Smokey Mountain road trip this year
 

This year wife and I are gonna take the bike and head to the Smokey Mountains.
I have our senic route planned out pretty well and we aare just gonna hit hotels and motels on the way down and back.
we have a week worth of time we are gonna take but was looking for some ideas on some rides down in the smokies.
one if have planned to do is a small loop that I figured out starting in townsend TN and heading to US 129 HD then the tail of the dragon to Cherokee HD to Hillbilly HD in Gattlinberg to Rocky Top HD in Pigeon forge and back to Townsend

what are some other good loops you all have done.

Lots of great rides around the area. We go every other year in the fall. Always stay in Maggie Valley, a great base to ride the smokies. Get a riders map when you stop at one of the local harley dealers, it has all the loops marked on it. You could easily spend all week riding and not do half of them. The rattler is a good ride, cherohala skyway is a good ride, too many to list.

In Maggie Valley, Wheels through Time was a neat stop for us. And after watching your avatar, cant seem to remember anything else.

Foot Hills Parkway has just been completed. Worth the time. Cherohala Skyway is always great as is the Blue Ridge Park Way.

Great place to ride. We go there often. How long will you stay in the area and is there any thing there your wife would like to do . Like one of the dinner shows at Dolly wood or anything like that. There is so much to see and do there hard to pick one or two.
As much as I would many times like to get on the bike and stop of nothing but food . I find it best to take in a few things she would like to see also. Truth is I also enjoy most of them. Reservations already made for end of May.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hdf...07f20975df.jpg
This link really needs to be a sticky ..

http://www.snowmobilenystores.com/Mo...lina_p_16.html

Moon Shiner 28 if you like nice scenic roads, several waterfalls and think riding over a Dam might be cool. If you read about moonshiner 28 then it makes it even more interesting.
Cherohala Skyway if you like next to zero traffic for about 1.5 hours, wide open scenic views at cloud level, one scenic waterfall, a stop for lunch on a river at a small eatery with a Haley T-shirt store nearby at western end.
A ride down to Helen Georgia with great roads along the way and an unusual stop at bar/restaurant under the bridge in Helen. *you pay for parking in Helen, Ga about $5

I second all of that. The tail of the dragon is a "been there, done that, bought the t-shirt" kind of road. Everyone likes to say they've done it, but it's not as fun as you would think (and VERY short) and not scenic at all. Moonshiner 28 is better on both scores and the Cherohala is MUCH better. My buddies and I stopped near the Tellico Springs end at Bald River Falls
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This will be a must see in the area.

https://www.wate.com/news/local-news...way/1579362616

Add Wayah Road to the list. It has become one of my favorites.

This ^^^^^ A hidden gem---I make sure to ride this every time we go down to the Smokies
Your home base will depend on what the wife likes to do [IMO] --if she,s happy/ you're happy----Gatlinburg /Pigeon Forge are busy and offer plenty to do after riding
Maggie Valley is low key but central to many roads---a little south is Copperhead Lodge in Northwest Ga with lots of nice riding---you need a month to hit all the great riding down there---My Favorite riding destination

From Gatlinburg you can head up the mountain towards Cherokee NC, There is a fantastic overlook at the top and a small indian village down the other side with an apparel only HD dealer.
Depending on the time of year you are doing this you may want to book your hotels ahead of time, that area gets really crowded all through the summer and fall.

