Cherohala Skyway:
Day 2 of our North Carolina trip was a gorgeous weather day! We set off to explore the Cherohala Skyway, a National Scenic Byway that spans ~ 40 miles between Robbinsville, NC and Tellico Plans, TN. It crosses through both the Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests and along the Tellico River. https://cherohala.com/
Huckleberry Knob:
We started in Robbinsville, NC. Our first stop was to hike Huckleberry Knob in the Nantahala National Forest. It's an easy 2.2 mile out and back hike. The Summit (5,580 feet), is the highest peak in the Unicoi Mountains. From the grassy bald summit you have 360° views of the Unicoi, Great Smoky, Cheoah, Snowbird, Nantahala, Valley River, Tusquitee, and Cohutta Mountain ranges in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Near the summit there is a cross and grave marked for Andy Sherman who died on the mountain with Paul O'Neil in the winter of 1899. Their bodies were found by a hunter nine months later with several jugs of whiskey nearby. It is presumed that the men froze to death while lost and intoxicated. O'Neil's skeleton was given to a doctor for a medical exhibit.
We loved the drive along the river and stopped at several of the overlooks. Brushy Ridge Overlook provided a great picnic site with an amazing view!
Woopsie....looks like someone is gonna need a "wet tow" - we had to do a double take when we saw this car in the Tellico river!
There are so many beautiful river spots along the drive and two waterfalls worth highlighting. The falls were running strong due to the recent rainfalls. As you are looking at the falls- there are paths with rock scrambles to get to base on each side of the viewing bridge.
Bald River Falls:
Baby Falls:
We liked these more than we anticipated. There is a nice little picnic area at pull off for the falls. We hiked down to some very cool rocks at the base where you could sit and enjoy the falls and running water.
Tail of the Dragon:
We ended our day with a drive on the " Tail of the Dragon". This section of US 129 features 318 curves in 11 miles with no intersecting roads or drives to interfere with the ride.
That's right ..... we were two "Ride or Die Boomers" tackling the "Dragon" at 10 miles an hour in our totally bad-ass Chevy Tahoe! Fortunately, there are plenty of pull offs so we did not slow down the bikers and the real speed demons . There is a photographer along the road to catch your dare devil thrill ride - no shame in our game -like kids in an amusement park we snagged our souvenir photo and t-shirts!
The ride is pretty - ( distractingly so!) We stopped at the Tail of the Dragon Overlook - pretty spot.
Caught a picture of Rusty and a cool Harley guy that had stopped at overlook.
We stopped and saw the big metal dragon and the "Tree of Shame" ( a shrine started by a group of Harley-Davidson riders in the 1980's as a reminder that many vehicles have been damaged due to wrecks on this twisty curvy road. )
Day complete- back to our cabin and a fire by the stream!
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