Steep Trails & Cliffside Moto Camping: North Carolina 105 Linville Gorge

What's up guys? John from Moto Off-Road Adventures. We're out here on another adventure to Linville Gorge, playing around in North Carolina. I got Barry from Fire and Ice Outdoor Gear with me, my get in trouble buddy here, ride or die. We're going to spend the next couple of days playing around North Carolina mountains, including the gorge, North Carolina 105, and the TAT, the Trans-American Trail we're going to play on tomorrow. Welcome to the new adventure, guys. We're going to have some fun. You ready to ride? One of my favorite places in the world, Linville Gorge. And yeah, we're going to ride a little bit on the TAT after that. So let's have an adventure. Let's have some fun. And let's get going. A beautiful little section right here. Spillway open just a bit. Damn, man. I love coming by that. The first time we came by it, a few weeks ago, riding the South Carolina Adventure out the Scar. I'd bring you right by here as well, as we're on it right now. But goddamn, that is just a beautiful, beautiful sight. All right. Los Miguejos. Time for a little pit stop and some food. Man, when you slow down, it is warm out here. All right. Food it is. Something cold to drink. Let's do it. Food was good. Food took us a little bit to get our food, but we're going to get the heck out of here. I got my high squeakers on. Let's hit the road. Have some fun. It's all about that shade. Time for some petro. As much as I've been saying how nice it was being in the 90 degrees, that is only a fact when you're on the road and moving. That was a warm gas stop. That is what I'm talking about. You probably can't see it from here, but up there is the first shot of the foothills. And we are going to be entering some mountains. Always puts a smile on my face. We call that thing the mini-train. Well, we know it's short train. No. We are waiting for the world's smallest train. Oh, that's hilarious. Pretty small train. We definitely didn't have to stop for. This is crazy. Yeah, good lord. That is why we are here. That is stunning. We got about 6.30 p.m. right now. Need to find campsite, get set up. Should be plenty of time. Riding up is high 90s. Right now we're about 85 degrees. Hopefully it's getting cooler as we climb. And let's see if we can find some cooler temperatures for camp tonight. We're going to get after it, see what time we can set up camp, and we'll check in. Welcome to the mountains. There's just something to being off-road. Feels good. We've just started climbing and this is already fun. Yeah, that is definitely gorgeous. Moving on. Oh. Oh my. Alright, I believe we have identified our home for the night. This is how we ride. Alright, what do we got here? Welcome to camp. Not going to lie, that was badass. Let's get unpacked. This is definitely a home run. For tonight, or should I say for tomorrow morning, maybe no sunrise view, but this is going to be beautiful. Plenty of spots, flat spots, tents. You could have a party out here. Hammock trees, it's pretty capable there. Absolutely. It is right about 8 o'clock. I think it's in the 80s right now, but it's definitely going to plummet when that comes down a little bit. Runs up that thing. So we're going to set up camp, get started, get going before we get dark. And just relax. It was a long day on the bikes, man. It was a beautiful last bit of a ride. The 105 is amazing. A little tricky on a bike compared to everything else I've been on. So I'm not even made a mistake or two. But that's what Moto Off-Road Adventures is. Learning together. I'm going to grow from that and get a little better. Let's get unpacked. Let's get the tent out and possibly an evening coffee, guys. Time to unwind and chill. It's now about 8.30. What a day. I think we left a little before 10. Long day. We did get a brewery stop. Camp is set up. Hydrating. You might hear in the background, we're going to grab a couple drone shots of the sunset. So hopefully we'll get something there. Just time to kick back and relax. That's a long day. This is a beautiful spot. Pretty excited for tomorrow, guys. We are going to do a big loop, I found out here. We're going to go back down old 105. The highway we got right here. We're going to take a loop and hop on the TAT. The Trans-Away. Trans-America. Let me try that again. Trans-American Trail. So that comes right through this area as well. So we'll come down 105, which we just drove up. Try not to make a mistake this time. Go around the loop and come back. It should be a great outdoor dirt road adventure. A lot of fun. Maybe about 3 hours, 3.5, 4 hours of riding. Which probably for me means about 5 hours of riding. Tomorrow is going to be an absolute blast. Enjoy the night. Hopefully we got some clear skies and got some stars. And kick back. Once I down this, probably going to have a coffee. Get a little snack in me. Great day. It's only the second trip on Draven. The 2022 Himalayan. And it has been phenomenal. It has outpaced me a little bit. But we're learning. We're getting better. That's what it's about out here, right? Having fun. Getting better. We're going to take some longer trips here next year. And try to get those skills in place. Anybody can get out here. Safety first. Take your time. The ride in. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude. Yeah. That was fun. Yeah. That was. I wonder if we're going to get in trouble. That was. I mean, the whole thing. I mean, the ride up here. I just. I know everybody says that a GoPro doesn't show. But it had to show this. I mean, it was rough up. Steep downs. A few spots once you made the corner. Loose sand. Yeah. Like this is a good practice ground right here. Yeah. I've really followed your lead. Some of the mistakes you made that I was able to correct. And I would have done them if you weren't the leader. Because you went wide. And would go straight into some hard curves with that. Those ruts. Can you go to those pictures when I'm speaking about it? Yeah. Because you went back. And then that's when you went into the ditch. Yeah. I tried to always get straight before the ruts. On that one. I really hope I got it on camera. You guys will love it if I did. That sharp U. So I let. You know, I was throttling down. And all of a sudden you hear that. And I look down. I'm like. I'm in second. So I tried to reach down and shift. And then get back going. And it sent me into the ditch. In a rutted ditch. It was pretty rutted. Kind of just like a water retrieve there. And I mean. Draven did amazing. He's got knobby tires. But just a low end torque. I was a little nervous. Like you went by and said. Yep. Just power your way out. Yeah. All right. What does this look like? And I was throwing some rock. But it just came right at me. Straight up. Like a tractor, man. Yeah. This is definitely one of my favorite spots in the country. And definitely on the east coast as well. Tomorrow is going to be epic. I don't know exactly what it's going to look like. But I was able to throw a loop together. That includes 105. So we'll go back down this craziness. Hop on the highway for just a little bit. And then all the way up the other side of the mountain. And back to 105 here. Coming southbound this time. We're going to be on the TAT, like I said. Trans-American Trail. So that's going to be the first time I'm really touching it. Something we're really looking at getting our skills up and doing. So it'll be fun. I went from seeing my first white blaze on the Appalachian Trail to four years later through hiking it. So I don't know what tomorrow's going to bring. But it's going to be adventure. Hell yeah. We're just going to sit back and chill. Hopefully enjoy some stars here. Probably have a little bit of a snack. But I'll let you guys go. It's been a long day on the bike. But a great day on the bike. And we'll see you in the morning. Back to bed guys. What an amazing day that was. So much fun. Probably a solid 11 hours from start to finish to get here. Trip up is exactly what I thought. Just a fantastic ride on a crazy gravel road. Yeah. It is going to be a little after 11. I'm going to call it a night. Appreciate you guys tuning in and watching. I absolutely do. Going to have an adventure tomorrow. Heading back down the same crazy gravel road back down to the highway and then up the Tatt guys. Trans-American Trail. Pretty excited about that. So do a nice afternoon, late morning loop of some off-road craziness. Come along and join. And you'll see a pop-up right here where we're going to call it a good night and have a good day.