When a road has a nickname like "The Tail of The Dragon" you’re going to get dumb idiots (myself) that are going to want to go on it. If you do not know what I am talking about by now, get yourself educated on random cool things in the USA. If you came here to get educated on random cool things in the USA, then you’re in a good spot.
Tail of The Dragon is a stretch of road right along the North Carolina and Tennessee border. The actual name of the road is US 129 and is in the town of Deals Gap, North Carolina. The reason why this road is so dangerous is because the 11 mile stretch known as The Tail of The Dragon has 318 curves. Which looks like this.
If you are coming from the top of the map to the bottom of the map, to your right is a mountain, and to your left is a cliff. This is why it is the most dangerous road in America. If you turn your brain off for one half second on this road, you are either in a mountain, or off a cliff. The speed limit was 55mph until 2005 when it was decreased to 30mph due to the amount of accidents. There is a heavy police present for this, but only on the Tennessee side. I guess North Carolina just wants people to die. Semi-Trucks are not allowed on the road because the block up both lanes which caused too many accidents.
But I rode it on my motorcycle just a few months after getting both my motorcycle and my motorcycle license. I have a Kawasaki KLR 650 so I am not a speed racer going through this. My bike is actually pretty slow and tops out at maybe 70 when I am going downhill with the wind. So it is a great beginner bike for me, but maybe not the best option for riding The Dragon. It was pretty scary not going to lie, I was shitting bricks throughout most of it. Remember earlier when I said I came from the top of the map, that means I was on the cliff side of the road the entire time. Not the best feeling when looking down for a quick second and not being able to see the ground.
It took me about 20-25 minutes to do all 318 curves and 11 miles and it hurt my brain. If you have ever ridden a motorcycle before you know that each hand and foot has a purpose in controlling the bike by braking, or changing gears. Changing gears, braking, down shifting, more gas, turn left, turn right, shift, brake, shift again. You get the point. For over 20 minutes I could not produce another thought besides trying my best not to die. The good part about when I rode The Dragon is that it was in December, which is not peak season and there was practically no one else on the road. There was some cool things that I did see while riding.
During my ride, I got to see a few cars doing testing for their new models in that crazy color. I have never seen anything like it before and I had a lot of questions, but no time for them as I was too focused on not dying. It was cool to see though, just wish I was not going full try-hard mode. Another thing was that the views were amazing. The Dragon is right on the edge of The Great Smokey Mountains National Park so if you are just going for a casual ride, you can stop at some of the scenic overlooks and watch idiots go too fast on a road that is known for killing people and then look at the Little Tennessee River.
There is a gas station/gift shop at the end of The Tail of the Dragon where bikers and car guys hangout, smoke cigarettes, and talk about how much they hate their wives. Since I was there in the winter it was closed, but the group I was with still stopped just to talk about how cool of a road we just rode was. As we were talking about The Dragon, another biker came to the parking lot, parked his bike, grabbed an apple, and just started looking at our bikes. Now this is a normal thing that bikers do. Nothing a guy who rides a motorcycle loves more than talking about motorcycles to a guy who loves motorcycles. But this guy was odd, we all tried to talk to him while he was looking at our bikes, but he did not say a word, not even a sound. Just him and his apple. After a few minutes of looking and touching our motorcycles, he finished his apple and left. I refuse to believe that it was that guys first time doing such a thing.
There are a lot of awesome roads that I think are cooler than The Tail of The Dragon, but not as dangerous. The Cherohala Skyway in the Cherokee National Forest is fairly close to Deals Gap and features long loopy turns that make you feel like you’re in a movie. Cherohala Skyway also has more pull offs at overlooks to take cool ass pictures and from start to end is 2.5 hours long. Think Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, but a lot cooler. There is also some dirt roads in the Cherokee National Forest that make great dirt roads if you’re into that. But pretty much all of the roads in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina are awesome if you like twisty roads for a motorcycle.
Yes this is a real picture. Just looking at this thing you can tell that it is sick as fuck. I would highly recommend checking out the Cherohala skyway if you are close to The Great Smokey Mountains, even if you are just in a car. A thing to note is that throughout the entire ride, there was hardly any civilization. Barely any gas stations and places to eat. There was a spot we stopped at for lunch that was like a burger shack style of restaurant. It was all fine and dandy, but the menu was the craziest thing I have ever seen. Instead of having the words of what the food was, it just had the first letter of the first word. For example, a bacon cheese burger would be BCB. You can see how this gets confusing when you want a double cheeseburger with bacon, and french fries with cheese,"Can I get a DBCB and a FFC". But they do not tell you this on the menu, you are just supposed to know which is mind boggling to me. Food was good though.
Share with a lover of motorcycles or someone that likes the thrill of almost dying.
That is Today's Tea, with Tea
Comments