Up here the skyway earns its name. You are on the high spine of the Unicoi Mountains, somewhere near the line where Tennessee gives way to North Carolina, with the road running along the ridge at well over five thousand feet. The air is noticeably cooler than in the valleys on either side, and on a summer day you might swap a sticky ninety degrees at Tellico Plains for a damp sixty here. In winter the same ridge can be sheathed in rime ice while the valleys are dry.
The vegetation changes with the altitude. Lower down, it is oak and hickory. Up here, the forest thins into northern hardwoods and, in places, spruce and fir, with grassy openings called balds. The reason for those balds remains something of a mystery, though grazing, fire and weather have all been proposed. Overlooks along this section give views across successive blue ridges, the layered look that gave the Smokies their name.
The riding is superb for anyone who likes steady, rhythmic curves. The road is wide, well surfaced and engineered, with banking that rewards a smooth line, and the speed limit is modest, which you may find helpful because the hazards are not the bends but the other users: cyclists grinding up the climbs, motorists parked at overlooks and the occasional bear crossing. Gravel sometimes washes onto the road after heavy rain, so look ahead at the exits of corners.
There are no services on this section at all. Robbinsville is the closest town and it is more than twenty kilometres away, and Andrews and Murphy are further. Make sure your tank is full before you set off from either end, and carry water and a warm layer. Mobile phone coverage is patchy to absent on the ridge.
The best time to ride it is a weekday in late spring, when the rhododendron and mountain laurel are in flower and the traffic is light, or a clear autumn morning when the leaves are at their peak. Summer weekends bring a lot of motorcyclists and sports cars, and the upper stretches can be shrouded in fog. If the cloud closes in, slow down and wait for it to lift, because the views are the point.