Overlanding ALL of the Smokey Mountain 1000

what's up youtube on this episode of cody wappa overland we're going to be doing the whole smoky mountain 1000. [Music] the smoky mountain 1000 is a nearly 1100 mile loop that goes through tennessee north carolina south carolina and georgia it was originally built as a dual sport route but virtually any four wheel drive can do it it's made up of four service roads secondary blacktop two-lane roads and occasional dirt road sprinkled in this route took us about six months to do over the course of several trips deb and i left eastern kentucky and headed toward the mountains of north carolina and tennessee our plan was a six-day excursion that followed generally along the smoky mountain 1000. we got on the smoky mountain 1000 in hampton tennessee and then headed clockwise it wasn't long at all before we were gaining elevation along the twisty mountain roads the next thing we knew we were entering the cherokee national forest shortly after entering the forest we found gravel road we traveled along it for a little bit but it was getting late it was time to start looking for a campsite as luck would have it the first forest service road spur that we took led us to a great camp spot after setting up camp it was time to fix supper this will be the first of many incredible meals of the trip well we sat around for the evening just before bed we discussed just how loud this little creek was we knew we were going to have to do some exploring after breakfast the following morning before we left we knew that these two little waterfalls couldn't be what was making all the noise after breakfast it was time for a short hike the short hike was only about 50 feet before we found our first surprise this is what was making all of the noise we climbed to the top to get a different view what we found when we got there was another set of falls we found out later that this area was called twin falls this little trail didn't just have the twin falls above those twin falls it actually had many many other sensibles apparently going all the way to the top of the mountain after a hike it was time to get on the trail and continue our adventure and the adventure didn't take long to continue so how are we going to get out of here um we're going to have to winch that yeah well what a day so we put a plan together to winch the big rock out of the way we thought we could get around the rest of them after the biggest rock was moved we could get around the rest of them pretty easily you know we always think in overlanding about recovery and being out there by ourselves these rocks fell overnight and we were on the end of a one way inn and one way out trail there wasn't any cell service in this area and the only communication we had with the outside world was ham radio in this particular scenario a set of traction boards would not help at all you really need a winch or at the very least to come along in your arsenal to be able to get out of a situation like this after extricating ourselves from the rock fall it was time to get on the trail again i don't have much but i guess i have enough to get that through not too far from where we spent the night we came upon elk river falls not far out elk river falls we hit blacktop and headed toward grandfather mountain just after the entrance to grandfather mountain we found another gravel road this gravel road would give us some pretty epic views of grandfather mountain and it also led us to forest service road 192. that's grandfather forest service road 192 is not part of the smoky mountain 1000 however it definitely should be it is 11 miles of single lane dirt road it does have a little bit of washouts some minor technical areas but it was really really pretty and just enough obstacles to make it a whole lot of fun we met another overlanding couple while we were on the trail they told us about where they camped the night before and said that it would be a great place to have lunch so we decided to check it out i decided to cook lunch today it was philly cheesesteak after lunch we hung around here for a few minutes just to enjoy the creek and then it was time to get back on the trail [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] so so as trail 92 was coming to an end we were hoping we were going to find many more of these types of forest service roads we popped back out onto a gravel forest road it was very scenic the whole thing right there we passed several old log cabins and homesteads and it seemed like waterfalls were around every turn the weather was given a chance of rain but so far it couldn't have been better for us the last part of the day was a short piece of blacktop as day two came to an end we found a campsite at brown mountain ohv area it was a free campsite that was primitive but it was really really nice and quiet we set up camp fixed stakes over the campfire and enjoyed the rest of the evening the next morning was steak egg and cheese bagels and coffee for breakfast after we packed up camp it was time to hit the road about 10 miles from where we camped at brown mountain we came across this stream and several dispersed camping sites just goes to show you never know what's going to be around the next corner we could have made it here last night with ease and been able to camp right beside this awesome stream you just never know right at the end of the awesome campsites was a road closed sign right in the middle of nowhere it was time to turn around and look for a detour if you've watched any of our videos before you'll know detours are where we find some of the coolest stuff this one was no different we ended up in a place called wilson creek and it was absolutely incredible wilson creek is a 23-mile mountain stream that was added to the national wild and scenic river system in 2000 it starts at the top of grandfather mountain and in just 20 miles it turns into this rushing water through a granite gorge we couldn't get over how clean and crystal clear the water was we had no idea that the little stream that we had lunch by the day before it would turn into such a magnificent stream there were several places along this road to stop get out and get down to the creek and enjoy the water one thing we're always on the