We usually get a cabin somewhere between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and ride from there. Wears Valley is also a great place to stay. Wears Valley is quiet and only a couple miles from Pigeon Forge. Rocky Top Harley in Pigeon Forge is top notch. Had a charging issue on my Ultra Classic, stopped in and talked to Joe in service, got us right in and taken care of in 2 hours. He even walked over to the restaurant where we were eating and told us bike was done and we could pick it up, no hurry. Cant beat that for service.
Last trip we rode from Gatlinburg over the mountain to North Carolina, jumped on the Blue Ridge Parkway and rode to Maggie Valley to Wheels Through Time. If you like vintage bikes, you have to check it out. Several nice mom and pop restaurants to eat in Maggie Valley. From there we rode to Cherokee Harley, Cherokee , N.C. and back over the mountain to our cabin. Saw several elk along the way back.
Next day we rode Foothills Parkway to Tail of the Dragon to Cherohala Skyway to Tellico Plains. Stopped at Tellico Plains Bakery for a snack. Foothills Parkway and Cherohala Skyway are both great rides in my opinion. Good leisurely pace and scenic. Come dangerously close to getting T-boned by some ass clown trying to pass me about 80 on a BMW enduro looking thing while making a left hand turn onto a scenic pull off. That was a good days ride with all the stops.
Check out Motorcycling Tennessee Backroads on Facebook.

If you are in Gatlinburg Ride the Roaring Forks road. It is like an auto tour road and well worth a little time. Have camera ready and stop along the route to truly enjoy it. You get on it in Town and come back out in Town most of it is a one way road.
I would also recommend booking ahead this year. Storm damage farther east may cause others to come a bit west looking for lodging.

Many good recommendations already listed. We stopped at a Harley shop and picked up a ride map like the one pictured above. Lota of great choices to pick from. If you do find yourself going through Hot Springs around lunch time, there's a lil café right on your route that has the BIGGEST piece of meat loaf I've even seen.

Great rides out there in the mountains. My buddies and I have a yearly "Tail of the Dragon" ride we do during the late summer/early fall (this past fall was our forth year in a row). We spend the weekend riding the Dragon, C. Sky, Moonshiner, etc. Although the first year we stayed in Maggie Valley. It was a nice town (of course it's a dry county). Since then we normally book a cabin using Air BnB in Robbinsville since it's a lot closer to the dragon and the other roads we ride. Of course, we finish off the last night out our stay with a trip to the Cherokee Casino, for the food, eye-candy, drinks and of course good ol gamblin. :P

Smokey Mountain HD in Maryville is a very nice stop. Huge motorclothes section.

Live music at The Shed on weekends --fun place to visit,as is the entire area------Cades Cove is a nice slow ride and visit near Townsend I believe

Cades Cove on a mc can be rough in the summer during high traffic times. cages will block the road while the stop to take pictures.

Time is the big thing. The ride reasonable direct route Milwaukee to Gatlinburg 750 miles. Can be done wife on back in one day with out much effort and still have time to stop enjoy a meal and coffee. When you start taking back roads two lane ect it can become a 3 day ride.
And that is fine. How we do it depends on the goal of the trip. It the plan is to ride the heck out of the area then get there rest that night get up a go. Once out of IL Even the main roads are a nice ride going down head over take 75 south then jump on 25 and have a great ride and still make darn good time.
If you really want an adventure, pick take dumbest route you can on the HD GPS. Hang on for one interest riding. You will see the sights in all there wonder. Make sure you keep the tank full. We have done this a few times. The ride down 25 from around London KY south is well worth the ride.

Always fun when they all stop block the road to see the Bear and her cubs when you are sitting there on the bike. It is a worthy ride as is Roaring forks road. Heck hard to go wrong anywhere with in 200 miles or more.

Cades Cover. Now they tell you to stay away from bear. They tell you if the bear has cubs really stay away. Stay in you car. Ever wonder why Bear kill people. They climb through the fence and some how got the idea that the Bear wanted to be friends. Lucky for them Park personal got them get come back. If you are smart in most cases bear will not bother you, but push your luck it may not end well.
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I made this mistake once.....ONCE. Best to just stay away, unless you're there during a very slow time.

I liked where they park in the middle of the road next to the sign that says pull off to stop and get out to go chase the bear.

here you go.... more loops than you'll use

https://www.appalachianbackroads.com/

I did Cades Cove last Fall, wish I had that hour and a half back...

