An Overlooked Attraction in Highlands for your Motorcycle Ride

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Wayne Busch

9/2/2019

An easily overlooked spot in Highlands, NC – The Will Henry Stevens Covered Bridge at the Bascom Art Center makes a great stop on your motorcycle ride to see the waterfalls.

Will Henry Stevens Covered Bridge at the Bascom Art Center

Will Henry Stevens Covered Bridge – Highlands, NC

We’ve ridden past this roadside attraction for years yet it never registered as a place to stop on our motorcycle rides to see the fabulous waterfalls in the Cullasaja River Gorge. I suppose it’s because I’m so eager to get out of the congestion in Highlands, NC. The roads surrounding the upscale town are outstanding but traffic crawls through the popular picturesque community. Reaching the edge of town the twists and turns ahead are so tempting yet a stop at the Bascom is time well spent and adds to the ride.

As you head west from Highlands towards the Cullasja Gorge to see the 4 big roadside waterfalls on NC 28 / US 64 you’ll find the Will Henry Stevens Covered Bridge on the right. The road it covers leads to the Bascom Art Center, a collection of historic restored horse farm buildings which house the art and museum. It’s a one-way ride entering through the bridge, a short paved road loops you back to US 64 from the parking area at the museum.

Will Henry Stevens Covered Bridge – Highlands, NC

Bascom Art Center – Highlands, NC

The covered bridge is exquisite, worth the stop to see. It’s not original, the timbers were brought from New Hampshire then reconstructed at the site from a bridge dating from 1807. The beams are secured with hammered wooden pegs, it’s truly a work of lost craftsmanship. You’ll find an appreciation for historic preservation throughout the Bascom Art Center in the barns and stables now hosting the artists and their work.

Bascom Art Center – Pottery

Bascom Art Center – Taking some home(

Bascom Art Center – Gallery

The Bascom Art Center is worth the time for a visit. You’ll find artists in residence producing beautiful pottery and crafts and a gift shop if any catch your eye. The three story museum in the largest building features collections from historic South Carolina, Japanese calligraphy, woodworks, and other eclectic exhibits. A short walking trail loops from the gallery through the grounds.

Bascom Art Center – exhibits

The Will Henry Stevens Covered Bridge & Bascom Art Center make a nice addition to your waterfall ride passing through Highlands, NC. Be it a quick stop to snap some photos or a more extended visit to the art center, this is a nice scenic addition to your motorcycle adventures. Explore the map below to discover more and download a GPS track of the loop ride.

The Easy Waterfall Ride (https://miles-by-motorcycle.com/51999/maps/52025/the-easy-waterfall-ride)

Wayne Busch – AMERICA RIDES MAPS

Article by Wayne Busch, America Rides Maps

We produce detailed maps of the best roads to enjoy on your motorcycle travels in the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains. Get the maps at AmericaRidesMaps.com
Source: America Rides Maps Blog

Great Motorcycle Rides – Is it a Waterfall or Not?

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Wayne Busch

NC 28 / US 64 between Franklin and Highlands, North Carolina is well known for 4 beautiful roadside waterfalls.

Few notice there is a 5th waterfall, at least that’s what the sign says.

Sequoyah Falls is located just outside Highlands. Truth is it’s not a natural waterfall, rather the spillover from the dam on Lake Sequoyah.There’s an unpaved pull off, a sign and a plaque here and it does make a nice place for a stop on your motorcycle ride.

Is it a waterfall? You decide while you savor this beautiful spot on your motorcycle tour of the Blue Ridge. Enjoy!

You’ll find this road and 99 other outstanding motorcycle rides in the area on map – 100 Great Motorcycle Rides in the Smoky Mountains

100 Great Smoky Mountain Motorcycle Rides Map

Do you like riding to see waterfalls? You might also like –

Smoky Mountain Waterfalls Motorcycle Ride

Wayne Busch – America Rides Maps

Wayne Busch searches out the most entertaining roads in the Blue Ridge Mountains then records them on a series of maps which span the Blue Ridge Mountains.

