Last year Allyn and I took the most wonderful trip. We decided we would go to an area of the NC mountains we had never been to before, the area near where Tail of the Dragon is. We had stayed in Asheville, rode the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive before and all the other areas near there, and that was great, but we wanted to do something different. Besides, we had never slain that dragon before!!
We decided we would stay at a nice Motorcycle Campground we heard of called Iron Horse Motorcycle Lodge in Stecoah, NC which is right in the heart of everything we wanted to see.
This motorcycle campground was WAY better than we had even hoped for!! It's tucked away in the beautiful western mountains of NC. It has tent sites on the softest grass you ever felt (yes, I felt it). You can bring your own tent, or they will rent one to you. They also have a lot of the needed camping items for rent also. Or you can rent one of their cabins. They also have a few RV sites with hookups. They have electrical hookup, but no sewer hookup, but there is a dump site right on the premisis. We took our motorhome and got a really nice spot. A wonderful little creek runs right through the campground.
The campground has a main building where you can watch this huge flat screened TV with surround sound, or listen to music or play pool. They also have dining areas where you can sit and enjoy one of the wonderful dinners they have. They also serve great deserts. We had hot apple pie and ice cream!! They also serve a nice country breakfast. They have a nice sheltered area in front of this building so you can park your bike. In the back, they have a porch with rocking chairs where you can just sit and relax and eat that desert you just bought, or there is an area where you can sit in a circle around this big fire pit and talk to others about the days ride...or just sit and listen. It is a wonderful campground and I would recommend it to anyone.
On our first day we headed out to the Deal's Gap, aka Tail of the Dragon. Have you heard of this infamous road? Well, it's 318 curves in 11 miles. I was so nervous at first, but to tell you the truth, though it was fun, we got on some roads that were even curvier than that on our trip. The scariest thing is when croch rockets would fly past you at a million miles an hour and take the most outrageous chances on their bikes. But the ride was fun and we bought the T-shirt!
Leaving the campground, we took a road that took us past Fontana Dam. We stopped by the little gift shop where we talked with a nice lady and bought a book. It was neat. The lake at the dam was beautiful. On the ride to Deal's Gap, there was a river running to the right of us with moutains next to it and it was a thing of beauty. It made me think of how the Native Americans must have enjoyed living off this land many years ago.
There was also Natahala National Forest, Cherohala Skyway and all the rides in between to get to these places and it was fantastic. We went through many little towns and ate at some nice places and we just had the time of our lives.
We hope to go back again soon.
