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NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip

longfiredragon

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Hello all.

Well last day here in NC.
First a word on the Jeep. My wife and I, two dogs and the back loaded to roof left for NC last Friday. One word about the jeep. WOW! I think it drives, handles and just does everything very well for what it is. I averaged 22 to 38 miles to the gallon at various speeds of course but most of the time 75 to 80 miles per hour. Fantastic.

So we were off road pretty much every day. Some places I couldn't tell you where exactly we were, cause I have no clue. First day though we went out Cataloochee. It's just a dirt road with some old buildings. Nice ride beautiful.

This guy showed up for breakfast a couple days. That's the big Elk.

Windrock, wow. So I am a beginner, I know this, this is my first Jeep. The trip over was 125 miles. We got a late start, it was 25 degrees out that morning. I have some recovery gear, first aid kit blankets, tool kit, food, etc. But no winch, no recovery strap and a stock JLU Willy's. Point is as much as I would have loved to do a couple BOH trails it rained the day before and after speaking to a few people there with a lot more experience it was advised not to. We did G2,G5,G6,G7,and G39. All easy trails, supposedly. Some were pretty hairy and you could easily bottom out in multiple places, Wich I did once. My fault I picked the wrong line. There was a lot of mud and water on every trail and the jeep slide in a number of places. Fortunately I kept it from hitting any big rocks.

So at the end of the day we had a blast ( wife freaked out some and said I need to lift it and bigger tires lol) no damage to the jeep, didn't need a winch, didn't need to be pulled out and made it back to the cabin after dark. Long day but well worth it.

One pic. The morning we left with a frosted jeep. And upon return with brown wheels instead of black. Lol.

Also went to chimney rock. That was cool.

After leaving Cataloochee we did a 26 mile dirt road over to Cosby TN. That was fun.

All in all great trip. Again some places I have no clue where we were. I will post a few more pic.s even though I am not sure where we were on some of the. Lol.

Another word on the jeep, badass. Drives great on the road and then you can just turn off any where a go see what's there. The 2.0 L turbo. Badass. Great fuel mileage and never once wanted for more power. Passed at 80 miles an hour and had way more than enough off road.

Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211120_101014


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211120_101044


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211120_101410


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211120_101810


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211122_090525




Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211123_055724


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211124_073352


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211123_131115


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211123_131115


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211123_135836


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211123_120406


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211124_133025


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211120_095036


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211124_121429


Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip IMG_20211125_111100
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Carolina Jeeper

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Nice pictures! The place where you encountered the elk looks familiar. I've been out in the area and like you I really didn't know where I was lol. Probably couldn't find it again if my life depended on it. I don't tackle any tough trails since there are plenty of excellent places to go that won't put your family or your Jeep at risk.
 

AlgUSF

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Looks like a lot of fun @longfiredragon, I go up there all the time. I'd black out your wife's phone number from the card image. I haven't taken the Jeep up there yet, but I'm totally going to try that park for a little legal off roading experience.

Glad to see another Space Coast Sarge Green, maybe we'll wave in passing on US-1 or SR-520.
 
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AlgUSF

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Nice pictures! The place where you encountered the elk looks familiar. I've been out in the area and like you I really didn't know where I was lol. Probably couldn't find it again if my life depended on it. I don't tackle any tough trails since there are plenty of excellent places to go that won't put your family or your Jeep at risk.
If you're looking for Elk up there in the Great Smoky Mountains NP that isn't right at the Oconoluftee visitors center (lots of cars pull over and back-up traffic for a mile). There are a ton of elk at Cataloochee (not to mention a fun drive to get there) and on Heintooga Ridge Road (which leads to Balsam Mountain).

I've driven to Mount Sterling and Cataloochee numerous times in an old school Honda Civic so a Jeep Wrangler could handle these roads no problem. Just watch out for oncoming horse trailers and always be the first to give way and a friendly wave.
 

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longfiredragon

longfiredragon

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Algusf, thanks I forgot the phone # was on there. For sure I try to wave at all my brother jeepers. Saw a nice sticker on a guys jeep at Windrock "wave dam it". Lol.

The park is a lot of fun, just be prepared, get there early it's huge.
 

AlgUSF

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Algusf, thanks I forgot the phone # was on there. For sure I try to wave at all my brother jeepers. Saw a nice sticker on a guys jeep at Windrock "wave dam it". Lol.

The park is a lot of fun, just be prepared, get there early it's huge.
NP, I'll share a few Smoky Mountain photos, I have a thing for old firetowers.

Shuckstack Fire Tower:

Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip 47798AD7-FED0-4C90-9761-F808AA6396B0_1_105_c

Shuckstack Tower #2
Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip EB55C3A0-7F1D-4622-BE33-6DD9F2C50AD6_1_105_c



LeConte Lodge (Elevation 6593)
Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip BEBEE64F-339E-47E5-80FB-E7150EB0EBDB_1_105_c


Cammerer Firetower (with Woodford Reserve):
Jeep Wrangler JL NC/TN Area Thanksgiving Trip 842E0914-D4BB-4E77-9C6A-4B5ECC40B5CE_1_105_c
 

J-Frame

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Great trip it looks like. I am about 100 miles or so from that area, and we have just started exploring it. Anyone that can help me find some (no body damage allowed) trails/roads there would be great. Do you remember the road numbers or anything for getting to Catallochee? And I’m particularly interested in the dirt road from there to Cosby.

