The Blue Ridge Parkway + Skyline Drive: A Four Day Solo Motorcycle Camping Trip
the Blue Ridge Parkway spans 469 mi from Cherokee North Carolina to wesboro Virginia connecting Great Smoky Mountains in shann andoa National Parks the parkway is known for its Scenic views unique weather phenomena and for showcasing the beauty of the Southern appalachin mountains in the fall just to name a few things I'll be spending four full days riding the entire Parkway as well as the additional 105 miles through shann andoa National Park Skyline Drive and while it's not enough time to see everything the parkway has to offer it's plenty of time to experience America's favorite drive or in this case ride what an incredible few [Music] [Music] days good morning from the Iron Horse motorcycle Lodge in case you missed the last video I have spent the last couple of days riding around the Smoky Mountains I'll be sure to link that video right up here for y'all because as I mentioned in that video it was probably one of the best days couple of days for that matter that I've had on a motorcycle in 20123 maybe in the last like 2 years even it was just absolutely gorgeous the pavement was perfect everything was great but I don't want to speak too soon because today I'm starting a bucket list ride that I've been wanting to do for a while and that is ride the entire Blue Ridge Parkway as well as Skyline Drive but for now I think it's time to make breakfast as well as pack Camp up cuz we have a lot to see today on day one and I don't want to miss any of it because we're losing daylight so let's go since there's very few food options along the parkway I decided when planning this trip that I would cook at least half of my meals while camping along the way and since y'all are always asking me what gear I'm using and how I pack it let's go over some of it first I always carry XS series collapsible cookware from to Summit to prepare and serve food and as youall have seen in plenty of my videos I love my Tiny But Mighty jet boil micro Mo I use the micro Mo to boil water make coffee and frequently use the pot support with other cookware like my Ceda Summit 8 in Alpha [Music] pan breakfast this morning is going to be blueberry oatmeal as well as spaming eggs I made a really big breakfast this morning cuz I don't plan on stopping again until we get to our dinner location which has come highly recommended and I am so excited to get there this afternoon let me go ahead and finish breakfast and we'll get on the road one of the things I really like about the X Series cookware is that it's made of high-grade collapsible silicone material once everything's folded up and packed into each other I store all of the cookware in its own 8 L dry bag so that any food residuals stay off whatever else might be stored in the bigger dry bag that y'all are used to seeing packed up on the back of my bike in the other Big River dry bag that y'all are used to seeing on my bike you'll find all of my camping gear my tent sleeping bag pad pillow and liner all fit in one 35 L Big River dry bag in the summer I can use a 20 L dry bag since my gear is less insula and takes up less space but since temperatures are forecasted to drop below freezing at night I decided to bring my cold weather kit all of these products will be linked in the video description for you to check out by the way once those things are packed up they get put onto the back of my bike with a set of rock straps and now my little home on two wheels is ready to go to get to the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway I have to travel roughly 40 minutes north to Cherokee North Carolina Cherokee is also the Gateway town to Great Smoky Mountains National Park which explains the traffic jam Falls the busiest time of year to visit this area with millions of visitors in October alone so I just got gas in Cherokee North Carolina this is the closest town to the southern Terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway um and it's smart to get gas here because it's the only chance that you're really going to have to get gas close to the parkway until you get closer to Asheville there's no gas actually along the entire Parkway so you have to get off the parkway to get gas on a motorcycle that's something you should definitely keep in mind because we don't all have draganic gas tanks especially people you know on Sports STS smaller bikes but Cherokee has all kinds of lodging if you want to camp here if you want to get a hotel here and start your day really early um there's all kinds of little shops there's also um a museum about the tribe as well which I would love to go to but unfortunately I don't have time on this trip but I think that I could come back here numerous times to do this ride and not run out of things to see and do there's so much to do on this first stretch between here and Asheville that I would love to see but unfortunately we're not going to have time to see everything today but I guess we'll have to come back but let's go ahead and get on the road and see some pretty stuff this this section between Cherokee and Asheville I've ridden before and I absolutely