Dual-Sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee
Dual-sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee – over the rivers and through the woods!
As the adventure bike segment of the motorcycle market explodes, I get more and more requests for maps of unpaved dual sport rides. There are loads of them in the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. Much of the mountainous area is National Forest or wildlife management land criss-crossed by unpaved graded roads. While I know of many good unpaved rides, and am often inclined to point my wheels down one, I don’t have a dual-sport bike to do the mapping from the saddle and that’s the only way I’ve found to accurately evaluate a good motorcycle ride – you’ve got to ride it.
Dual-sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee – The roads were easy as we started out in the morning. Good warm up to let the group find it’s stride.
I‘ve been fighting the urge to get another dual-sport adventure bike because I’m afraid I won’t get anything else done – I love riding the wild back roads and trails. After this ride, I’ve got the fever again.
Dual-sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee – Lt. Dan from GSMmotoRent.com has a large fleet of dual-sport bikes in the heart of some outstanding riding.
When Lt. Dan from GSMmotoRent.com invited me to come along on a dual-sport ride with the group from the RoadRUNNER Magazine Event in Maggie Valley, I jumped at the chance. He had a spare KLR 650, the workhorse of this class of motorcycle, a bike I’d been wanting to ride for a long, long time.
Dual-sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee – The trickiest riding for some wasn’t the logs, puddles, nor pot holes, but the thick deep gravel in some places.
We left Maggie Valley and made our way north on NC 209 to Fines Creek. From there we continued north to Max Patch Road and began the climb through the national forest capped by the 6000+ ft. high bald mountaintop. While it was wet with morning rain, the roads are pretty tame gravel and well maintained. Even so, they are plenty tight and twisty.
Dual-sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee – beautiful deep dark woods even when the sun poked though the clouds. So nice!
After playing around on some of the back roads near Max Patch, we emerged on Big Creek Road to take lunch in Hartford. As we were near the Interstate, a few riders had had enough of the unpaved challenge and headed back. The remainder were eager for more.
Dual-sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee – These roads are great for those on the big adventure bikes, though we also found a few more technical rides as the day wore on.
Heading south now, we followed TN 32 around the twisty northeast border of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, then continued into the park on Mt. Sterling Road when the pavement ended.
Dual-sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee – The view from Buzzard’s Roost is spectacular, but it helps to have a good guide like Dan from GSMmotoRent.com to find it.
We took a side road off Mt. Sterling Road to visit Buzzard’s Roost. A chin of rock juts out 1000 feet above the Pigeon River overlooking the gorge where Interstate 40 connects North Carolina and Tennessee.
Dual-sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee – blasting along these back roads is a lot of fun!
We returned to the pavement when we passed Cataloochee Valley, home to the parks famous herd of elk. We covered more than 100 miles on unpaved roads. We crossed streams, logs, rocks, and gullies washed out by the heavy rains. It was wonderful.
Dual-Sport Motorcycle Rides in North Carolina and Tennessee – I can’t wait to do this again! The next time you’re in the area, spend a day enjoying the cool refreshing rides through the woods.
If you’d like to challenge some of the best dual sport motorcycle roads in North Carolina and Tennessee, contact Dan at GSMmotoRent.com in Townsend, Tennessee. He has a great variety of dual-sport motorcycles and there are so many great roads for you to enjoy. Don’t forget to follow GSM MotoRent on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/GSMmotoRent-Dual-Sport-Adventures/57878901570
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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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Hi a friend and I are planning a trip weekend after Labor Day for a week. We would like to ride dual sport back roads for a different experience. Would like to go to Wheels through time, we have our personal bikes that we are bringing with us. Was wondering what you suggest to get as much as we can without wasting time finding motels etc. Thank-you
I’ve been to Max Patch a few times by car, would you think an experienced rider on an ST1300 or FJR could make it up the road ? Dirt and stones don’t bother me but I remember a long section with larger than normal stones. Thanks for your help.
Looking for a half or whole day guided dual sport ride within the dates of April 3 to 9. I would need to rent the bike. Is this available?
Hi a couple of friends and myself are planning on coming down to the Maggie Valley area for three or four days to ride back roads on adventur bikes. What maps would you recommend to ride the area in? Do you know of some place we could park our pickup truck and trailer? We are planning on riding out from we start and not coming back for three or four days.