lookout for is wildlife this trip didn't yield a whole lot we were able to see these little critters here there's three of them see them running four of them oh four it's a mama and baby it's not just the nature that's interesting on these trips sometimes you end up in little communities like this one this is edgemont it's a small fishing community right along the wilson creek it's like stepping back in time once we got through edgemont it was back on the mountain forest service roads after filling the gas tank in the cooler it was time to get back on the road there's always a cool place to camp this was just the dispersed campsite along the forest service gravel road by this point we were trying to make our way to table rock which is on the east side of the limbo gorge we've been extremely lucky with the weather but our luck just ran out by the time we made it to the parking lot at table rock the rain had slacked off a little bit but it was still too cloudy you couldn't see anything we decided not to make the hike and it was time to get back on the road again on this section of the trail we kept seeing signs for our bare sanctuary we were really hoping to see one just didn't pan out by this time we talked to alan and nancy they were on their way to meet us and follow along for the rest of the trip the plan was to meet on the north end of the linville gorge while we were on our way it was our job to stop and look for the perfect campsite for the night i think we may have found it on the first one the route we were taking to get to the north end of the gorge was the old north carolina highway 105. well the clouds gave the view a different perspective i'm sure the view from here would have been stunning without clouds now oh gotta love north carolina highways yeah after we made it off north carolina 105 in linville we met allen and nancy we then made our way back across linville gorge to the first campsite that we found we set up to a beautiful sunset and was really hoping for an even more incredible sunrise dinner that night was ham green beans and potatoes and you had to love the cornbread we had a great night's sleep at linville gorge we woke up on day four hoping for an amazing sunrise but what we found was we were still in the clouds after breakfast we packed up and headed out we were all anxious to see what today's adventure would bring our first stop was the short hike down to the limbo falls and man was it worth it but none of this before we could make our way back to the parking area it started raining and it would rain like this for the rest of the morning oh wow that was yeah i don't think i got it but i've seen it that was magnificent this road led us into the black mountain area and eventually back up to the blue ridge parkway getting closer and closer to mount mitchell we seem to find more forest service gates that were closed then we're open on this trip next thing we knew we were out on the parkway and uh literally in the clouds yeah mount mitchell you can't see we were hoping to get a view of the highest peak east of the mississippi just wasn't happening today just not a lot to see today the clouds were finally opening up and we got a chance to see glass mine falls well the blue ridge parkway is obviously blacktop it does offer some absolutely amazing views the sun got to come out just enough to heat things up that's when we found ourselves in a weather phenomenon that was really really cool to watch after the weather show it wouldn't be long and we found ourselves back on gravel roads watch out this road crossed several little mountain streams we were hoping to find one that we could camp next to tonight we found a really good site but we had to clean it up a little bit before we could set up camp nancy and allen's down there trying to find them the perfect camp spot i think all in all we've done pretty good this site was right off forest service road 63 and i think it was probably my favorite one of the trip after setting up camp it was time to dip our toes in the crystal clear water there is a this is my garnet schist and there is the garnet and these flakes are the mica and it's all through there there there was a bigger one i dug out i have one there's there's another garment after dinner we cleaned up dishes and just hung out and enjoyed each other's company by the fire and the stream for the rest of the evening on day four we woke up to pretty steady rain we had breakfast real quick and decided to get on the trail as soon as we could well the rain was not super hard it was still steady enough that you didn't want to be outside we spent most of this morning traveling the back roads just north of asheville making our way towards town as we climbed in elevation we quickly realized the only views we were going to see today were of the clouds we won't be able to see anything today by the time we got to asheville we decided to hit i-40 and start making our way back around towards our beginning near johnson city tennessee that decision also enabled us to hit hurricane creek and max patch on this trip with a fairly abrupt turn off of i-40 we have made it to hurricane creek the first part of it seemed more like a gravel road or a driveway up until you got to the houses then it started getting a little better not far past the houses we found a couple campsites we decided to have lunch here before we continued the expedition as soon as we finished lunch and got back on the trail the fun started this was the first of a few creek crossings none of them were very deep but you did have to pick your way through the rocks [Applause] we started to encounter a few mud holes at this point so far nothing that a regular four-wheel drive couldn't do so this is just an old like maybe yeah that's what i would say at this point we started getting in some rocks and some washouts this is an area that if you didn't have very much articulation you definitely pick a wheel up off so and then we found this you know stay in through this sticky mess i would stay on your side let me just come pick you up she's gonna mess up right here nope she made it notice her line selection and balance are improved so this mud was incredibly slick and a lot of people had thrown pieces of timber or whatever else in