So........ MarkB and I headed out to Crawfords Friday, late afternoon! I have come to realize that I have taken 64/74 by the Ocoee River for granted................ We attempted to ride Kimsey/McFarland, but ran into snow/ice early and decided to go through Tellico Plains. After a bit of supper, we should have gone 68 and tried Joe Brown, but I thought we could just go by the ORV area. Well, I have only been that way once, back in '98 in the Jeep......... and I didn't remember having to cross over the pass at such a high elevation as it was........................ so....................... here are some pics to carry you to Crawfords:

















Well, we got to Crawfords and had a great visit with Danny before shutting down for the night. We stayed in one of his furnished cabins where the heater came in handy.
The next morning, I took a few pics of the campground before we headed to town for some grub. Then it was on to locate those hard to find places........................





















After a great day of riding with Danny, Mark and I start making our way back east......









The trip was short lived, but full of adventure!!!! During our conversations, I told Danny of my desire for the past year to have a true Fall Colors rally for the Mtns. of NC, TN, and GA. AL is already set with a fall ride for the first weekend of Nov., but the large TDP rally and the medium BOOH rally doesn't happen during the colors changing. So, I talked to him about starting a rally for the next to the last weekend of October (sometimes there are 5 weekends in Oct.). I explained how I like how his place is centrally located to where riders can take off in any direction and touch some of the places that the Dragon, TDT, TDP, & BOOH rallies cover. We also talked about how he caters breakfast and supper for his other rallies, which I thought sounded great!
Well let me know what you guys think about having this Fall ride....... I personally love the colors, even though it makes it a little more difficult on the trails with fallen leaves.

This is how it would look.............

Rally_____________________When________________Size
Tour de Apalachicola (FL)______3rd weekend in January_____Medium-Large
Slaying the Dragon (NC)_______April_____________________Medium
Tour de Tellico (TN)___________3rd weekend in May________Large
Tour de Pisgah (NC)___________3rd weekend in September__Large
Bat Out Of Helen (GA)_________1st weekend in October____Medium
Catchy Title (NC, TN, GA)____Next to last weekend in Oct.___????
Bama Jama (AL)______________1st weekend in November___Small (for now)


Many Small rallies throughout the SE, as people put them together....... pick one and go!
My guess at sizes....
Small_______ <15
Medium_____ 15-50
Large_______ 51-150
Super_______ >150

NICE ride!!! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks....I can't believe there is is still that much snow up there.

I want to get back up there soooo bad! I think I'll let the snow melt a little more first. Us Florida folks don't like snow! Think you guys will thaw out by July?

Great pics! Thanks for sharing Chuck!!

Hey Chuck,


Great pictures.....

Bluegal and I were in Robbinsville that weekend too.... Like you, it seems like we ran into snow anywhere that the sun hadn't hit. Ended up staying on pavement for a quick loop - Sweetwater, Stecoah, Bryson City, Road to Nowhere, Deep Creek, just a tad of Forest Service Roads to get back to highway, and then Nantahala to get back to R'ville.

Born and raised in the area, heard about the Road to Nowhere all my life, and finally got around to seeing it the week that the agreement was signed insuring that it will never be built.

Whats the road to nowhere?? if u came thru sweetwater, thats where i am at...

Nice, wish I could have been there!

Hey Python,

We live in Apison, east of Chattanooga and south of Cleveland. With 64 closed we've gone through Chatsworth, Blue Ridge, etc., to get to Robbinsville the last few months.

Road to Nowhere is just a short (6 miles or so) blacktop from Bryson City toward the backside of Fontana Lake. It was promised as a connector from Bryson City to Fontana Dam in 1943 when the lake was formed. It was to be a way for families to get to cemeteries that were cut off from the outside world by the creation of the Fontana Lake and the GSM National Park.... The construction was originally stopped for environmental reasons. Those issues were resolved, but the construction never restarted. The issue finally was finally settled much to the disappointment of people with connections to the families buried there, but to the enrichment of Swain County with a $50+million dollar settlement....

So it is a 6 mile ride over what was once smooth (parkway style pavement) that ends 100yds past a massive parkway style tunnel.

Interesting to visit, some very beautiful scenery, and a prime examine of broken government promises..... You can Google it and find more information than you ever wanted to know....

can you actually ride it... I remember reading something about it years ago.. I thought it was closed to moterized traffic ... be interesting to check out.

There isn't much of a ride just 6 miles or so on pavement into the park where road is closed just prior to a pretty significant tunnel. There is a parking area where a lot of folks trailer horses to there and/or start hiking..... Not bad, but not worth a trip as a single destination, more of maybe an addition to a scenic ride and/or dead-end tour.....