Big reason we like to go the last two weeks of May. Still good weather and not as crowded . You get the Holiday rush 1 1/2 day and it is pretty much over.

we did cades cove a few years ago the first time we went. neat in a car wouldn't want to do it on the bike.

we plan to go the last part of may and take advantage of the holiday which I know it will be somewhat crowded in most places but will hopefully thin out during the week.

There's alot to do and see in the Asheville area. Cherokee to Asheville on the Blueridge parkway is a good day ride. There'also a Harley dealer.

Most dealers in this area will have a map with the ride for the area. Thing is there aren't any bad roads around here. Even going to the store for bread can be fun. Just hard to explain why it took two hours.

got to agree with all, so far i like that area better than any where i've been. encluding sturgis, as far as just plain fun riding.
kroozeabout. I know i will prolly hear about that statement. hehe

I completely agree, the best riding I've found anywhere, so far. The Black Hills I've done twice, like to go again someday. Rode the Arkansas Ozarks last year, it was just ok. A week later, on a whim, I went back to the Smokies for the 2nd time and it was even better than the first time in '17! Stayed near Wears Valley in '17, found out Gatlinburg is not my kind of area, too busy. Stayed in Maggie Valley in '18, found it to be more central to the rides I like. Going back this year, not a bad ride in the area!

Townsend
 

Townsend is a quieter place to stay and not near as crowded as Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg including Cherokee. If you stay in Townsend, it's an easy ride to get, or stay, on 321 and take it to Wears Valley. That is the newly completed end of the Foothills Parkway. Once you get on the Parkway, it's a beautiful ride and it dead ends into 129, the dragon. Turn left and run beside the lake for a few miles and you've started the dragon run.
If you want to gamble and drink, go to Cherokee, if not stay in Townsend.

We're going the second week of June. I could go every other year, Love that whole area!

Good advise! Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge Sevierville and Cherokee are all tourist traps with crowds and traffic. Thankfully I finally got my GF to see the light. No more of those for me!

Although this is well north of the tail of the Dragon area, if you happen to be north of Knoxville anyway, one thing to check out might be the Devil's triangle. Going on it clockwise as you look on it on a map is recommended the first time as the counterclockwise route is allegedly harder. I didn't know that the first time I went on it and didn't see anyone else going in my direction. I did see some motorcycles going the other way, only saw one car at all. No photo services at the side of the road taking pictures, no T shirt shops, no cops wanting to write tickets that I saw. It's not constant twists and curves and switchbacks like the Dragon. You have all that but those elements are broken up with segments of easier riding, then back to the challenging stuff so it's not like one curve after another the whole time. Probably good prep for the Dragon, or if you're tired of the motorcycle parade that seems to occur on the weekends in the summer on the Dragon. The times I've been on it I didn't hold anyone up and no one slowed me down either. I could go as fast or slow as I wanted.

This website claims about the triangle

but I've never seen any really bad sections of it the last few years so they probably need to update their website. Granted, some of the roads edges aren't very good in some spots, but the rest of the road is generally okay. You can find edge issues on any road. I generally avoid torn up roads even if they are curvy as my Sportster or Ultra isn't some adventure bike.

https://www.tnvacation.com/local/oli...evils-triangle

https://devilstriangletn.com/

If you take Hwy. 129 (Dragon) all the way to Robbinsville about 5 miles before you get there you will go on a bridge that goes over Lake Santeetlah. If you look over when you are on the bridge you will see a house pretty much by itself on the lake.

http://www.mountainlakehousenc.com/w...-8-125x100.jpg
That is a rental house, link here: http://www.mountainlakehousenc.com
It's a great house to rent. Clean and reasonable.
The lake is crystal clear and you can swim off the dock and you are surrounded by mountains.

Just booked our place for June 9-15, can't wait!...already have the bike packed!

Have to bring it up again . Foothills Parkway between Walland, TN and Wears Valley, TN. The missing link bridge it is done after 50 years. It will be a sight to see . And it will be a first.

https://www.visitmysmokies.com/blog/...-be-completed/

True dat.