these ruts trying to build them up that's why i was taking my time to make sure that nothing's kicked up underneath the undercarriage of the jeep so so ellen and nancy didn't find through this section they did rub a little bit with their two inch av lift and 34 inch tires they did fine a lot of people think sway bar disconnects are just for articulation it's for ride comfort as well notice what little bit our jeep moves around there while the suspension does all the work when alan and nancy come through look how rigid their suspension is it's all got to do with the sway bar just there are several water crossings like i said earlier but again none of them are very deep or difficult this trail being like all others you never know what you're going to see yep we found the magic school so everything's so slippery the further up the critical went the narrower the trail got and the bigger the rocks became you definitely had to pick your line here and even with a little bit larger tires and lift you're still going to scrape your frame from time to time so as we started to make our ascent further up to the head of the creek you can tell that this trail has been here for a long time the rocks on the opal side and the trail degradation there on the low side definitely made for an off-camber situation if you weren't comfortable with your rig it'd definitely make you pinch up a little bit this is an area where disconnected sway bars are a disadvantage because you have a tendency to have a downhill wing video don't do the off camber here justice and the other side of it is it's right off the road there it was about 20 or 30 feet straight down and just when we thought we were out of hurricane creek and back onto gravel road we found this fun section here alan and nancy picked an alternate line but still ended up picking up a tire a couple times oh this will be the last obstacle coming out of hurricane creek the ruts there are about a foot to a foot and a half deep we didn't get any footage of the orange deep coming through here you can see alan and nancy splitting the ruts just try to stay out of them after we left hurricane creek it was off to max patch max patch is a bald mountain top along the tennessee north carolina border and its elevations just over 4 600 feet although the low clouds kept some of the peaks from showing themselves it was still a pretty cool view from up here so the top of this mountain is a major landmark for the appalachian trail and is a pretty popular stay over for the at through hikers there's a 2.4 mile loop trail that goes around max patch shows you a little bit of everything about it we really enjoyed the hike and be able to get out and stretch our legs by the time we left max patch it was time to start looking for a campsite for the night this actually was martha's sundquist state forest we had stumbled into the back way to it all of these sites were set up as primitive and free after setting up camp at another incredible campsite it was time for dinner deb made jambalaya we got on the trail pretty quick we knew this was going to be our last day of exploring before we had to take the long drive home this evening there's five we continued the loop through martha's sundquist forest before we made her way back up to the top of the mountain near mike's patch we've passed a lot more dual sport bikes than we have jeez with this smokey mountain 1000 it's it was built and advertised as a dual sport map hot springs after you leave martha sundquist and cross the ridge you make your way down into the community of hot springs you never know what you're going to find on these adventures nancy found a random peach tree just growing beside the road 20 years we had to stop and pick a few of them but they weren't quite ripe yet i need to stop at a little roadside stand and get some peaches because that just made me want to have some peaches before we met up with you on wednesday we did see one place that had big baskets of peaches and we should have stopped then but we didn't as we were coming into hot springs we started seeing little camps set up along the creek here it was obvious that hot springs was a major stopping point for the hikers along the a.t it was also a resting point for the traffic traveling along the twisty windy roads of western north carolina okay this was a really cool little town definitely a spot you could stop and spend an hour just outside of hot springs we started making our way up the mountain on a gravel road we were going towards the rich mountain fire tower the rich mountain fire tower was originally constructed in 1932 and it was manned until the 1990s it was completely rebuilt and redone in 2018 after we left the fire tower we ventured on towards paint creek pink creek has a campground and several picnic areas and water access areas before it dumps out into the french broad river it also has several small waterfalls we couldn't help ourselves but stop and get out check this one out that was a good one wow that was fun and that's what to me that's the kind of stuff that makes these trips we made our way all the way down paint creek to the river this was obviously a popular spot after finding a suitable place we turned around and continued on our adventure people after coming back out on blacktop it was time to stop and get some fuel this was a really cool old country store it even had free air we were pretty close to the interstate here and we decided with the long drive back it was time to put it into this adventure and make our way home over the last six days we've traveled just over 500 miles of the smoky mountain 1000 in the pisgah and cherokee national forest we can't wait to get back and do the right on this trip devin and i set out with allen and nancy our plan was to make our way back down to asheville north carolina and get back on the smoky mountain 1000. we made it to asheville right at rush hour traffic but luckily we made it through pretty quick just south of asheville we got onto the blue ridge parkway our plan was not to travel very far tonight on the parkway and find this place to camp along a forest service road and this is where the true adventure began we'd run into our first closed gate it was time to find a different place to camp this