Cherohala Skyway (70 km)

Tellico Plains to Robbinsville · back a different way, via Appalachians · Tail of the Dragon and Cherohala

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Why this ride

70 km one way from Madisonville - plan on about 1 h 10 of riding. The stops in between: Huckleberry Knob and Santeetlah Overlook. The highest point is about 900 m. It suits an unhurried touring pace.

Roadbook

1. Tellico Plains start

   Tellico Plains sits where the Tellico River comes out of the Unaka Mountains into the broad valley of eastern Tennessee, at about two hundred and seventy metres, and it is the gateway to the Cherohala Skyway. The town is small, with a main street, a few cafes and a general air of being at the end of the road, which in a sense it is. Behind it the mountains of the Cherokee National Forest rise in wave after wave, and in front the valley opens toward Madisonville and the Tennessee River.

   The Skyway is the reason riders come. Its name combines Cherokee and Nantahala, the two national forests it links, and it climbs from this valley across the Unicoi range and down into North Carolina, about forty-five miles of road with long sweeping climbs, grand views and, at its highest, a little over five thousand feet. It was built over some thirty years and opened in 1996, and it was designed with gentle gradients and wide curves, so it is smooth and easy, a more relaxed counterpart to the famous tight twisting of the Tail of the Dragon, which lies farther south.

   Before heading up, fill the tank. Tellico Plains has a few stations on the main road, and it is wise to use one even if the gauge looks fine. Food is easy in town, with diners serving breakfast, burgers and barbecue, and a coffee and a biscuit make a good start. In peak season, weekends bring many bikes, so earlier is better.

   The area has history older than any road. The Cherokee had a string of towns along the Little Tennessee River nearby, including Tanasi, which gave Tennessee its name, and much of that land lies under the water of Tellico Lake. The Trail of Tears, the forced removal of the Cherokee in 1838, started from this region, and the land holds a heavy memory.

   Weather in the mountains changes quickly. The valley can be warm while the ridge is cold and wet, so pack layers and a rain jacket. Fall colour, in October, is the best show of the year.

2. Huckleberry Knob scenic

   The Cherohala Skyway took more than thirty years to build, which is the kind of fact that makes the final result feel slightly miraculous. The idea was to link Robbinsville, North Carolina, with Tellico Plains, Tennessee, across the high ridges of the Unicoi Mountains, and when the road finally opened in 1996, it was as a forty-three-mile ribbon of smooth asphalt through some of the most remote forest in the southern Appalachians. The name blends the two national forests it crosses, Cherokee and Nantahala. Huckleberry Knob is one of its best viewpoints, a grassy bald reached by a short, steady walk from a parking area on the ridge.

   The bald itself is a puzzle. Naturalists are not sure what keeps these grassy summits open in a region otherwise covered in forest, though fire, grazing and an old Native and settler presence have all been suggested. At Huckleberry Knob the open top offers a view across ridge after ridge, with the deep valley of the Cheoah below and the old-growth forest of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest not far off. In summer the blueberries and huckleberries ripen on the slope, as the name suggests, and in spring the rhododendron and flame azalea bloom in orange and pink.

   The skyway is designed for riders. The curves are long, banked and consistent, the surface is excellent, and there is no commercial traffic, only the odd cyclist and a lot of other motorcyclists. The road climbs to nearly 1,700 metres in places, high enough for cold mornings, fast-moving cloud and rain squalls, and sometimes fog so dense that the overlooks become theoretical. Autumn colour is spectacular, and winter ice can close the road.

   What the skyway does not have is services. Robbinsville, a small mountain town in North Carolina, and Andrews are the closest places to fill up, and Tellico Plains in Tennessee is on the other end. Fill the tank on either side, bring a snack, and take layers. If you stop at Huckleberry Knob, bring good boots, since the path can be wet and rocky.

3. Santeetlah Overlook scenic

   From the Cherohala Skyway, Lake Santeetlah looks like a handful of blue-green fingers pushed into dark forest, with a crumpled skyline of mountains beyond. The overlook gives you a long view down over the water and the hills that surround it, in a corner of North Carolina that still feels remote. The lake was created in the 1920s by a dam on Santeetlah Creek, built to generate power for the aluminium industry, and it is ringed by the Nantahala National Forest, which keeps the shoreline largely undeveloped. The name is said to come from a Cherokee phrase, though translations differ.

   This is Graham County, one of the least populated parts of the state, and the history is as quiet as the geography. The Cherokee lived in these mountains for centuries before the forced removal of the 1830s, and a few families hid in the hills and remained. Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, a short drive away, protects one of the largest stands of old-growth trees in the eastern United States, a place where tulip poplars grow to enormous girth, and it is named for the poet of Trees. It is worth the detour if you are riding the Skyway, though the access road is narrow.

   The riding is the real show. The Skyway is as close as any road in the southern Appalachians comes to a perfect motorcycle road, with smooth tarmac, steady gradients, a gentle camber and nothing in your way but scenery. The weather can change in minutes, and cloud often sits on the crest while the valley is clear. Summer weekends bring clusters of bikes, and autumn brings a procession of sightseers. Wildlife includes deer and black bears, and the occasional wild turkey stepping into the road.

   Robbinsville, about twelve kilometres away, is the nearest town, small and friendly, with petrol, cafes and a few motels. Andrews, a bit farther, has more. Bring a rain jacket, a warm layer and some water, and park in the designated pull-out. The evening light over the lake is gorgeous, but remember that dusk is when the deer wake up.

4. Robbinsville finish

   Robbinsville is a quiet mountain county seat of fewer than six hundred people, and for a lot of riders it is the stop where a very good day gets summed up. It lies at about 620 metres in western North Carolina, in Graham County, one of the least populated corners of the state, and it makes a convenient place to finish or to start because it has fuel and a few places to eat, which the mountains around it do not.

   The two famous roads meet nearby. The Cherohala Skyway climbs out of here toward the Tennessee line, a forty-three mile ribbon of tarmac that took over three decades to build and opened in 1996. Its name stitches together Cherokee and Nantahala, the two national forests it crosses, and it tops out above five thousand feet in wide, open ridge country with long sweepers and few trucks. A short ride south sits Deals Gap and the Tail of the Dragon, eleven miles of US 129 with 318 curves, which is why the parking lot at the bottom looks like a motorcycle show. Between them they make the best two-road day in the Southeast.

   Robbinsville has more depth than the traffic past it suggests. Chief Junaluska, a Cherokee leader who fought alongside Andrew Jackson at Horseshoe Bend and later watched his people driven west on the Trail of Tears, asked to be buried in the hills and his grave lies here. Lake Santeetlah curls through the forested valley to the north, and beyond it is Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, a stand of old growth tulip poplars so tall and wide that walking beneath them feels like being in a church.

   For the rider, the practical advice is easy. Fill the tank, buy a coffee, and pack a layer, since the temperature on the ridge can sit ten degrees lower than in the town. Wet leaves and gravel hide on the shaded bends, and deer are everywhere at dusk. October brings the colour, but summer mornings, with mist lifting off the lake, are lovely too.

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