CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A one-way ride of 292 km, Foscoe to Maggie Valley - roughly 4 h 53 in the saddle. It goes by way of Mount Mitchell, Craggy Gardens and Asheville. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 21 km this is Blue Ridge Parkway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Linn Cove Viaduct is the last piece of the Blue Ridge Parkway to be finished, and probably the most ingenious. For decades, the Parkway had a gap on the side of Grandfather Mountain, because the owner of the land refused to allow a conventional road to scar the slope. The solution, completed in 1983, was a curving concrete bridge, about 380 metres long, that twists along the mountainside on slender piers, and was built from the top down, so that no heavy machinery had to touch the forest below. Its 153 precast segments, each slightly different, were lifted into place one by one. When it opened, the whole Parkway, begun in the 1930s, was finally complete, in 1987, after more than fifty years.
Read the complete Linn Cove Viaduct write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Linn Cove Viaduct is where the day begins. Next is Mount Mitchell.
Mount Mitchell has a simple claim to fame: at 2,037 metres, or 6,684 feet, it is the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River. It stands in the Black Mountains of western North Carolina, part of the southern Appalachians, and a spur road climbs to the summit from the Blue Ridge Parkway at around milepost 355. The last stretch of the road ends at a car park a short walk below the summit, where an observation platform gives views across rows of blue ridges.
Read the complete Mount Mitchell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mount Mitchell comes up about 166 km into the recorded legs. Next is Craggy Gardens.
Craggy Gardens is a high, bald ridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway at about milepost 364, where the forest gives way to heath and thickets of Catawba rhododendron, and in the second half of June the slopes burst into purple blooms. The elevation is about 5,500 feet, high enough that the trees are twisted and stunted by wind and ice, and the view from the trails near the visitor centre stretches across the mountains of western North Carolina. A short, steep walk leads to a rocky outcrop called Craggy Pinnacle, from which the whole ridge can be seen.
Read the complete Craggy Gardens write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 187 km into the recorded legs you reach Craggy Gardens. Next is Asheville.
Asheville is the city of the Blue Ridge, an arty, mountain-framed town at about 650 metres where the French Broad River meets the Swannanoa. The mountains surround it on all sides, soft and blue in the haze, and the air has a clean, woody smell. It has a population of nearly ninety thousand, a lively downtown of art deco buildings from the 1920s, and a reputation as a place for craft beer, folk music, galleries and good food. Locals proudly call it Beer City, with dozens of breweries, and the cafes and farm-to-table restaurants have a loyal following.
Read the complete Asheville write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Asheville, late in the day. Next is Waterrock Knob.
Waterrock Knob stands at 6,292 feet near milepost 451 of the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the highest and most dramatic viewpoints on the whole road, with a vast panorama of the Great Smoky Mountains to the west and the Plott Balsam range to the east. The visitor centre sits on a high shoulder of the mountain, and a steep, rocky trail climbs to the summit, rewarding the effort with a view that, on a clear day, covers dozens of ridges stacked up into the distance, blue and then paler blue. At sunset, the whole landscape turns pink and gold.
Read the complete Waterrock Knob write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Waterrock Knob. That is the ride.
Linn Cove Viaduct → Mount Mitchell is 166 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Mount Mitchell → Craggy Gardens is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Craggy Gardens → Asheville is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Asheville → Waterrock Knob is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.