Glad you liked our area. We did Heintooga not long ago, but saw no elk. Very easy road, but beautiful and we saw not a single other vehicle other than one bicycle on it. Middle of the week though.

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AlgUSF

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Anyone that can help me find some (no body damage allowed) trails/roads there would be great. Do you remember the road numbers or anything for getting to Catallochee? And I’m particularly interested in the dirt road from there to Cosby.
The road is called Sterling Mountain Road/Old Cataloochee Turnpike (in Tennessee it is paved to Cosby as Tennessee SR-32). The road is super easy as I posted, I did it in an old school civic no problems with my brother following behind me in a Saturn ION.

https://www.smokiesadventure.com/sm...mt-sterling-road-old-cataloochee-turnpike.htm

All of the park roads are navigable by passenger vehicles with the possible exception of Parson's branch road out of Cades Cove. One cool ride is Greenbrier entrance out to the Ramseys Cascades Trailhead, many fun 1 lane bridges over creeks. Nice windows down ride by a creek on a rutted dirt road.

I go up there all the time and spend most of my time off the beaten path.
 

macintux

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All of the park roads are navigable by passenger vehicles with the possible exception of Parson's branch road out of Cades Cove.
Has that been re-opened? I saw that it closed in 2018, never heard about it again.

I enjoyed taking both it and Rich Mountain Road when I camped in Cades Cove; was worried they might both end up closed.
 

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AlgUSF

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Has that been re-opened? I saw that it closed in 2018, never heard about it again.

I enjoyed taking both it and Rich Mountain Road when I camped in Cades Cove; was worried they might both end up closed.
Rich Mountain was open in-season this year, but Parson Branch was still closed. I talked to a ranger and they said that they're actively clearing out hazardous trees and plan on re-opening it. I figure the length of the road dictates the amount of time they need to maintain the safety.
 
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longfiredragon

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Cataloochee if I remember right is marked off of I 4. It is also a dead end, so on your way out you will see a street sign that states Cosby TN 26. And the entire road is dirt, not paved. Hope this helps, going off memory.
 

jblackst

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Very rough Cataloochee directions:
From the Tennessee side, take US-321 to TN-32 in Cosby and head Southeast. At the NC state line, TN-32 turns into unpaved NC-1397 (Mt Sterling Rd) and then intersects Watertown Rd for a very brief paved section near the entrance to Big Creek area of GSMNP. (Note: you can skip several miles of curvy roads by taking I-40 to Exit 451 in TN, then Southwest to NC-1397.)

Continue Southeast on NC-1397 and the road again turns to gravel. As you enter the National Park, the road name changes to Old Cataloochee Turnpike. It's 90% gravel with a very small amount of dirt, nothing that requires 4WD, except in snow or similar conditions. I believe it's about 12-15 miles to the Cataloochee Entrance Road (paved) that goes deep into the park with excellent historical attractions and outstanding elk viewing.

Leaving Cataloochee and continuing Southeast Old Cataloochee Turnpike changes to NC-1395 for maybe 3-4 miles until you exit the national park and return to pavement on Cove Creek Rd (NC-1395). Follow this road Southeast (watch out for Bigfoot) and you'll eventually end up at US-276 immediately adjacent to I-40 in NC at exit 20.

Plan on no cell service (generally speaking), as well as no gas or food between US-321 and US-276. There is one general store at the Big Creek entrance, open seasonally, no gas however.
 

J-Frame

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Very rough Cataloochee directions:
From the Tennessee side, take US-321 to TN-32 in Cosby and head Southeast. At the NC state line, TN-32 turns into unpaved NC-1397 (Mt Sterling Rd) and then intersects Watertown Rd for a very brief paved section near the entrance to Big Creek area of GSMNP. (Note: you can skip several miles of curvy roads by taking I-40 to Exit 451 in TN, then Southwest to NC-1397.)

Continue Southeast on NC-1397 and the road again turns to gravel. As you enter the National Park, the road name changes to Old Cataloochee Turnpike. It's 90% gravel with a very small amount of dirt, nothing that requires 4WD, except in snow or similar conditions. I believe it's about 12-15 miles to the Cataloochee Entrance Road (paved) that goes deep into the park with excellent historical attractions and outstanding elk viewing.

Leaving Cataloochee and continuing Southeast Old Cataloochee Turnpike changes to NC-1395 for maybe 3-4 miles until you exit the national park and return to pavement on Cove Creek Rd (NC-1395). Follow this road Southeast (watch out for Bigfoot) and you'll eventually end up at US-276 immediately adjacent to I-40 in NC at exit 20.

Plan on no cell service (generally speaking), as well as no gas or food between US-321 and US-276. There is one general store at the Big Creek entrance, open seasonally, no gas however.
Getting ready to do this route in a couple of weeks. About how many miles from Cosby over to I-40?
 

AlgUSF

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Getting ready to do this route in a couple of weeks. About how many miles from Cosby over to I-40?
I would say 10 miles depending on how you go. I'd make sure to go to Waterville and check out Big Creek. The Waterville dam is pretty cool, they have a reservoir 6 miles away up the pigeon river and tunneled through 6 miles of mountain to drive the powerhouse. The Alcoa dams are pretty cool too.
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