayah Road again. We returned to the Nantahala Gorge and then back to the campground after a stop at NOC. Then it was back to campfire, friends, beer, and lies again.

Sunday we packed up after a relaxed breakfast and BSing with friends and saying good bye.

[Sweeper]

I've ridden the paved part of 711. It's a fun ride! Need to head back on the CRF and do the whole thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thinwater]

Do you have a NottaSticker to go with your NottaRally.  I saw JustBert with one from 2019 in Maggie Valley this past year, I loved it.

[norton73]

Do you have a NottaSticker to go with your NottaRally.  I saw JustBert with one from 2019 in Maggie Valley this past year, I loved it.

No, I don't think there were stickers for 2020 or 2021. They were less organized than usual.

I missed a few Nottas in recent years. Often it was a weekend right around Barber Vintage Fest and it used to be tough to get two long weekends in a month off. That and I often take a couple weeks off in early September to go to a Norton Rally usually held in VA, WVA, MD, or PA plus a few days to kayak the Gauley River in WV.

Looking at my Smug Mug account, it looks like I attended a Notta in 2014 then not again until 2020.

https://norton73.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Nottarally-2014/

https://norton73.smugmug.com/NottaRally-2020/

[Gam]

People seem to love or hate 711.  I usually come off it then do Rainbow Springs and whatever the FS road is with Standing Indian Campground, some fast dirt.