loved it so I'm excited to do it [Music] again the Blue Ridge Parkway was the world's first parkway designed exclusively for leisure travel and recreational use the idea for the Blue Ridge Parkway was born when President Franklin D Roosevelt visited the newly constructed Skyline Drive in Virginia in 1933 where a suggestion was made that the road should be extended to connect with Great Smoky Mountains National Park construction began in 1935 and took 52 years to complete today the Blue Ridge Parkway is nicknamed America's favorite drive and features 26 tunnels and 272 overlooks throughout the 469 Mi scenic drive better believe we'll be enjoying at least a dozen of these overlooks along the way I love a good Scenic [Music] Overlook [Music] of course I had to stop off here at the highest elevation point on the Blue Ridge Parkway uh this is only about an hour from the southern Terminus so it's not too far up the parkway way so if you decide to ride just the first portion between Cherokee and Asheville you will pass this spot but I don't want to spend too much time here because we still have so much to see that I haven't seen before and I've already seen this so let's get back on the road the elevation of the parkway varies from 653 ft to 649 ft as it winds across the Blue Ridge Mountains meaning some areas of the parkway are far past Peak fall colors While others are still putting on a show when is the best time to see these vibrant colored leaves and all of their Glory typically mid October is your best bet but it varies from year to year now I couldn't go to brid bille Falls yesterday and not come to a waterfall today because there are just so many waterfalls in this area so I decided to get off the Parkway by about 9 or 10 miles on 276 276 is a great ride by the way uh whether you get off the Parkway and just ride it to Wayville or you come down here and go south on it absolutely gorgeous ride highly recommended um but we're at Looking Glass Falls this is a very popular stop and I can't wait to show you it cuz it is [Music] beautiful it's kind of hard to put into perspective how big this waterfall is big one super pretty good news is the waterfalls really pretty the bad news is there's a lot of other people who want to look at it too so this was a quick stop and back on the road to go [Music] I just got done riding the first like 80 Mi of the Blue Ridge Parkway between Cherokee and Asheville um and as I got closer I pulled over at one of the bajillion overlooks and looked for the nearest gas station to the parkway um you don't get a lot of options to exit the Parkway and get gas quickly um so if I was you I would recommend getting off in Asheville I'm currently at an Engles and it's right off the parkway I probably went a mile off the parkway which in Parkway measurements is not very far I left Cherokee at about 12:30 to start the Parkway and I pulled over a couple of times um but not a ton and it is currently 455 just for reference so even though you don't go very far it takes a very very long time to get it but I think we have about an hour and a half until we get to dinner which I'm very excited about [Music] the Blue Ridge Parkway is operated and maintained by the National Park Service along with there being no gas along the parkway there's also very few food camping and lodging options however one iconic spot just north of Asheville Remains the only commercially ran establishment on the entire Parkway offering both food and lodging and is a popular destination for motorcyclists [Music] I just got to where we're going to be having dinner tonight and also I'm going to be staying here for the next two nights for a completely separate video so I'm currently at Little Switzerland this was the most recommended place that y'all told me I had to come eat at and I had to check out while I was on this trip so I decided to stay here for two nights and focus on doing a completely different video about this place as well as a couple of the un unique rides that are in this area so I'll link that video up here whenever it's published but I need to get checked in so that we can go eat dinner cuz I am starving for those curious Little Switzerland definitely lived up to the hype of being one of the top destinations along the entire Blue Ridge Parkway and I'm so glad I stopped here the food was great and they have pie so I see why everyone told me I needed to stop if you're traveling solo they do have a motorcyclist only Lodge on site which is where I'll be staying you can find out more in the next video that I'll link to once it's published since I had the luxury of staying in a heated room and not having to pack up camp I decided to get up early and hit the parkway Before Sunrise with nobody else on the parkway it was probably my favorite morning of the trip especially since I got to ride through and eventually above a thermal Cloud inversion the Blu Ridge Mountains are one of the best places in the world to witness an an atmospheric phenomenon called thermal inversion these low-lying clouds rest in the mountain valleys and move in a WAV likee motion the best time to witness this sea of clouds is just after