was only the beginning to a long long evening most of our travels along blue ridge parkway are often covered with clouds or fog this time was completely different the views were absolutely amazing the four service roads in this area that weren't gated had these signs no roadside camping it cited public safety and health as the reason why we continued on down the parkway hoping we would get lucky and they would have forgotten to post one of the roads finally one that's open and it says rough road which is what we like we weren't having any luck because the forest service done a pretty good job at posting we continued on checking every offshoot that we could find this particular road did have a few campsites but all of them were full we continued to travel on and search for a campsite into the night after not finding anything in that area it was back on the blacktop we were all starting to get hungry desperate times call for desperate measures it's time for dinner in the parking lot of a gas station after watching the local police swat team a guy and then having a nice warm dinner it was back on the road to find a camp but this time we traveled all the way through north carolina and found ourselves in south carolina just over the south carolina border we found a forest service road that wasn't marked it also hadn't been used for a very long time it showed on the map that it was going to be a dead end we were hoping there was a place wide enough at the bottom where we could at least set up camp for the night you know how to pick them the further down we went the more dismal it looked we finally found a wide spot decided to call this home for the night after we got camp set up we had some hot chocolate set around a minute to unwind and then it was time for bed the next morning was sunny crisp and cool the sunlight going out was definitely going to show us what kind of mess we got into trying to get down in here the night before what are we making we are making apple i don't know apple pie apple pizza okay for breakfast for breakfast awesome after a delicious warm and sticky breakfast it was time to get back on the trail is that going to on our no more we made our way back up out of this trail without very many issues at all i didn't realize we came back in here this far we weren't on blacktop long at all before we found ourselves back on gravel forest service roads if we drove a little bit farther the night before we would have found some really cool campsites when it starts getting late at night sometimes you just take what you can find this was one of the campsites that we found less than an hour from where we'd stayed the night before it was obvious that it gets a lot of use it was well off the road and right beside a really cool stream the name of the stream just happened to be reed creek and it was full of mica schist the whole stream glittered all the amenities at home after checking out the campsite we had to climb our way back up onto the road there are several places along this route to stop and check out the creek and the glittering sand and other sites of nature by this time we have made it to georgia following four service roads through the mountains the only wildlife we've seen on the whole trip so far a little grasshopper [Music] yeah these trips never cease to amaze me yep that's a mannequin with a bb gun and another fun fact georgia has a tubing part complete with man-made snow the shadows were starting to get longer and the sun was dropping further in the sky we knew it was time to start looking for a campsite we didn't want to be setting up in the dark like we did the night before we found this one it was nice but thought it may be a little too high in elevation and just a little bit too exposed we decided to try to find another one we found another forest service dead end road but it was looking a lot like the night before we wanted a better campsite for this night we need to find this campsite right along that creek right there yeah that would be awesome that was a good faint down over the hill bill get to it trying to figure out how to get there that's what he's looking at now i just told her don't challenge him yeah that looks like it right there but there's also a little forest service road right down here about 500 feet so we'll look at that and then we'll come back to this was there something that dropped off the edge yeah there's a road back down in there i should go down that road that you looked at right bill yep we were looking for another epic camp site by creek we found it the morning of day three we got up packed up camp had breakfast pretty quick we didn't stay at camp very long at all that morning the adventure was far from over as we found the tallulah river this was another one of those rivers that we couldn't get over just how pristine and clear it was the route along this river goes for several miles and is absolutely breathtaking [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] we had been on gravel or blacktop for much of this trip so far it was good to see that we're finally going to be able to get on some dirt but first we had to do a little river 40. so once we made it through the river relatively easy it was time to get the tires a little dirty well this trail wasn't difficult at all it was still nice to be on some dirt [Applause] the further we went along on this trail the rougher it got it wasn't terribly difficult it definitely added a little fun factor to this section at this point i had my sway bar still connected it probably would have made for a little easier ride had i went ahead and disconnected them but up to this point in the trip really didn't see a need to that would probably be pretty gross it wasn't long before that off-road excursion was over and we were back on blacktop thankfully this blacktop section didn't last very long and we found ourselves back on gravel forest service road at this point in the day we found ourselves getting hungry we found ourselves a nice pull off with an overlook and decided to grab some lunch there are all kinds of little mountain touristy areas to stop and check out in this part of the world the further we climbed in elevation the more amazing the views became the light was almost perfect well