Deals Gap is a place where a road made a reputation. US 129, which crosses the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee here, packs three hundred and eighteen curves into eleven miles, and riders from across the world come to try them. The road is known as US 129 at Deals Gap, and the nickname comes from the way it twists along the mountainside, with no junctions and hardly a straight section.
The riding is as demanding as the stories suggest. Corners come one after another, with tight hairpins, quick esses and blind crests, and the surface can be patchy, with gravel, tar snakes and, after rain, slippery leaves. Speed limits are low and strongly enforced, and there are police patrols, so the sensible approach is to ride within your abilities, stay in your lane and not overtake in corners. Crashes are frequent, and a collection of broken motorcycle parts nailed to a tree at the gap, known as the Tree of Shame, is a reminder. Early weekday mornings are the best time, as weekends fill with riders and cars. Photographers often set up along the road to take pictures of passing bikes.
The surroundings are beautiful. The Smokies, among the oldest mountains on Earth, are covered in deciduous forest, famous for its colour in October, and the valleys are cut by clear rivers. Nearby Cheoah Dam appeared in the film The Fugitive, in the scene where Harrison Ford leaps from the spillway. The Cherohala Skyway, forty-three miles of well-engineered road across high ridges between Robbinsville and Tellico Plains in Tennessee, makes an excellent alternative with sweeping views and fewer cars.
Food and fuel need some thought. The motorcycle resort at the gap has a shop and a restaurant, and has been the traditional meeting point, but it is wise to arrive with a full tank. Robbinsville, about nineteen kilometres away, is the nearest town with a proper supermarket and several stations. Mountain weather changes quickly, with cold mornings and sudden showers even in summer, so carry waterproofs.