There are more great motorcycle roads in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains than anywhere else. I highlight the best roads then show you the best ways to connect them together into rides. More than a decade of searching has discovered more than 1000 good roads to enjoy. We continue to search so you may enjoy.

Review the maps, order online here – AmericaRidesMaps.com

Source: America Rides Maps Blog @ Miles-by-Motorcycle.com
https://miles-by-motorcycle.com/51999/blog/53982/great-motorcycle-rides—is-it-a-waterfall-or-not-

Don’t Let This Happen to Your Motorcycle Trip Next Year

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Wayne Busch

Don’t Let This Happen to Your Motorcycle Trip Next Year. A single word can make the difference.

Enjoy a Blue Ridge Parkway view on a motorcycle trip

Blue Ridge Parkway view – Give yourself permission to let this happen to you

The end of the year approaches. The holy days are behind us, and I look with dread at the incessant barrage of recaps, summations, and “the year in review” coming in the media as we approach 2013. It can drive me crazy; let’s face it, you and I were there. I’m not a “look back” kinda guy. Been there, done that, memories made, lessons learned.

Nor am I one to embrace the “New Year’s Resolution” mantra as we all know how rarely they endure beyond the morning after hangover. Reality has a painful way of drawing us back to our old habits and familiarity breeds contempt for change.

Don’t deny yourself the experience. Open the door. It’s already there and waiting. You just need to beleive it will happen.

Still, we all dream, desire the adventures in life, the glorious experiences and challenges of our “bucket lists”. If only there were something that could trigger these events, some trick, some key that unlocks that fantasy future of riding our motorcycles on that empty road through a paradise of wonder and beauty, sun on the shoulders, wind in the face.

Roadside waterfalls abound for the motorcycle rider

Discover the hidden secrets on your motorcycle travels in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains

I know the key, I know what makes things happen, and I want to share it with you. It’s one simple word that can change your motorcycle riding future if you embrace it;

– Just say YES.

Give yourself permission. Unlock the doors of possibility. As soon as you say YES, you have created the possibility which was not there before for that great motorcycle trip to happen.

Yes or no? Will this be you on your motorcycle in 2013?

Before the planning, before the goal, before the first step of that 1000 mile journey, you must create the potential for it to happen at all.

Motorcycles at Cullasaja Falls in North Carolina's "Land of the Waterfalls"

With permission granted, I stand ready to help you have the ride of your life! Just say YES!

Sounds kinda kooky and spiritual doesn’t it? But consider the contrast. How likely is it to happen if you instead say NO?

You’ve got nothing to lose, and everything to gain by trying this one simple thing; if you want that bucket list motorcycle ride, that vacation motorcycle trip of a lifetime, that discovery and adventure we two-wheeled souls need to feel alive, give your self permission. Say YES and believe. The rest will follow. I’m here to help.

America Rides Maps

Making your motorcycle dreams come true in the Blue Ridge an Smoky Mountains.

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Wayne Busch

– Wayne Busch lives in Waynesville, NC, where he produces the most detailed and comprehensive and up-to-date motorcycle pocket maps of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains to help you get the most of your vacation experience. See them here – AmericaRidesMaps.com

Learn Total Control

Wayne is an advanced motorcycle instructor for Total Rider Tech teaching Lee Parks Total Control Advanced Rider Courses. Isn’t it time you looked into advanced rider training to ride more confidently and safely? It can transform your mountain riding experience. Total Rider Tech

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A Motorcycle Ride You Should Know About – A stop at Wolf Creek Dam

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Wayne Busch

If you were in the Smoky Mountains this weekend you already know what perfect motorcycle riding we enjoyed. Cool mornings, warm afternoons, bright sunshine and unusually clear skies meant you were in for enjoyment regardless of where you rode while motorcycle touring. Bikes were everywhere. Riding the Blue Ridge Parkway was outstanding, but no more so than anywhere else.

