THE TAIL OF THE DRAGON & CHEROHALA SKYWAY: Two of the BEST roads in the USA

Have you ever dreamt about being a dragon slayer? About conquering endless curves, just you and your vehicle? Here is where your dreams become reality. Ride with me from Tennessee to North Carolina at the southwest boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on one of America's most famous roads. The Tail of the Dragon and the Chihuahua Skyway. It's a new day, all is packed and after the thick misery yesterday, I will finally be able to enjoy some nice roads here and I'm gonna ride one of the most famous motorcycle roads of the U.S. today, what is called the Tail of the Dragon or the Dragon's Tail, so stay tuned. This is a much better start to the day than knowing that your ride takes you to a hospital, so much better to deal with dragons than ticks, if you ask me. From Townsend, where my hotel was, the ride to reach the dragon first took me on the so-called Foothill Parkway. I was traveling the southernmost 17 miles of Foothill Parkway, running from U.S. 321 to U.S. 129. Now stopping here at this viewing platform, I would say that's pretty nice. This southern section of Foothill Parkway offers spectacular views of the Great Smoky Mountains on one side and the Tennessee Valley on the other. On clear days, one can see all the way to the Cumberland Mountains, 50 miles or 80 kilometers to the west. So this was a beautiful start of the day with riding Foothill Parkway, but now we are doing what we are here for on this lake or better at this dam here, Iton, left on Highway 129, and this is where the famous dragon is about to start. Chiloe Lake provides part of the boundary between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee National Forest. This shallow 10-mile or 16-kilometer-long cool water reservoir is more river-like, flowing a narrow, twisted route. Welcome to the start of the Tale of the Dragon that starts here at this dam. Okay, party people, let's do this. I have heard really a lot about the Tale of the Dragon and so many people told me that I have to come here and ride it, and you might wonder why. And it's named the Dragon because it has so many curves. And when I say many, it really means a lot. So my expectations are very high now. And it for sure has a very scenic start here with this lake on my right side. Oh, so here we get warned to be careful because there are a lot of motorcycle accidents here. So yeah, I will drive careful too. According to the sheriff's office, there were 178 crashes on the Dragon between November 2015 and April 2017. Of those, 90 resulted in injuries and three were deadly. The Dragon, also known as the Tale of the Dragon, begins at Tabacat Creek Bridge in Tennessee and ends in North Carolina at the intersection of NC-28 and US-129. It has 318 curves in 11 miles or 18 kilometers and is one of the most popular roads for motorcycle riders in the United States of America. The twisting road through the dense forest has several pull-offs to stop, watch the riders, and the surrounding great smoky mountains. This is really fun with all these curves because they are not too tight and just nice to ride. But during the whole ride so far, I was more or less surrounded by forest, so you don't see as much of the surroundings as I would have hoped. So that's the famous Dragon and I would say it's not that much more curvy than a usual road in the Alps, but it's a lot of fun to ride. Along the Dragon, you find the famous Steels Gap Motorcycle Resort that is also called the Home of the Dragon and for sure the destination to stop for lunch or even a night if you try to tame the Dragon with your motorcycle. So here the Dragon enters from Tennessee to North Carolina. It's great to be here and it's so funny that the sign here just said state law riders wear helmet because there are still a lot of states here in the U.S. where it's not obligatory to wear a motorcycle helmet. That feels completely interesting and even a bit crazy to me as a European. At the end of the Dragon, I continued on Highway 129 along Geo Lake all the way to Geo Dam. So here I turn off to go to this Joyce Kilmer Road, the sign says. Honoring the famous poet Joyce Kilmer for the line, I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree. This road winds along beautiful Lake Santilla which is one of the most unspoiled lakes in North Carolina and is often even referred to as one of the most beautiful in the whole country. The Chirohala Skyway sounds here, let's turn right, not here, next one and highway 143 which is as well the Chirohala Skyway and which is of course a scenic byway here in North Carolina. The nice thing is that all these beautiful roads here are connected so right after the Dragon I'm now doing the so-called, I think Chirohala, I don't know how to pronounce it, Chirohala Skyway and it's actually a stunning scenery here, you see a bit more because the Dragon is more in the forest and this is a bit more open. The Chirohala Skyway in Graham County is a 42 mile or 67 kilometer long winding national scenic byway and definitely one of the most scenic drives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The Skyway opened in 1996 after 34 years of construction. It is North Carolina's most expensive highway at a cost of 100 million dollars, about 3 million a mile. I would say it was worth it though, the views on the surroundings are priceless. The Chirohala Skyway winds up the ridge for about 18 miles or 29 kilometers in North Carolina and descends another 24 miles or 38 kilometers into the backcountry of Tennessee. The road crosses through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests. This is where the name comes from, Chirohala. I really love this ride here on the Chirohala Skyway. I actually think I liked it more than the Dragon. You guys, you know me, so you know that I would ride everywhere for a great view and the views here were really, really stunning and it felt as well less busy than the Dragon and a bit more remote. So I really like this ride and can highly recommend it to everyone who is here in the area. Maybe this is the opportunity to get something to eat and this looks like an Imbiss and has a huge line, so it should be good, no? Places with huge lines normally are always not bad. After my late lunch, I continued my ride to Tahlequah Plains and south to Brasstown, on my way to the next state, on my way to Georgia. Thanks for taming the Dragon with me. If you rode all 318 curves with me and accompanied me until here, give this video a thumbs up, leave a comment and subscribe my channel to continue the ride with me. The next episode will take me to the next state, to Georgia. Tune in next Thursday to join a foggy ride to the highest elevation of the state and all the way to the ocean.