Blue Ridge Spring Fling & Fall Foliage Frolic
Fee: $2395.00 Maximum size: 5 Includes: Lodging, dinner and breakfast for 7 days. Optional Instruction over as much as 2000 miles, Headset, Complete Course Syllabus.
The Spring Fling and the Fall Frolic essentially run the entire length of the Blue Ridge Mountains but not so much on the Parkway. Instead I want to share more of the Invisible Roads coursing through these mountains. It’s a gorgeous week long tour that showcases many of the most scenic and/or technical roads in the East!
Both the Spring Fling and the Fall Frolic are for riders (and their companions for those who want to ride two-up) who care about great scenery as much as technical road riding. Riders are free to ride at their own pace since I will furnish you with the complete Garmin gps file for each day of the tour.
My requirement is that you’ve attended at least one Workshop. In between you will want to have ridden to the extent that you have solid road riding confidence, and endurance. No worries if a rider/companion tires. It happens. He/she can always expedite by riding the Blue Ridge Parkway to our next destination.
Day 1 we start in Thurmont MD. The first day’s ride will take us over 2 challenging ridgelines and through Smoke Hole Road, the “Deals Gap” of the northern Appalachians. This road is every bit as interesting as Deals Gap except that few riders know about it. Dinner will be in Davis WV and lodging at Canaan Valley Resort Lodge.
Day 2 will take us off the Cumberland Plateau and down to Seneca Rocks. From Seneca, we’ll pass through the Blue Grass Valley, widely considered the prettiest valley in Virginia. Its streams form the headwater of the south branch of the Potomac River. Lunch will be in Hot Springs, Va at the Homestead. It’s a grand hotel built in the mid 1800s. Depending on weather, we’ll stop at one of my favorite swimming holes along the Cow Pasture River. This river is protected by the state so there is no pollution. Our second night is at the Peaks of Otter Lodge which is as nice as it gets along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Day 3 will find us off the Parkway. We’ll range far afield twisting through forest, meadow, and valley across several ridgelines for lunch at Mountain Lake Resort. This old fashioned summer resort was the setting for the movie, “Dirty Dancing.” Believe me, along our entire route we’ll be chuckling that there’s just no traffic other than farm pick ups and tractors – Invisible Roads, indeed. By evening we will have climbed 3000 feet onto the Roanoke Plateau for a two night stay at the Woodberry Inn.
The Woodberry Inn and the Roanoke Plateau are a great marriage. I think the plateau has the best motorcycling of any region on
the East Coast and the Woodberry Inn has the best lodging AND dining on the plateau. Finally a restaurant worthy of the roads!
Day 4 we’ll spend riding the the plateau. Whatever we feel like, we’ll do. I’ll have several suggestions for either a longer ride or a shorter one. Either way, you can’t beat the roads and you’ll want to return to this high ground every year.
Day 5 will find us ranging south. I want to share with you the JEB Stuart Memorial Hwy. I wrote an article several years ago where I nominated this highway one of the best 34 miles of motorcycling found anywhere in the east. Afterward we’ll ride “The Snake” in the Shady Valley of Tennessee. It’s one of the coolest roads in the central Appalachians. From there we’ll ride up and over Roan Mountain, another motorcycling gem. And finally we’ll arrive at the Pisgah Inn where we’re booked for two nights. Unlike Peaks of Otter which nestles in a alpine valley, the Pisgah Inn straddles the top of the Blue Ridge. You’ll have a commanding view from your balcony.
Day 6 will find us positioned to ride the southern mountains. I’ve put together a super 230 mile loop that takes us over some of the best roads in the southern mountains.
Day 7 takes us riding north along the fabulous Blue Ridge Parkway en route to the Woodberry Inn for our final night. No navigating. Just chill and enjoy one of the best stretches of this great road. Book Here.
