May 13th, 2022 - Head out from Fontana in the morning and first meet up point is Killwins-Highlands! You'll find me rolling through Wildwood Grill parking area around 9:30am if you want head south with me.

AKA, Super Squiggles 1&2, which is mine and Turbo's favorite roads in the area east of Fontana. This route is a scenic, well-maintained, wide road that is up-hill climb up to Blue Ridge Parkway, beginning down by Cashiers/Sapphire. You can read about Forest Heritage Scenic Byway on wikipedia.

I prefer to skip the normal restaurant crowd in Franklin, only get fuel there, then continue to Highlands for lunch and ice cream. We all gather in front of Kilwins to split into groups and plan how far over the Byway we plan to travel, and which stops take. Devil's Courthouse and its tunnel will always be part of the list, dinner in Waynesville is often the end of the festivities. At sun-down, cool down on highway 74 back to Fontana. Hopefully you brought a mini-cooler to keep your Kilwins candies fresh to enjoy back in the lodge.

Full route of North Carolina Forest Heritage Scenic Byway https://goo.gl/maps/93hC5SjaY6JVEsNN7
(we will not be doing this exact route, to be discussed in Highlands)

You need to have these points saved to your GPS if you are coming:

• Prep point gas #1, Hot Spot Franklin: 459 E Main St, Franklin, NC 28734 https://g.page/hot-spot-franklin
• Prep point gas #2, Exxon on the way to Highlands: 6241 Highlands Rd, Franklin, NC 28734 https://goo.gl/maps/E829fjQfiR1WkLGk9
• Begin route, Kilwins Highlands: 341 Main St, Highlands, NC 28741 https://goo.gl/maps/hEoMAEBRndt3NJfs5
• Middle point, Devil's Courthouse parking 35.3054, -82.9001 https://goo.gl/maps/u4nyG3L5yWajWhTt9
• End point, BI-LO: 41 Forest Gate Dr, Pisgah Forest, NC 28768 https://goo.gl/maps/jmPiMVL5X1c9m5FG7
• Dinner can be had in Brevard or head back up 276 to Waynesville like the Smoky Mountain Sub Shop
• Caravan back to Fontana will not be organized

 

I may join you for this one

 

215 is a killer road. It's also part of the 2020 Gambler Run. Watch for the waterfall, on the 90 degree turn.

 

That looks fun, I've never done 276 but I've done 215 a couple of the times. The roads up and down from the blue ridge are way more fun than the actual blue ridge.

 

I might just be persuaded to join in on this one as well.

 

I take back what I said, I have done parts of 276 during an Asheville S2000 group drive years ago, we started up on the Blue Ridge and I remember dropping off it and going past Looking Glass falls. I wonder how many fun roads we could do in a day going up and down to the blue ridge, 215, 276, 80, 226/a, 181, 221, etc...

 

One of my favorite drives in that area. Should be a fun one to do people.

 

Looks like a sweet drive. I might have to do this one on my way into Fontana.

 

Great roads, most of the time we make this loop on the way home.

 

Looks like a great route for Friday!