BIKES: All Roads Lead To Maggie Valley

Motorcycling Destinations

BIKES: All Roads Lead To Maggie Valley

Neale Bayly takes a ride in the Smoky Mountains to visit Maggie Valley

Neale Bayly | Posted October 15, 2010 Charlotte, NC

The Smoky Mountains appear more gentle, approachable, and peaceful as they melt into the pastel horizon. (Photo: Neale Bayly

Sometime before sunset, and a while after the tourists have headed back to their hotels, it’s possible to be alone on the Blue Ridgeway Parkway. You can pull over at a scenic overlook, slip your bike on the stand, lean back, and get lost in the magical vista. As multiple layers of soft color melt away into the distance behind the fading mountains, the spirits of the ancient ones whisper through the still evening air.

Not wild or breathtaking the way the Rocky Mountains or the Grand Tetons tear the horizon with their jagged peaks two miles above the earth. The Smoky Mountains appear more gentle, approachable, and peaceful, as they melt into the pastel horizon. Time disappears, as the transition to night transforms the landscape, and you find yourself lost in thought and wonder in their presence. Later, the cool of the approaching night, and the sound of nature’s orchestra warming up for the evening symphony brings you back. It’s time to swing your bike off the stand, fire it to life, click into gear and head for home. A welcome reception, a hot shower, and dinner with friends awaits. Leaving the fading mountains to the transition from light to dark, and winding down the sinuous ribbon of tarmac ahead, it’s comforting to know that all roads lead to Maggie Valley.

Located in the heart of the Smoky Mountains with a population of just a few hundred, the majority of the Main Street that runs the length of town is given over to tourism. It’s a corner of the world that has managed to avoid the destruction of mainstream development. Small Mom and Pop restaurants, hotels, motels, and curiosity shops rule the roost, with little influence from fast food America to spoil the ambience. Southern hospitality, great service, and fantastic prices, it’s long been base camp to savvy motorcycle travelers, the kind in need of refreshing air, lightly trafficked roads, and some of the most beautiful scenery the east coast has to offer.

I’ve been in and out of Maggie Valley for years, and when Joanne Martin at the Mountaineer Restaurant invited my buddy Jim Miller and me for a few days riding recently, we couldn’t resist the call. Setting up in one of her cabins below the restaurant, we picked up the phone and put in the call that would ensure the best possible riding experience for the time we had available.

Meeting early for breakfast the following morning, we were greeted by a beaming grin bursting out of a plain white helmet. Sitting astride a fully loaded Triumph Tiger with no signs of any chicken strips on the well-scrubbed tires, Mr. Wayne Busch is obviously a very serious mountain rider. He is also the owner of America Rides Maps (www.americaridersmaps.com) and probably has ridden more miles in these mountains than anyone you are likely to meet. He has made a series of maps highlighting all the best rides available in this area, so just decide what you want to do, where you want to go for the day, grab a map, and head out. Taking you in a circular route passed all the best scenery and on the least traveled roads; it’s like putting on the cruise control or having your own private tour guide on top of the tank bag. For Jim and I we actually did, as Wayne kindly offered to lead a ride. Over mugs of steaming coffee he showed us different routes as we told motorcycle stories and got acquainted.

Heading out of the Mountaineer with Wayne at the helm, we had chosen the most popular tour people select in this area. A challenging ride that would take us to the Tail of the Dragon and the Cherohala Skyway out on the western edge of North Carolina. First we chose from one of three routes to take us there that Wayne lists as, Approach 1, 2 or 3. One is the shortest and most direct, and three is the longest and most meandering. This is called “The Back Roads Approach,” and is listed as 145 miles or four hours and two minutes. It was the unanimous choice for our group. If you are in a hurry and want to focus on the Dragon for the day, Approach 1 will get your there in under two hours, while only racking up 81 miles on your odometer.

Dropping into Maggie Valley on a beautiful, clear morning, the air was alive with the sounds and smells of this small, industrious town getting busy. Lawnmowers cut neat lines in carefully tended yards, and delivery trucks unloaded supplies as we wound down and into the neighboring town of Waynesville. With a tourist tag line of “slow down and enjoy the present,” an historic Main Street packed with brightly colored art galleries, coffee shops, curiosity shops that gives views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it would have been easy to get distracted from the ride. Luckily we are on a mission and keep rolling, making a mental note to return.

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