the views on that road was pretty cool we still would rather be off of the paper yes seems like a lot of people just like to see how many miles they can put down in a day and try to get from point a to point b but to us the whole thing about over landing is stopping and being able to see the sights take your time enjoy your journey and that's exactly what we did here by stopping and enjoying this amazing waterfall okay by this time the sun was starting to hide occasionally behind the mountaintops we knew it was getting close to starting to find a place to camp you managed to find this really cool spot along the creek it even had a walk bridge and a nice fire pit while nancy and allen were getting the fire ready it didn't take long for deb to start cooking we had another great meal another cozy fire and enjoyed the rest of the evening so the next morning we woke up to realize that we had broken over landing rule number 462. yeah don't park next to a walking trail yep that's right apparently we had camped where they were having a check station for a 20k run we packed up made a quick exit and got out of their way it was actually really good to get another good start for another full day and the fog in the valleys was simply breathtaking [Music] um [Music] so [Music] um [Music] [Music] foreign yeah one of the things that we really like about traveling is being able to see different seasons at different times of the year down here in georgia middle november there's still some fall foliage colors i know we've said this before but you never really know what you're going to see when you're out exploring like this we thought we were absolutely in the middle of nowhere the next thing we know we pop up at a military base it's pretty neat just like that you're back in the middle of nowhere running the majority of this day was also gravel and pavement primarily we did find a couple trails from here and there and just like yesterday it was getting late but we found another waterfall had to stop and check it out it wasn't quite as dramatic as the day before so we headed on about our way and that's when we found this amazing mountaintop campsite we couldn't have asked for a better spot to watch this amazing sunset the next morning we took a little longer around camp not because we were being lazy but we knew this would be the longest day since our first this was going to be our last day the plan was to go today until about five or six o'clock almost till dark wherever we ended up at that point we were going to get off the trail and hit the interstate and head home this morning we took a small detour we went to the lake conestoga recreation area which was just off our normal route specifically we wanted to check out the small mountain lake that was up here it was definitely worth the detour after we left the lake we found this awesome mountain view we also found quite a bit of garbage and some fellow jeepers that were cleaning it up so we decided to jump in and help a little bit this is also where we met jake and nick and their families they had been over landing the georgia traverse for the last several days and it just so happened that our paths were gonna line up today and we just had it all travel together [Music] it wasn't long after meeting up that we all decided it was time for lunch not only to give us time to eat but it gave us all time to hang around get to know each other tell some stories and just generally have a good time within minutes of getting back on the trail from lunch we crossed over into tennessee today's trip didn't yield us any dirt roads but that was okay it was nice to ride along the gravel roads talk to new friends meet new people and just see some of the views as we traveled we continued to chat on the radio and learn about everybody in the group now there are garnets they did find garnet we came out of the woods just west of parksville lake this would be where we stopped aired up and said our goodbyes for now we know that these new friends are going to be people that we're going to travel with in the future and surely look forward left kentucky and made our way to cleveland tennessee this is where we will meet mike and laura to finish our adventure on the smoky mountain 1000. plan was to pick up where we left off just outside of cleveland and make our way all the way up to interstate 40 over the next four days it didn't take us long at all to get back into the cherokee national forest near parksville lake where we had left off in november this is where our new adventure would begin the plan was to make the 400 mile adventure over the course of four days and four nights the sunny skies quickly turned gray started giving us a little rain we knew this was coming we knew it wasn't going to last real long we all decided as a group to drive through the rain and then even if it was dark we would sit up camp for the night in the dark while the rain wasn't real hard at this point it was still cold enough outside if you got wet you'd be pretty miserable at this point we put some miles on it and we were starting to get close to the ocoee river the tva uses this awesome river to generate hydroelectric power they channel it from way up there i took a picture of the tube and they run it through turbines this is also the location where the kayaking events for the 1996 summer olympics were held as it started to get darker the rain started to pick up in pace we were off-road at this point and enjoying the trip but we were noticing a lot of downed trees in this area knew that this was not going to be a good place to camp we had to move a little farther there were dead and down trees everywhere here there were places that people had cut their way through where trees had fallen this particular area we had to cut off a small section so we could get our jeep under it we're not sure if it was beetles or a fungus or what but there had been something that sure killed a lot of trees in that area as we continue deeper on into the cherokee national forest we kept looking for a good place to camp and trying to wait out the rain we checked several spur roads and just wasn't having any luck finding a suitable campsite by this time it was dark and the rain was starting to pick up while it was not the