Sunrise especially in the [Music] fall good morning today is officially day two of my Blue Ridge Parkway trip uh Little Switzerland was awesome be sure to watch that video it right up here for yall um and there's been a bit of a change in plans so there's a Arctic blast that is sweeping the country right now the temperatures are going to go from highs in the 70s and low 80s to highs in the low 40s in the next couple of days so I'm currently about 300 miles 350 mi from shann andoa National Park and I don't think I'm going to be able to get all the way there today but I'm going to get as far as I possibly can so that I can enjoy as much time on Skyline Drive tomorrow as I possibly can so I'm going have to cut a couple of things out that I wanted to see today but that's okay I've already had to cut so much out that I wanted to see like Mount Mitchell and some other places just because there just isn't enough time and I think that's something that I'm really enjoying about the Blue Ridge Parkway is that you can make so many trips out here and still have so much to see so I've also learned that there are are a lot of other off-road routes out here cuz everyone's on an ADV but me it seems so definitely plan on coming back in the future but on that note let's get on the road my next stop of the morning is the most iconic Landmark along the entire Blue Ridge Parkway this 7mile section of the Blue Ridge Parkway was once known as The parkway's Missing Link completion was delayed for 20 years as engineers and Architects meticulously designed a roadway that would preserve and protect the fragile habitat of Grandfather Mountain which contains some of the oldest geological formations on Earth finally in 1987 the Linko Viaduct was completed connecting all 469 Mi of Parkway together considered in engineering Marvel it's one of the most successful fusions of Road and Landscape on the [Music] parkway I am currently at the Linco Viaduct this is one of the most popular places on the Parkway in the fall because of all the Fall colors now I am here just past Peak so there's not as many people here as I was thinking there would be um but that's one of the reasons I got up early and why I stayed at Little Switzerland cuz it's only about 40 minutes from this location um I just watched a guy repel down a Rock like right underneath the viu it was so cool but today's the last warm day of the year like I said that cold front's coming in so I had a feeling that this place would end up being a parking lot by the afternoon if I didn't get here early so it's about 8:45 so I'm a little later than I wanted to be I actually wanted to catch the sunrise here but chesto wasn't a bad second option [Music] so I just jumped off the parkway to grab some coffee and some snackies to eat along the parkway I stopped at a spot called Camp Coffee Roasters and luckily they had some little like breakfast items and some cies and they had like little uh breakfast biscuit type things but it's super busy here so I decided to just pack the snacks along and we'll eat them along the parway here in a bit but I got one of their Firefly coffees and it has like toasted marshmallow caramel and another flavoring in it it was so good and of course I had to add a couple shots of espresso cuz we got a long day today a few hours and construction detours later I had finally made it to the Virginia state line this area of the parkway is known as the plateau region noting that the mountains have been replaced with Rolling Hills and [Music] farmland I am officially in Virginia I'm over halfway done with the Parkway and I'm finally stopping to eat the snacks I bought this morning um there's some big detours due to construction on the Parkway right now and then once I got back on the parkway there weren't really any um Overlook stops and if there were they were completely full because there's just not as many of them in this section of the parkway as there are in like the southern portion of the parkway um if I was going to split the parkway into three pieces like North middle and south or Central I guess I'd say the middle or central portion is where I'm at now I'm about 100 miles south of Rowan o on the Parkway and the scenery has definitely changed um there's a lot of pine trees and you can smell them while you're riding by which is really cool uh and you can see mountains out in the distance but it's nowhere near as mountainous as it was um in the southern portion not even this morning once I got north of a Blowing Rock it completely changed so yeah I finally got to stop to eat my food I got this morning at Camp coffee I'm going to finish eating the snacks here it's about 1:30 in the afternoon and I'm hoping we can get to the peaks of otter Campground for the evening the plateau region of the parkway was definitely my least favorite but as I got closer to ran Oak it was nice to see others out enjoying the parkway on one of the final warm days of the year after a quick stop for gas and groceries and Rowan Oak the mountains and Valley views gradually returned as I headed further north after a 250 M day that felt like it would never end at times I was definitely