The Skyway is beautiful. However elevations do exceed 5000 feet in the middle. I would expect some heavy fog. If you are looking at your GPS while riding it and see how the roads wind back at you it is pretty cool.
Seems like a concensus for the Skyway, so that is what I think I'm going to do, since I already was leaning that way. When I rode up Pike's Peak on my Wide Glide, I had my iPhone clamped to my bars with Google Maps running and occasionally glanced down at it to see the upcoming sharp curves and it worked pretty well for that.
I live close to both.I ride the Skyway a lot.There are not many roads going E&W across the mountains.I have never seen it "crowded".The Dragon is not worth your time.It has become a white knuckle ride because of the idiots on sport bike.People DIE all the time.There are many better roads around here. Try 28 from Dillard,GA to Fontana Dam and Deals Gap.It's quite the beautiful ride.
The Cherohola has some good twisties on it, too. Fun ride. I was on it this weekend and in the 51 miles from Tellico Plains to Robbinsville, I passed 4 bikes and 1 truck. Nothing like being alone on your bike and no one to run you over...lol
If you have the time, check out Hwy 1310 to Franklin, NC. That one is pretty cool too. When you go into Robbinsville take 129 south to 74 North. Then right onto 1310. It brings you out to 64
Another vote for doing both. From the NC end of the Cherohala to Deal's Gap is 15 minutes. Round trip through the "Dragon" adds maybe an hour to the trip, although the Gap will be bonkers on the Holiday weekend. Also, pick up 28 at Deal's Gap and take it to 23 in Franklin. A great ride and 23 goes right to downtown Atlanta (there are any other highways you can take once you get closer.
I don't mean to argue with your premise, but the Dragon is VERY short (11 miles). From the eastern end of the Cherohala, up to Deals Gap and then to the far end of the Dragon is 45 minutes to an hour, so, even with a short t-shirt/pin stop at Deals Gap, it will only cost you 2 hours. So unless your time is extremely tight, it would be easy to do both.
But to answer your question, if you can truly only do one, definitely the Cherohala. There are great vistas all along. If you want to see a beautiful waterfall, shortly after you get on the Cherohala in Tellico Plains, take a right at the sign to Bald River Falls. It's about a 15 minute ride off of the Cherohala, but worth it. (For perspective, that's an adult man at the top left of the falls.)
06-30-2017, 12:04 PM
