Tellico Plains dual sport and camp weekend

[klaviator]

I headed through Tellico and out Rafter road.



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Very little traffic, scenic and very twisty. This is one of my favorite roads.



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[klaviator]

I turned on to Shaw Mountain Road.




Super tight and twisty with pretty rough pavement, this road is best enjoyed on a dual sport or adventure bike.




I took a right at the end and went under the Skyway continuing towards River road. This road had some monster potholes that I wouldn't want to hit even on a dual sport bike. It doesn't see much traffic and was green from algea in spots.

I pulled off the road to get a pic of the creek and bridge.



I took a left on River road where the traffic was surprisingly light. Normally there are a bunch of people headed for Bald River Falls. I was able to stop on the side of the road and take pics without getting run over.



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[Johnny Tobyone]

Thanks Win. Wish I could have rode Friday also.  But after I went down doing the splits and tearing the groin  :'(   1st motorcycle injury (dirt or street) in 40 years  :) 

[klaviator]

I have ridden River road countless times, most recently on my Like. There are some dirt roads that branch off of River road that I have been wanting to explore. My plan for the day was to explore one or more of those roads.

I wasn't disappointed.



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There was some cool stuff back here.



The dirt road leading to these was a blast!



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Then I came to this :(

[klaviator]

So I had to turn around. I was curious as to the road closure. Maybe I would come back on Saturday and check it out.

The ride back was great and I saw some things I didn't see on the way in.




The river I was riding along was the Bald River which eventually makes its was over Bald River Falls.



Another Bald River Falls.



Back on River road.



I planned on exploring another side road but my low fuel light came on. I forgot that I had started this ride with 30 or so miles already on this tank ::)

I decided to check out that road anyway. I went in maybe 5 miles and decided the safe thing to do was to turn around. I knew the road went through but I didn't know how far. It was a cool ride anyway.

Back on the Skyway near Tellico Plains.



I stopped at the Telicafe for dinner and then rode back to the campground.



I ended up riding around 85 miles. It was a great start to this trip. Four more days to go!

[klaviator]

Thursday morning was absolutely beautiful with wall to wall sunshine. My buddy Steve came up from Blue Ridge, Ga to join me for the day.  Johnny Tobyone left real early from Huntsville to join us.

Steve and my KLX250s in front of CMTC. His is a 2010 model.



The three of us got on the road around 9:30. It was still a bit chilly but warming up. We headed down Rafter Road and followed it until it turned to dirt. We stopped at a spot where the ground had been cleared. I'm guessing a house will be built here and they will have a great view.



Johnny was on his old DR350.

Looking in the opposite direction.



My plan was to follow Rafter road and explore the area at the end then head over to River Road. We are riding along and came across a road that turned off to the left. It had a sign for Miller's Ridge. I had never heard of it or even knew this road was there. So we decided to check it out.

We soon came to a fork in the road.




We took the right fork.

It was some great riding. Real dirt, not gravel. It branched a few more times. Non of the ones we tried went through. They all ended like this:



This must be a popular area for deer hunting.


We went back and took the other fork. It went a long way then came to a real dirt road. We had gone through to Citico Creek. Then we swapped bikes and went back up for a mile or so. I rode Johnny's DR, Steve rode my KLX and Johnny rode Steves KLX. We stopped, swapped around and headed back. This time I was on Steve's KLX, Johnny on mine and Steve on the DR.

It was interesting riding the different bikes. Steves KLX has a carb. I can't say the motor felt much different. The riding position was way different. Mine has bars risers, the bars rotated forward and the Seat concepts seat. Steves felt very cramped for me as did the DR350. The 350 did have a lot more power.

Then we rode along Citico Creek.

[klaviator]

We took a left to ride up to Farr Gap. This is a spectacular ride and a blast if you like endless curves and scenic views. I was riding along have a blast on the the curves when I noticed there weren't any lights in my mirrors ???

If anything Steve and Johnny are faster than me in the dirt.

I waited.

Oh, oh.

I turned around. After a few minutes I found then hanging out along the road. Johnny had taken a spill in one of the curves and done a split while dismounting his bike. He was up but in a bit of pain. We decided to take the easiest way back to the campground. If he was in pain now it would only get worse when the adrenalin wore off.

I went ahead to get this pic.



Then I let Johnny lead so he could set a pace he was comfortable with.




I found out later that he was standing on the pegs a lot because it was less painful than sitting.



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There were a couple of these mowers clearing the road.

[Jwwr]

It was a great ride! Thanks Win for putting this on.

[klaviator]

It was a great ride! Thanks Win for putting this on.

Thanks for coming!

[klaviator]

I hated that Johnny hurt himself but the whole time I was following him back to the camp I was thinking what an amazing ride it was. The weather was perfect and the scenery just amazing. Even though we took the easy way back it was still an amazing ride.



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[Johnny Tobyone]

Well at least I got in several hours of nice riding! It was definitely less painful standing. Or sitting sideways.  Could barely move my leg when I got home .    Even the local police women that stopped my truck before I got back to the interstate felt sorry for me and let me go  :)    Using lots of ice and anti inflammatories

[klaviator]

Well at least I got in several hours of nice riding! It was definitely less painful standing. Or sitting sideways.  Could barely move my leg when I got home .    Even the local police women that stopped my truck before I got back to the interstate felt sorry for me and let me go  :)    Using lots of ice and anti inflammatories

Did you tell the policewoman that it hurt less when you pushed harder on the pedal?:D

[klaviator]

When we got back to the campground Johnny could barely get off his bike.  We loaded his bike into his truck.  It was a good thing he hadn't set up camp. 

After he left Steve and I were hungry but decided to just eat a few munchies there then go ride some more. Then we would eat an early dinner and get back in time for Steve to load up and head back to Blue Ridge well before dark.

We headed up the beginning of the Skyway and turned right on to River Road where we got stuck behind some slow moving Harleys.



Luckily we were turning right on to that bridge. I wanted to finish exploring that road I had started up the day before. We went a few miles and took a left to go exploring. That road was a nice ride but it ended at a loop around a Cemetery.




Then I noticed a little trail off to the right. Time to go exploring.

I rode about 50 feet around a bend and.....

The trail turned to shit ???

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Literally.

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;D

[klaviator]

Steve and I rode around exploring for a couple of hours. I only took a few pics.




I remembered this intersection from a ride many years ago. I wanted to go and explore Burrell Mountain road.....maybe in the next day or two. I had been up it before but I didn't remember what was up there.

Joe Brown Highway.



We had an early dinner at the Tellicafe.



We rode back to the campground, Steve loaded up his bike and headed home. I rode around 145 miles for the day. We never got more than 20 miles (straight line) from Tellico Plains.

One last pic for the day.

[Guidedawg]

What great exploration and incredible pics! Thank you for sharing.