Section of the parkway was closed. Fairly easy to follow detour for 50, 60 miles maybe.
The beginning out of Waynesboro. My obligatory pic of the sign should be coming... We left north Arkansas running from a storm front. Made it to VA dry and to beautiful two days Floyd, VA
Sections were just a road through the woods, nice woods. Surprised to see a local road parallel across some gaps. Some sections were simply awesome!
Slow speed limit was no worries as our group was 2 trikes and a road king. We stopped so much, time wasn't a big deal. Did 150ish miles a day, although the detour just south of the NC state line made that day a few more miles.
Many of the exhibits were not open. Last of April first of May must not be prime time. But that helped toward less traffic I would imagine. I was excited to see the blue grass music stop, but it was not open on the Wednesday we hit it.
Great weather for two days. hit a light rain a bit after noon on day 3. It didn't slow us seriously since we were doing 40ish anyway. It did make for some great fog patch scenery as the smoky areas were scattered all over the hills. Not so cool when we drove thru them...
Wild how going through tunnels would be a big temp gradient on different sides of the hills. Go in cool and much warmer coming out, or vice versa.
I also wanted to do Mt Mitchell, but it was in some serious fog as well.
How many times we took pictures then had a better view a few overlooks down the road.... how many times we thought maybe a better view ahead and never saw the same point again....
We hit Smoky park and went over the top and along the creek road to come out near Maryville. Cades was also closed..... Saw an elk, several turkey
Can't wait to other areas over there again..... and maybe the two I missed. Got to say the southern end was my fav.
The hardest part about riding the BRP for me was not running off the road as you try to take in all the beauty. I rode it in 1986 then again in 2018. I dont like change and I was happy to see not much had. Peaks Of Otter was basically the same, still just as tranquil as ever, Little Switzerland was fantastic too. Looking forward to doing it again soon.Anyone living close to it is very very fortunate.
A must ride for us living in the northeast. I went with a friend last June and would not hesitate to go back. Riding 81 was a nice ride down too. Don’t miss a trip to “Wheels Through Time “
Rain hit us at Little Switzerland. We actually did a zag the other way to get some needed first aid stuff and supplies at the wall mart.
Yeah... hard to do those curves and look over at the same time.
I love the mountains when the leaves are gone. They were just beginning to come in up high. So we could see through the trees in spots that will be leaves in a couple of weeks. Valleys were full of green.
We are going down at the end of this month. Winchester VA, Floyd VA then 4 nights in Maggie Valley. Coming back up on the other side of the mountains stopping in Harpers Ferry. 3 more weeks of work than we ride!!!!!
Just on the other side of the Potomac from Harpers Ferry is a nice winding road that runs along the river. Forget the name but you can take that to Sheperdstown and loop back around to HF from the other direction. Did it 2 years ago , I have family near HF. BRP is in my near future, this September probably for the 2nd time. My bro in-law (a rider) lives 1 hour from BRP and does several rides a year on there. Lucky SOB
We are going down at the end of this month. Winchester VA, Floyd VA then 4 nights in Maggie Valley. Coming back up on the other side of the mountains stopping in Harpers Ferry. 3 more weeks of work than we ride!!!!!
We did that exact ride last year. Had perfect weather, hope you do also.Ride safe have fun !
05-03-2024, 07:12 AM
Blue Ridge Parkway, May '24
