Ride To Rich Mountain

Thursday, 2-4-16, about 38 degrees and beautiful.  Pushed Little Hoss out of the garage all donned in my winter gear and headed to meet up with biker friend Paul at the Exxon.  Going to ride over to Pigeon Forge, have a bite of lunch and then head up northeast to Rich Mtn. and several other gravel roads.  The high today was to be about 46 but I don't think it ever got there.

This curvy road is within the city limits of Pigeon Forge.  It is just about as good of a motorcycle road as you would want to find.  Hilly and curvy along with being narrow.  However, it does carry two way traffic.

After a bit we hit US 411 north toward Newport, TN.  Our destinations were several gravel roads back into the mountains about 30 or 40 miles north of Newport.   Heavy clouds today and no sun spotted until about 4:45 p.m.

Lots of old stuff to look at here and they hold a flea market on weekends too.  I don't know if they won't sell some of the vehicles or their price is just too high.


Farther along the mountains get a bit closer and the pasture land in the valley makes a great foreground to them.








It rained bunches the night before so all of the ditches, creeks and rivers were flowing today.  This ditch sure messed up a pretty meadow but does provide water for the cattle.

At Unincorporated "Chestnut Hill" you start to smell an aroma of something cooking.  Well, here's the culprit.  Bush's Beans.  If you've ever eaten any of Bush's Beans they are processed at this plant.







This is the Bush's old farmhouse.  It is in excellent condition and across the road is a cafeteria connected to the Bush's General Store.  A lot of tours stop at the cafeteria.  I don't know if it's to eat or just gas up.  Maybe both.

Farther up the highway you cross and run along the side of the Holston River.  With the heavy rains the night before it was out of its bank in some places and flowing fast enough to ride a surfboard.  In fact, it was so high that the 4' waterfall was only about a foot drop today.

Here's a shot of the Holston by the side of the highway.

On pass Newport we take a route off US 25/70 onto TN 107.  This will take us toward our destination.  The area we were going to be riding in was in or along the Cherokee National Forest.







Our first destination.  Road was pretty hard packed from the rain but the traveling distance was cut short due to the gate being closed.  Then we arrive at our second destination where these bikes are parked only to be stopped once again.

This time the stoppage was due to a new culvert being put in and we had no way of going around it. 










So U-turn and back onto the highway to the third destination.  It was a few more miles up the highway.  We were getting closer to the TN-NC state line.

A little blurry but this was once a grand old farm house.  Today it's just a falling down relic of the past.

We turned here to head up to Rich Mountain.  That green roof is not painted metal or green roofing shingles.  The green is from algae so apparently it stays rather damp and cool here.  Now we were going to run the gravel and climb in altitude.

The road was pretty good but every once in a while the dirt would be just above the rock and it would be a bit slippery.  And you had to watch out for a few moderate chuck holes.

When we got to the curves we usually get on the highside to avoid the ripples that are caused from water running off.  Of course some were okay but you never took anything for the absolute.

And with the wet leaves along the edge of the road you wanted to make sure you stayed away from them for they are as slippery as banana peelings.

 And running off the road was not in the plane either for it was a long long way to the bottom and a lot of trees to bounce off of on the way down.

Getting farther up the mountain you could feel the temperature getting colder.  It really wasn't that windy but any little breeze made you feel the cold to the bone.  Well, at least one layer of fat.

Remember, our tires are not the off-road knobby type so this makes you travel even slower.

You could get a pretty good view now that the leaves are gone but in the summer you would only see the near trees and a lot of green.

And then the road started getting a bit steeper.  Mostly a first and second gear traverse going up.  And about the same coming down using only the rear brake.  Remember, stay off the front brake when on loose gravel.

I stopped long enough to take this picture of the water racing down the hill in this little stream.










A wee waterfall right next to me.  The sound of that water flowing just seems to lull you to sleep.










Some of the bends in the road were really sharp.  We had one vehicle pass us and knew sooner or later it would be coming at us.  Sure enough, that's just the way it happened.  At least they were nice enough to slow down when we met them.

 Then we reached the place in the road where TN and NC meet up.  Friend Paul standing by his bike.  After a little chat and another pic or two we headed up from there to Rich Mountain Firetower.

We went a few miles up toward the fire tower but there was a pretty deep washout at an angle across the road.  We decided it was not safe with the soft dirt on the edge we would cross it so we parked and walked up a bit.  Then decided as it was 4 p.m. we had better delay this and get back on the road for the house.




