Last minute ride today, thought I wouldn't get to, lots of scattered rain and a grim forecast proved to be better than thought. Took the opportunity to hit some local gaps & some BRP miles so I wasn't too far from home if I did indeed get soaked. Made quite the nice loop too, I was in three different counties and crossed several gaps.
1st up - Betsy's Gap. This is a quick stretch of curves, that leads you to a couple other good stretches. You can head on to Hot Springs for and awesome state park section or pick up NC63 for Dogget Mountain.
Top of Betsy's Gap & county line:
Made a turn at Trust, NC onto NC 63 for Dogget Mountain:
Next up: Dogget Gap, atop Dogget Mountain & crossing into Buncombe County. This has good sections on both sides, the east face is a very tight mix of turns and can catch you off guard.
From there I crossed back into Haywood County via Willow Creek Gap, and then into back into Buncombe on Hookers Gap. No pictures of either unfortunately. Hookers Gap drops you right onto NC151 which is a very fun way to get to the BRP.
On the BRP I first came to Mt Pisgah. where the Pisgah Inn and Restaurant are found. Pisgah TV tower:
Then came the fog. For those not familiar with Parkway fog, it comes on fast, sudden and cold. You can go through a tunnel and go from clear to almost zero visibility. It can also be pretty chilly if you're wearing mesh or perf gear.
Graveyard fields was the next major area I passed. You can see where it got its name from the sign.
On to Devil's Courthouse. Cherokee legend was if you were accused of a execution-worthy crime, you came to this rock outcropping, and threw yourself off. If you were innocent, the devil would blow you back up to the rock. The reason behind this, is very occasionally, there are very powerful thermal winds that shoot straight up the face of the rock and could indeed blow someone back up. I don't recommend testing this though.
Last stop: A quick look at my town from the parkway. The haze is pretty bad so you can't see much. The lake in roughly the center of the picture is the town watershed that supplies the city water system. It is very protected being surrounded by national park, and fishing is not allowed either, so the city water is very drinkable and clean.
JM
