pghpp70

I am planning my second trip to the Tail of The Dragon and surrounding roads. I’m sticking to the TOD/Cherohala Skyway/Moonshiner area on day one and will head towards the Rattler/Diamondback area on day two. Last year I finished my trip on Diamondback and the Devils Whip which were great roads. This year I am trying to decide if I should take the same route or try the Rattler, The Snake 421 and Dragons Back. One Rennlister recommended driving Rt. 20 from Pipesteam WV through Hinton and Rainelle which is on my way home. I’d like to hear from anyone that has driven the Rattler, The Snake and/or Rt. 20 to get your take on if it’s worth the trip. I’m also open to any other recommended roads in this area. I wish I had time to hit all of the areas great roads but it’s just too much for a 3 day trip which starts in Pittsburgh. I can skip Diamondback if the Rattler and The Sake are comparable roads. Any input is greatly appreciated. For anyone that has not made this trip, the driving is incredible!

Thanks

Sean

Pyrat2

My back yard...a few thoughts. Depends what you are looking for. A hard run, super scenic, combo.

Of course the Dragon is a hard run but slow. Super tight turns. Lots of traffic too and Sheriffs. My favorite part is not the Dragon itself but rather the run from Deals Gap to Fontana Dam - 28. Faster than the Dragon but more exciting in my view. Far less traffic too.

Cherohala Skyway and Foothills Parkway are good. Cherohala starts/end in Tellico Plains. Tellico Grains Bakery is good for breakfast with fresh pastries. Foothills Parkway is super scenic and similar to Cherohala but rides along the ridge of the mountain. Many spots along the path allow great overlooks on both sides of the road.

Starting in Tellico Plain you can take 68 to Ducktown. From there you can go on 74 in either direction. Back towards Robbinsville or towards Ocoee

Devils Triangle. If you go there via 321 to 61 you get a very nice scenic drive there. The triangle itself is pretty technical. Similar but different than the Dragon. I recommend taking it in the morning and running it counter clockwise. Then you can stop at Brushy Mountain penitentiary for lunch.

Hot Springs is great place for lunch. Recommend coming through Hurricane on via 208. After lunch back to 208 and then take 212. Very narrow road but also little to no traffic.

Many of the best drives are ones that you stumble on. See an intersection and explore.

regajohn

I spent a week in the area in early October. Drove to friends house in Chattanooga and then drove into the area on a Sunday. On Wednesday drove from the dragon area over to the banner elk area, then on Saturday drove back to Chattanooga and then on Sunday drove home. Put 1,500 miles on the car on the fun roads

This is the route I took from Snowbird Mountain Lodge (near the dragon) to Banner Elk (October 2022) … you could reverse it, as it looks like from Pittsburg you go near B.E.

‘ The roads were great … obviously Google maps will try to reroute you the fast non-scenic way so don’t let it. Also it’s just alternate routes. The farther south gray route that goes through top 10 would be good too. The route took us about six hours on a rainy foggy Wednesday (I was there for a week, all the other days were beautiful sunny and in the 70s)

not sure if the hearts show up on your map but there is a way to download areas of the country (via Google maps) to your phone so that if you lose cell service which obviously you will the phone will still navigate for you (Google will tell you how to do it).

also if you go to tell the dragon website they have reviews or maps for other roads. And the RS Xperience dude (Andy) who takes bespoke sports car tours to the area, has a YouTube channel and on a couple of the videos he talks about some of his favorite roads.



Rats, it won’t let me post a Google Maps link … if you want, send me an email address and I can email it to you. My email is

haveag8time (at) aol (dot) com

wdb

The way I work around that is to drop waypoints along the route so that google maps can't change it without causing me to miss one of them. I used this method on my recent PA-TX-PA jaunt and it worked a treat.

I'm not sure exactly how OP is planning to head south but I found some good roads in OH, WV and VA which might make your trip to and from a bit more interesting. See this post for more information: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...l#post18186934

DSC48

This guy gets it. You can plan the route on a laptop with up to 10 "stops" and then send the route to your phone. Works awesome. As you pass each "stop" you'll have to select on your phone to continue your trip.

regajohn

Sean Have had some communicate via email. Unfortunately you can’t post Google maps links in the forum.

yes I know about dropping waypoints I used all the way points (10??) and of course Google maps still tries to reroute you. One thing that helps is if you first turn off avoid highways it will at least not try to stick you on I 40, yada yada yada (of course in my route I did have to go on I 40 for about 20 miles to get through Ashville in a timely manner. Anyway …

wdb

Asheville I-roads are a nightmare.

justabout

Why? Heavy traffic?

DSC48

It's a bit of a learning curve, but if you are getting rerouted, your waypoints need to be closer together.