Wolf Creek Dam near the midpoint of NC 281, one of the scenic points on this great motorcycle ride.

As it was a holiday weekend, we chose to avoid the more popular venues and when Labor Day came around I celebrated by – going to work. It was the good kind of work though, out on the motorcycle exploring and discovering more new roads to add to my America Rides Maps. I found a couple more, and today will be an office day as I update the maps. Along the way we took a ride on NC 281 (which I’ve written about previously) a road you should know about.

NC 281 is a great motorcycle ride - even the dam is curved and you can see the road leading on to it rarely lets up.

NC 281, a.k.a. Canada Road, is well marked at both ends. The north end is accessed from NC 107 south of Sylva and Cullowhee. The south end is accessed from Us 64 near Toxaway. The road takes you through sections of the Pisgah Forest climbing and rolling gently up and down the mountains with generally nice pavement, some decent views, and excellent curves. It a great road for viewing fall colors.

NC 281 is surrounded by the rugged mountains of the Pisgah Forest with scenic vistas of the craggy rocks and valleys, mountain lakes, and streams.s

We stopped for a break at the Wolf Creek Dam near the midpoint. To the north, NC 281 climbs over a pass then descends through a series of fast sweepers to reach NC 107 at Tuckaseegee. There’s a convenient (though expensive) gas station near the junction. To the south, the road is tighter and more technical as it claws it’s way through the rugged hills on the most recently paved portion. It’s certainly worth your time to take a ride on this great motorcycle road and this weekend many chose to do so.

Jackie enjoys a break in the warm sunshine from our nearby explorations of great motorcycle rides.

With the dry weather, the dam was spilling water from the lake to keep the popular trout fishing rivers below flowing. It an earthen dam and riding across it’s arcing top is a thrill for some. While there is a concrete K-barrier on the lake side, the drop off on the boulder strewn face is posted only by a series of large rocks widely spaced.

The lake provides water for the popular trout streams below.

Add NC 281 to your list of rides to do this fall. This is just one section of it, it continues south after it joins with US 64 for a few miles. It’s a far better ride than nearby NC 107 which carries most of the local traffic. There are lots of other great motorcycle roads nearby with outstanding scenery, roadside waterfalls, and challenging and fun curves. You could spend your whole motorcycle vacation exploring them. It’s a road you will return to.

America Rides Maps – Dozens of roads in the surrounding area make it one of my favorites.

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Wayne Busch - Cartographer

Rock Slide on US 64 near Cleveland, Tennessee

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Wayne Busch

Yet another rock slide has occurred in the southern mountains, this time closing a section of roadway on US 64 in the Ocoee River Gorge of Polk County, Tennessee. A series of slides has blocked both lanes at mile 17.4 near the Ocoee 2 Dam. As of yet, it remains unstable as the remnants of rain from tropical storm Ida play out over the southern mountains.

Photos and more details can be found at this link;
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/nov/11/rock-slide-shuts-down-us-64-through-polk-county/?local

TDOT’s recommended detour route from Chattanooga and Cleveland toward the Copper Basin or McCaysville, Ga., is:

North on I-75 to Exit 60 at Sweetwater, then south on State Route 68 to Ducktown.

From North Carolina;

Take U.S. 74 to Ducktown and go north on SR 68. Traffic is being rerouted along State Route 68 through Tellico Plains and Sweetwater, Tenn.

The detour more than doubles the trip time between Copperhill and Cleveland.

Wayne@americaridesmaps.com

>> Go To America Rides Maps.com – http://americaridesmaps.com

Smoky Mountain Motorcycle Rider

The Best Motorcycle Rides in the Mountains

Category Archives: US 64

An Overlooked Attraction in Highlands for your Motorcycle Ride

Great Motorcycle Rides – Is it a Waterfall or Not?

Don’t Let This Happen to Your Motorcycle Trip Next Year

A Motorcycle Ride You Should Know About – A stop at Wolf Creek Dam

Rock Slide on US 64 near Cleveland, Tennessee