Cades Cove

May 15th, 2004

Trip Statistics:

Time Traveled - 13 hrs. (from KY) 9 hrs (from Morristown)
Miles Traveled - 401 (from KY) 241 (from Morristown)
Accommodations - N/A
Gas - about $15.00 (from KY)
Food (Estimated) - $6.00

By Phil Smith

    This ride brought another early morning for me, since I was riding down from Wallins KY.  I left the house at about 6:30 after carefully examining the weather reports and radar.  Looked  like I had a chance of getting wet coming home but the forecast was good for the Townsend area.  Kim decided to trust the forecasters and sit this one out.  I stopped in Middlesboro to fill the fuel tank, then headed on down 25E and over Clinch Mountain to meet Sandee Bible at Colboch's.

    I got to Colboch's about five after eight and Sandee was waiting for me.  Since I am still learning the back roads of the area Sandee suggested a route over to exit 407 and I told her to lead the way.  She took us on down 25E to White Pine, where we turned off and followed Hwy 113 over to another version of 25 (25W, I think) to Dandridge.  In Dandridge, we turned onto Main Street which lead us to a beautiful lakeside drive that skirted the north shore of Douglas Lake around to the dam.  In a few minutes we were pulling into the parking lot at the McDonalds at 407.

    There was no one waiting for us at McDonalds but we waited 20 minutes or so just in case.  Oh, well off to the Waffle House in Alcoa.  We turned right out of McDonalds and Left on the next main road we came to, I think this was 25W again.  We followed this road to Strawberry Plains Pike, then the pike over to John Sevier and followed that over to Alcoa.  There were four bikes at the Waffle House but I didn't recognize anyone.  I asked if they were waiting for C.R.M.C. but found that they were part of a club from Pennsylvania.  They had just come down off the The Dragon.

    We peeled off our jackets while we waited to see if anyone else was going to show.  Oh well, you guys didn't know what you were missing, it was a beautiful day and we were gong to ride.  Sandy and I took off and rode down through Townsend and into the park.  We arrived at the cove about ten after 11:00 and much to our surprise, found almost no traffic.  Well at least not from cars, there were still a lot of bicyclist and walkers/joggers making their way around the loop.

    We stopped once for a break and photo opp. and then stopped again at the visitor's center.  By this time I was beginning to wonder if all the deer were on vacation somewhere, I had never gotten this far through the cove without seeing any deer before.  A few curves later and there they were, just three of them, but they were right at the fence next to the road.   We could have reached out and touched them.

    A few minutes later we were on our way back out of the park.  By this time the sun was very warm and people were everywhere, testing the waters in the creek, wading, swimming and tubing.    Looked like fun but I thought that water still looked awfully cold.  Sandee and I stopped for fuel just outside the park.  Swimmers weren't the only ones  out now, there were also motorcycles everywhere you looked.

    We were not really hungry yet so we decided to ride across the foothills parkway.  When we reached the area where the parkway was closed, we followed the detour signs down the mountain, WOW!!!, there were some great views up there.  We passed up Montvale Road and followed the flowing curves down to Chilhowee Dam.  I have to say I was tempted to turn left and head up onto The Dragon but by now we were hungry and the sky was starting to turn a little dark.  We had a quick lunch at Sub Way in Maryville, then rode over to John Sevier and followed it to Straw Plains.

    We had decided to stop at the Honda shop at exit 407,  we took I 40 from Straw Plains just to get there before they closed.   If you are a Honda fan you need to visit this shop.  There are some awesome bikes there and they have a good stock of parts and accessories.

    Okay, now it was really looking like rain back towards KY.  Sandee led us back up 25W to Dandridge, through Jefferson City and into Morristown.  We said goodbye at a stop light and she soon turned off toward her home.  I followed 25E back across Clinch Mountain and up to Middlesboro.  I stopped to fill the tank and put on my rain suit in Middlesboro.  The rain had passed but the roads were still wet the rest of the way home.  I pulled into the driveway at home about 7:45, the trip meter showed 401 miles. Man, you guys really missed it. 

A big thanks to Sandee Bible for showing me around the back roads.