This featured ride is provided by Moto-Maps® from their North Carolina booklet and was created and reported by Jennings Glenn – a Moto-Maps’ colleague and co-author of Great Roads, Great Rides.

Jennings Glenn

The Dragon, Cherohala Skyway and Nantahala Gorge; for anyone who rides a motorcycle these names conjure up images of roads and scenery among the best in the country. The Red Ride from the North Carolina Moto-Maps takes you in one, day-long ride of 163 miles, over all these roads.

The ride begins at one of the most famous junctions in motorcycling; Routes. 29 & 128 in western North Carolina. This is the entrance to the “Dragon” known on road maps as Deal’s Gap. The Dragon features 318 turns in 11 miles! Riders from all over the world come to test their skills on these twisties. However a look at the crash-photo board in the Deal’s Gap Motorcycle Resort clearly shows that sometimes the Dragon, not the rider, wins the test. Near the end of the Dragon is a pull-off overlooking the Smokies and several turns where bikers gather to share stories.

Jennings Glenn

When you finish the Dragon you will be in Tennessee and ride Rt. 72 over some very beautiful wetlands to Rt. 360. This road takes you to Tellico Plains where you might want to stop for a cool drink and a bite to eat at one of several great roadside drive-ins before heading back into North Carolina over the Cherohala Skyway.

The Cherohala Skyway was completed in the fall of 1996. This route takes you up over 6,000 ft. peaks and includes 21 miles in Tennessee and 15 miles in North Carolina, ending in Robbinsville, NC. The temperature can easily vary over 10 degrees during this part of the Red Ride. The Skyway travels through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests, taking its name from each, thus the Chero-hala name. The Skyway is very isolated, built for its beautiful scenery, not for connecting particular places so you will encounter very little traffic while experiencing great vistas and fun twistes.

After coming off the Skyway the ride continues taking you to Rt. 19 also know as the Nantahala Gorge. This fourteen mile stretch of the Red Ride is all down hill running along the Nantahala River, one of the best whitewater rafting rivers in the south. Be sure to stop at one of the many pull offs on this road and take time to watch the dozens of rafts, kayaks and tubes as they ride the rapids or take time yourself to do some rafting while there.

Jennings Glenn

Rt. 19 takes you to Rt. 28 which goes by one of the huge TVA dams at Fontana. Take a brief detour and go to the Visitors Center for a visit. Upon leaving the dam you will head back up the mountain to complete the full-circle of the ride ending where you began at the entrance to the Dragon.