It was a good ride in spite of the detours and one we'll make again when the weather is a bit more cooperative.  On our way back just below the jct. of 107 and 25/70 we made a stop at the little country deli to grab a cup of coffee and warm up.  Needed to check cell phones also.  Yep, had two calls but no signal.  So we had to get back near Newport to pick up a signal.  This would need to be remembered when you decided to get off the grid, enjoy some peace and quiet but you would have to be very careful because you would have no 911 call ability.

Total mileage today door to door was 164.  Not a long ride but a good ride.  Will be doing some house stuff Friday but who knows what Saturday and Sunday afternoon will bring.  Until the next adventure, sleep well, take care of yourself and others and enjoy life.

Visiting The Cherokee

Ground Hog Day, 2-2-16.  Temp. at 10 a.m. was 56* with a high today of 74 (actually broke the record and got to 75).  Donned in my winter gear excluding the heated gloves, I pushed Little Hoss (Honda NC700X) out of the garage to meet up with rider friend Paul at the Exxon Sta. up Boyds Creek Hwy.  When I arrived thee he was at the edge of the parking area and I waved him on and this is what he did.  We were starting late today due to fog and wet road conditions.  But you just can't wait forever so we hit the road figuring it would clear up as we headed for Pigeon Forge.

Boyds Creek Hwy. heading toward TN 66 and Pigeon Forge.






My FB post yesterday started out something like "what does 2 old crazy men do when there's fog, wet roads, rock on the roadway, snow on the road sides and sheets of ice hanging onto the rock face of the mountains?".  Take a ride.  Well, in the upcoming photos you will see what I meant by that statement.  Excluding the 2 crazy old men, of course.

The Parkway, TN Route 66 into Sevierville to meet up with US 441.

This photo is dedicated to Christie, Celeste and Shane.  Seems they can't make a trip to TN without stopping here.  I think Shane refers to it as "Trekking Through The Mall" hike.

And this photo is dedicated to Celeste, Hatfields and McCoys.

Traffic flowed pretty good this morning through Pigeon Forge and then we ran the Spur to the Gatlinburg By-Pass to miss the traffic there.  Since the roads are damp and this road is frequently patrolled by the NPS police, we took it easy.  Up the mountain then down the mountain, off to Sugarland Visitor Center.

A great view of the mountains.  There's a couple of turn-outs that gives you a great view of the mountains.

The mountains nicely silhouetted.

With the recent rain the streams were flowing rather well today.

And several miles past the Visitor Center, we started seeing snow and felt the temperature drop about 15 degrees.

And the snow was getting more and more from the snow storm we had.  Of course here it stays a lot longer than in the valley due to the temps of the higher elevations.

Then there was ice.  These are a little bit more than your normal icicle. They were many feet tall.

And the snow just kept getting more plentiful.  This highway through the Park is often closed during the winter due to snow and ice.

One of several tunnels you will go through heading to the top, Newfound Gap.

 And if the wet roads and them having rock strewn over the pavement (the Park doesn't allow salt), we start hitting fog again.

But this time it's much heavier than what we had starting out.

And it, like the snow, keeps getting thicker.  Glad I put on that long sleeved shirt.  It felt warm beneath my riding jacket.  Just ahead is my friend Paul.  We were down to 20mph.

Those two blips on the left is an on-coming car with their headlights on.  A little later we met a white car coming at us without headlights on.  Now that will make you tighten up on the seat.

This fuzzy look is fog hanging over the snow.

Then we descend down to the valley below near Cherokee and all's well.

This is next to the Oconauluftee Visitor center on the North Carolina side of the mountain.  You can't see them in the picture but there's a small flock of turkeys grazing the meadow.

Leaving the National Park heading into Cherokee, NC.  Visiting the Res.

We stopped at a Burger King and grabbed a $2 coupon meal.  Then on to Harrah's Casino to make a small donation to the Tribe.  On the way back to Seymour these two turkeys were getting ready to cross the highway.

A few miles going back up the mountain we started back into the snow zone again.

These old mountains just get prettier by the day.  Clouds casting dark shadows over them in places as if to hide their secrets.

A nice row of icicles with a snow base looking forward and rearward.

The wind was pretty stiff up high going over but coming back it was to your back part of the time.  Really big gusts kept you alert.

All in all, it was a great day to ride.  By the time we got back to Pigeon Forge we had arrived at the 75 degree part of the day.  We finished our ride, stopping by Paul's house to adjust my chain.  Not the right tools so I headed to the house. Today's ride wasn't very long, only 135 miles door to door, but very scenic.  Another enjoyable day in the saddle.



So until the next adventure ride, which will be tomorrow, stay safe, stay somewhat sane, and enjoy your life.  It will be the only one here on earth.