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Old 10th May 2009, 23:24   #1
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11 miles - 318 curves - Welcome to Tail of the Dragon

11 miles - 318 curves - Welcome to Tail of the Dragon

I was googling few days back for something, and came across an interesting article - Top 10 Scariest drives in US. Thought of interesting and gone through the list and came across 'Tail of the Dragon'. Surprisingly its pretty close to (~150 miles) my home and decided to ride this road pretty soon.

Before starting, googled the internet for more information about this place and came to know there is a 'loop' of 120 miles scenic drive in which Tail of Dragon is also part. I called couple of my friends and decided to take the loop on the weekend.

We started on Saturday around 10:30am from my place (Metro Atlanta) and headed towards north on GA-400. After passing the Chattahooche forest we hit Robbinsville, NC by 1:00pm decided to stop for lunch. Had a quick bite and headed to Tail of the Dragon. In fact, once we left Robbinsville, its completely hill section and scenic drive. The weather of was so pleasant and cloudy. As I have driven many times in hilly areas, I really didn't noticed big difference between Tail of Dragon and other hill drives. One side its mountains, and other side it was Little Tennesse river, complete greenery..making the drive most enjoyable. There are lot of overlooks where you can pull over the car and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I can say this one of the best scenic drive I have taken so far.

We continued the drive on the loop (Cherohala skyway), came across Bald River falls. The falls was for forceful that we got drenched in mist. It was almost 8pm we continued the driver from falls. It was 5000 ft elevation and fog completely covered the hills. The visibility is hardly few meters and we missed few overlooks. We slowly continued to descend in the foggy hills towards Robbinsville, NC and reached by 9:30pm. We had a dinner at Burger king and started the return journey.

The loop from Robbinsville NC:

Robbinsville -> Take 129 North -> Tail of Dragon -> Left on 72 -> Left on 441 -> Left on 360 -> 165 -> 143 -> Robbinsville, NC


Pics following...
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Old 10th May 2009, 23:54   #2
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First post and it's a teaser huh..
Welcome to TBHP.
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Old 11th May 2009, 00:51   #3
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Santeetlah Marina - Boating on Lake Sateetlah

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Old 11th May 2009, 02:31   #4
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Welcome to t-bhp, you really should get some better machinary if you want to be spotted by killboy. (killboy.com photos - The Original Photographer from US129 Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap)
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Old 11th May 2009, 02:57   #5
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On the way - Dam and hydro-electric station.
Bikers come from different places to ride the Tail of the Dragon.
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Old 11th May 2009, 09:59   #6
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wonderful and scenic drive. Nice photographs as well. Envy those riders.
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Old 12th May 2009, 08:40   #7
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some flower in closeup
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same flower
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this is part of cherohala skyway in the loop..stopped for a scenic overlook
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bald river water falls in cherohala skyway
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the other end of this greenery tunnel, is the water falls...simple superb location..
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Old 12th May 2009, 12:34   #8
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Beautiful pics mate. Keep them coming.

Do you have the videos of the drive as well?
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Old 12th May 2009, 19:30   #9
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Great pix! Thanks for sharing.

Regards
Rex
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Old 13th May 2009, 00:30   #10
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Awesome pictures mate. Really a refreshing drive for you guys I believe.

Thanks for sharing with us.
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Old 13th May 2009, 01:02   #11
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Simply Staggering.
Its like paradise.
I'm Jealous
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Old 13th May 2009, 07:56   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swift8847 View Post
Beautiful pics mate. Keep them coming.

Do you have the videos of the drive as well?
sorry, I haven't taken my video camera for this trip.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rex_varghese View Post
Great pix! Thanks for sharing.

Regards
Rex
Quote:
Originally Posted by cvvikram View Post
Awesome pictures mate. Really a refreshing drive for you guys I believe.

Thanks for sharing with us.

Quote:
Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88 View Post
Simply Staggering.
Its like paradise.
I'm Jealous
You are all most welcome.

I have few final set of pics, will be uploading shortly.

I will never forget this drive in two ways. One for its scenic beauty and second its was so scary while returning in fog.
Actually we reached the highest peak around 8pm or so, since it was summer still there is some sun light but getting dark soon. We enjoyed one scenic outlook and continued the drive. All of a sudden it was so foggy. It was so dence that I could hardly able to see few meters of road, and its all completely curvy roads. We slowly started to descend in the foggy roads, with <20 MPH, and there are no vehicles in front of me or back. For almost 45 mins we didn't see any other vehicle. I can't imagine if our car ran out of gas or break-down kind of emergency, where there is no cellular signal, completely covered with fog at 8pm on a 5000+ ft elevation....oh my God....it was so scary. But luckily after reaching 2000+ ft it was all clear and we reached safely.

But it was the best scenic drive I have ever taken, and planning to visit again probably for a fall season which gives it a completely different look.
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Old 13th May 2009, 17:57   #13
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some more pics in the backdrop of sunset.
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Old 1st June 2010, 22:16   #14
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The Tail Of The Dragon - music dedications!

Here are dedications to 'The Tail Of The Dragon'


The Tail Of The Dragon


and

The Tail Of The Dragon - Riding Back Home


Music produced by me, the Team-BHP member :-)

Hope you like it!


Cheers,
Rommel.
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Old 2nd June 2010, 09:05   #15
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Pictures are soothing my eyes with its green, its a true paradise. You are not idlebrain for sure .

Bikers are having their sheer fun, nice catch.
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