My schedule finally allowed me to have a 3-day weekend with a minimal chance of rain so I decided to hit the road. Departed Friday morning around 7:30, rode to Blowing Rock and set my course due south on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

No matter how many times I've done it, crossing the Linn Cove Viaduct is always a thrill.




Road crews are repaving the section right around the Grandfather Mountain area as you can see in this pic. They are doing a great job as the surface is much smoother now. I hope they continue paving further north and do the section close to my house.





And a few more random shots along the Parkway as I head towards my first stop, Mt. Mitchell.







I approached the beginning of the "tunnel section" of the Parkway; starting to get some elevation now as reflected by the cooler temperatures. This was a welcome break from the high temp/high humidity pattern of the last couple of weeks, even here in the NC mountains.







I continued the climb to Mt. Mitchell. The elevation of the Parkway in this section is about 5000 ft and the views are stunning.









I finally reached my first stop of the ride. I turned on to Hwy 128 from the Parkway and continued to gain elevation for another 1200 to 1400 ft. The temperatures were downright chilly at this point, and I was getting close to the cloud ceiling by the time I reached the restaurant at Mt. Mitchell. The peak was completely shrouded in fog but here are couple of shots of the ride to the top.








The fog made for a brief stop so I mounted up, headed back down 128 to the Parkway and continued my journey south. As it turned out, this was the most eventful portion of the ride. Shortly after I passed Craggy Gardens, I rounded a curve and found a black bear cub in the middle of the road to greet me. This marks the second time I've run across a bear in as many years on the Parkway (the first one I saw was full-grown -- YIKES). I'd guess this little fella to have been about 50 lbs or so. I stopped and we looked at each other for a few seconds, me with eyes wide as I surveyed the area for Momma Bear, and him with ears that he hadn't yet grown into. It looked like he was wearing a Mickey Mouse hat from Disney World. He scampered off into the woods and Momma Bear never made her presence known, though I'm sure she was closer than I would've liked. If you look closely in the picture below, you'll see the little fella right before he ran into the treeline (right side of the pic).





More to come...

 

Man those are fantastic roads and great shots. Thanks for sharing!

 

My second most heart-stopping moment on my ride came about 20 miles after the bear. For anyone who has ridden the Parkway, you know how many bicycles there are. I have another thread on this topic so I won't repeat that here, but I can attest first-hand to the danger they present, particularly in the tunnels when they have no reflectors. I came within 6 inches of collecting one in a tunnel; he was in the middle of the lane with no lights or reflectors at all. It was one of the longer tunnels that you couldn't see thru from one side to the other. Thankfully I saw him at the last second and swerved into the other lane to avoid him. Word to the wise: BEWARE of the bicycles. Rant over.

Here are a few more Parkway pics as I descended down to Asheville.













The section around Asheville isn't all that great so no pics from there. I exited onto Brevard Road for a quick lunch, and then it was back to the Parkway to continue towards Cherokee. I made a stop at the waterfalls about 12 miles west of Hwy 276.









The section from Asheville to Cherokee has got to be the best, followed by the section from Asheville to Little Switzerland. The elevations afford views that seem to go on forever.





The radar was showing some thunderstorms in the area at this point but so far I had managed to avoid them. I saw one to the south of me that looked terrible; from my vantage point I guessed it was over Brevard. Nevertheless, the clouds were thickening and I ended up pulling out the trusty rain suit just shy of Cherokee. Thankfully I only caught the tail end of it and pulled the rain suit off once I got into Cherokee proper.







I hope you can read the first item on the sign in this next picture. Now, I'm a good ol' NC mountain boy, but I can tell you that I am completely unfamiliar with this particular delicacy. I hope to stay that way.





At any rate, here are a few more pictures from Cherokee, Maggie Valley and Lake Junaluska.









From there, it was back to Asheville to check in to the hotel and grab a bite to eat which concluded my trip on Friday. Saturday to be posted shortly.

 

On Saturday the destination was Biltmore before heading back home. I had a gift card that was about to expire so it was used on one of the specialty tours offered at the estate. Here are a few pics in and around the Biltmore grounds.

























A bite of lunch at T.G.I. Friday's and it was back to the Parkway, this time headed north towards home. I made another stop at Mt. Mitchell since it was clear though for some reason I didn't take any pictures up there. No matter, as I took pictures when I was there back in the first part of June.















The ride came to a close right after I stopped at Canyon's in Blowing Rock for supper. It's hard to beat a good meal sitting outside on their deck on a sunny summer evening. I took this picture of Hawksbill Mountain from my table.




Pictures and ride report from Sunday's trip up to the New River Gorge Bridge to be posted later today or tomorrow.

 

Appreciate the Pics ! ...looks like a sweet ride, again thanks for posting, and I hope to ride NC & SC one day as I have yet to make it there. Cheers.

 

Beautiful pics, I really need to make that ride!

 

On Sunday morning my son and I met up with one of our riding buddies at 7:30 and headed up Hwy 16 to Marion, VA. We stopped at Hardee's for breakfast and then continued north on Hwy 16 to Hwy 42. We took 42 east where we picked up I-77 to Beckley. At that point we got on Hwy 19 and took that to the New River Gorge Bridge. I wish I had some pictures of 16 and 42 as both were quite scenic, but for whatever reason it didn't dawn on me to take pictures until we got to the bridge.











So, 3 days and 800 miles later....I'd call that a pretty good weekend

 

Did you ride down into the river below the bridge. First time I dropped my bike was on the way down.

 

I've ridden down the gorge on a couple of previous visits and you're right, it's tough to negotiate. I decided not to ride down there this time since my son is a new rider. That said, the perspective from being in the gorge looking up at the bridge makes for quite a sight!

 

This was where I thought I had learned to stay off the front brake in a slow tight maneuver. However, in Pikeville, Ky. I tried it again and once again I laid it over. This part of the country was intriguing. Good call on not going down