looking forward to a few moments of moto camping Zin before [Music] [Applause] [Music] nightfall [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] oh [Music] w [Music] dinner tonight is Fame minan because apparently I didn't get enough at Little Switzerland and a little chopped salad kit I call this a one pot meal the only thing I use to make this is the sea to Summit X poot I've made this on other camping trips that I haven't filmed and it's so easy to make fet M and A chopped salad cost like $15 at the grocery store and it's super easy to make when you get the little chopped kits you can put all your trash back in this bag when you're done which makes cleanup super easy the only utensils I needed were a fork to eat my meal a knife just to open stuff um or to cut the steak if you need but it's flam andon so you could really use a simpler knife if needed and I have tongs to flip the steak so overall it didn't really require much oh and of course a camp stove and fuel but all things considered this is a really simple meal to make and yeah I'm going to enjoy this while it's still [Applause] warm all night it has sounded like this and it sounds like it's raining and I just did not get very good sleep it's much louder than you would think it is but good [Applause] morning oh my gosh there's so many leaves falling out of the sky right now it is so gorgeous now today is officially my final day on the Parkway I'm starting starting it here at the peaks of otter Campground this is 85 mi from the northern Terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway before you enter shann andoa National Park and continue on to Skyline Drive this Campground is only $20 a night but it does have flush toilets and they're actually very clean bathrooms I was very impressed and there weren't a lot of people camping here today is the last night that this Campground is open for the season so that might have something to do with it also this Arctic blast that's coming in today might also have something to do with it as well but uh for $20 a night you really can't beat and they have like over 70 first come first serve campsites available at all times that's more than what you can reserve online ahead of time which is pretty cool so I would totally stay here again but I will say that the campsites for motorcycles are kind of finicky especially in the fall because everything is covered in leaves right now which as youall know get really slick they're like little banana peels when you're on a motorcycle so uh you just have to be super careful luckily I found one that I could just pull right up to the steps to and then walk my stuff up I didn't have to back my bike up a campsite or uh pull it up into a driveway and the back it back down uh which made it really easy for me that being said I think it's time to get Camp packed up and hit the road cuz we have a lot to do before it gets really cold this evening the storm blowing in will bring a drastic temperature drop and rainfall by the afternoon by the time I wake up tomorrow the temperatures are expected to be in the low 30s while I don't have to go far today I do have to eras the storm to my destination which means I'll have to cut out a few things again for my itinerary all of the Winds overnight made for quite the ride first thing in the morning since very few cars had traveled the parkway the roadway was covered in leaves in some are areas I couldn't even tell where the road was luckily the leaves were keeping me on my toes because after 400 mil traversing the parkway I was starting to feel like I had been seeing the same corners and overlooks over and over and over the Blue Ridge Parkway is beautiful but it can definitely feel repetitive at [Music] times [Music] [Music] y'all we made it to mile zero [Music] [Applause] woo we're officially at the northern Terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway Shin andoa National Park starts right over there but I've officially completed the whole Blue Ridge Parkway and I can finally check that one off my bucket list and now it was time to ride all 105 mil of Skyline Drive Through shann andoa National Park Crossing another Scenic byway and national park off my bucket [Music] list do you have any questions if there was one Overlook you could stop at which one would it be Sawmill 10 miles up perfect good to know and if you were going to eat at the lodge what would either one of them cuz it's the same same concessioner running it so the menus are quite similar at Skyland Skyland or Big Meadows okay whatever you do make sure you get the dessert the Blackberry ice cream pie that's definitely I'll have that as my main meal what would you get if on the menu what would you eat you know I haven't ate on but I know they're all the food's pretty good but the that Blackberry ice cream pie is e that's it that's dinner huh yeah have two of them have one for dinner have one for dessert I'll have one for you how about that well that would be nice thank you you're welcome well have a good one ma'am and be safe thank you first of all that was such a wholesome conversation second the park ranger definitely knows his [Music] overlooks with an imminent Arctic blast chasing me up the mountain I knew that the cold front was coming in quickly and that my stops to enjoy the scenery would be limited today if I wanted to stay dry I arrived at Camp just in time to pitch my tent in the rain [Applause] do y all uh like my outfit for dinner I have no idea how long this walk is but I did not come to shenoa National Park to not get this little treat so we're going to dinner now originally I was going to take out to Skyland which is like the original Lodge and dining room in the park before it was even a national park but since I'm camping at Big Meadows Lodge and I just walked up a huge hill which is why I'm out of breath we're gonna be going to the big Meadows Dining Lodge room thing they have the same menus so it all works out and I didn't have to ride my bike in the [Music] [Applause] rain [Music] [Applause] [Music] I did not know this until tonight but the little pole the little bag that the poles come in turns into a little light bar so it snaps right in here I was wondering what the snaps were for and what it the light bar was and I was looking at this bag and it said it and I was like oh my God that's so genius so you can put this up here you can put whatever lights you want in it I just have my headlamp in it right now which works out well but yeah that is super super cool well as you can tell we are back in the tent and um essentially I got to camp at about 4:00 which I was so excited about I was like yeah I'm going to get to Camp early and it started raining as soon as I got here mind you the temperature was starting to drop uh from 60° to 35 in the morning so um that cold front officially hit as soon as I got here so I scrambled to put the tin up um and by the time I got everything in the bear Locker so it would also be dry that's a nice thing about also having a bear Locker is because you can keep yourself dry in there um it was I was just ready to go eat so uh I walked over to Big Meadows Lodge originally I was going to take youall to Skyland um but I just didn't want to deal with riding 10 miles up Skyline Drive in the dark in the rain back and forth like the park ranger mentioned earlier uh both places have the same menu so why not just walk right here to Big Meadows um so that's what I did and of course I had to tie this trip off with the Blackberry ice cream pie uh that is why I wanted to stay in the park tonight in the first place was because I wanted to try that pie is a thing you're supposed to do whenever you come to sh National Park wow it is super rich um if you like ice cream it's delicious uh it's basically a pie that's made out of ice cream exactly what it's called and it's t the the pie itself is ice cream right it's Blackberry ice cream and then it's topped with this like super whipped creamy mering and this Blackberry like pury uh compost it was delicious um I also had the meatloaf for dinner and that was really great too especially since I didn't eat all day today so it's officially time for me to start testing out the Seda Summit gear and we'll see if I freeze tonight I'll see youall in the [Music] morning good morning it is currently 35° outside I have not left my sleeping bag yet because it is so warm in here that I just slept over 8 hours my tent is soaking wet on the outside nice and dry on the inside and I am snug as a bug in my sleeping bag this sleeping pad did wonders I am very excited about it we have roughly 50 miles left of Skyline Drive and then this wild crazy road trip is officially over [Music] open there ice on my motorcycle I found out later that morning when I talked to a park ranger that the temperatures forecasted for the campground online aren't always accurate it is crazy I look like I'm going hunting it is crazy when you crawl out of your tent and realize how much it was insulating you cuz it is so much colder out here than it was in there I'm going to hurry and get Camp packed up and try and get out of here there is ice on my motorcycle so I'm curious how the roads are going to be and I'm on top of a mountain usually the weather apps use temperatures at the base of the mountain rather than at the top where the campground is so it was definitely well below freezing overnight even if my phone told me it wasn't when there's ice on your tint you were warm all night and slept for 8 hours you know your Equipment Works wow oh man there is nothing worse than packing up a wet tent oh my God you know how nice it is to put heated gloves on when it's this cold out man I feel like I can do anything with those hell yeah God I love he it [Music] here carefully dodging any wet spots on the roadway that could have turned to ice from the storm I eventually made it down the mountain mountain and completed Skyline Drive at the northern entrance thus completing all 574 miles of the combined Scenic byways what an incredible few days I'm so stoked I finally made it to the end here that's it for now y'all I ride 600 miles home in this freezing cold weather so until the next one I'll see you on the road thanks for watching all the way to the end if you made it later [Music] y'all
2023-12-24 01:40
