«

»

Sep 28

Turning business into pleasure

On my way home from Tennessee last week I decided to take a long scenic route and get lost in the mountains. The nearest town to me was Robbinsville, NC and I knew I needed to head in a southwesterly direction to eventually pick up I75 South.

Owner said young drivers look for a card slot for a long time!

I stumbled upon Hwy 143 heading more west than south, but thought I would give it a try.  After stopping at a very old gas station and talking with the owners I found out that I was on the Cherohala Skyway.  The skyway is a national scenic byway that took 30 years and $100 million to build. It gets it name from the two national forests that it crosses through, Chero from the Cherokee National Forest and hala from the Nantahala National Forest.

It follows a mile high ridge in the Unicoi Mountains. The highway clings to four peaks over 5,000 feet in elevation and nine peaks above 4,000 feet, offering amazing views of mountains, foliage, and waterfalls, as weather permits, of course.

The skyway was made for sightseeing and there are little to no passing zones.  Be prepared to spend 1 ½ to 2 hours on the 40+ mile trek.  There were many motorcyclists enjoying the twists and turns and I repeatedly pulled over and let them pass to enjoy the ride at whatever speed they desired, even if it was almost as dangerous as 129’s famous Tail of the Dragon.

It you are looking for a scenic road trip, definitely add this to your list. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>