awesome primitive site that we were looking for we did find a national forest service campground that was empty and we decided to stay there for the night have a late dinner and take off on the bed the next morning we woke up to cold temperatures but the rain was gone luckily this was the lost creek campground it was actually really really nice and had a cool stream running right beside it this national forest service campground was really nice it was one of the primitive ones it had a vault toilet picnic tables camping pads well it wasn't the awesome dispersed site that we were looking for it certainly worked out for us last night that morning we didn't get into a real big hurry we just milled around the campground there kind of exploring of course we had to have some coffee and deb made some incredible homemade apple fritters for breakfast after breakfast we packed up and headed out it was time to see what this day would bring [Music] [Music] [Music] no thanks i think we're okay it was getting to be around noon and we will be crossing our next major waterway this is the hiawassee river and it's famous for whitewater rafting here in east tennessee this particular area here is reliance tennessee it seems to be really rich in river history and a home for whitewater rapid just outside of reliance we found ourselves back off the pavement so far throughout this trip we haven't seen anything difficult at all any type of vehicle could virtually do what we've done so far the scenery was pretty nice though and it was getting even better as we went as we crested the top of this mountain we could see off in the distance whitecap mountains we knew that we wanted to find a way to get to where they were at and check them out it was getting early afternoon the whitecap mountains was going to have to wait a little bit we found a spot for lunch [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] after a great lunch it was time to make our way on conestoga creek there are several creek crossings along this stretch of trail some of them are a little deeper than others this was the deepest creek crossing that we went through and probably wouldn't be that bad in the summer but i could see it being a little bit deep in the spring or after a heavy rain so we finally made it to the last creek crossing on this trail i knew a little bit about it because i'd done a little bit of research on these trails as long as you stay to the left there you're going to be just fine there are some rock ridges just to the passenger side as you'll see here mike hit him and bounced him around a little bit i guess i should let everybody in on my research next we're back on blacktop and finding our way closer and closer to the whitecap mountains deb and i have been looking at guy gps and we have found a route that would get us to the top of the mountain where the radio tower was here to the left we found our way to gravel forest service road and we were getting closer and closer to the top of the mountains as we got closer to the freeze line we realized this wasn't snow it was in fact frozen fog it was something not many people get to see but it was like going into a different world [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] look at those trees after that incredible experience it was time to head off the mountain and start looking for camp we thought about staying on top of the mountain but it was way too windy and way too cold to stay up there we felt like we better get down in one of the valleys where we're a little more protected we wanted to try to be set up just a little bit earlier than we were the night before the problem was we kept running into signs like these some places you just can't camp where you want to you have to count where they want you to so we continued on in hopes to find a secluded designated campsite we finally made it to camp right at the edge of dark we got everything set up and deb fixed an amazing homemade stuffed pepper soup we sat around the fire enjoying a nice hot meal and alan even went for seconds the morning of day three we woke up beside a really cool stream it wasn't the epic dispersed campsite that we were looking for but it worked out for us while they were designated campsites they were primitive and we had the whole place to ourselves by this point in the trip we were starting to see a trend and that trend would be that there was only designated camping in this area especially in the winter when most of the four service roads are closed the other trend was this morning was cold just like the last couple we spent most of that time inside the ovs awning room after we finished breakfast we packed up and made our way down the telico river okay this drive is very scenic and it's obvious that there's an abundance of water recreation in this area especially during the summer time [Music] [Music] [Music] um so [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] when we got to teleco we made it right the plan was to go toward the indian boundary area and citico creek they're steep aren't they just like the rest of this trip there was nothing difficult we were able to find a little bit of dirt along the forest service roads cydico creek is another very popular waterway and it's also very scenic the road's not bad it's gravel alone there are also multiple campsites in this area so so [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] do [Music] [Music] by this time it was getting later in the day and it was time to start looking for a campsite so i'm glad somebody else got that out of the way yeah we found one that suited our needs it was mike and laura's turn to cook dinner for the night they made some most excellent chili the next morning wasn't quite as cold as the previous mornings so we decided to sit outside rather than huddle inside the awning wall while it wasn't quite as cold as the previous mornings it was still pretty chilly we didn't waste a whole lot of time around camp it was time to get on the road and get in a warm vehicle as we left the double camp area the plan for today was to go see what the snowbird mountains were about as we got out onto the mountain we got phone service this is where mike and laura found out that they had some issues back at home they had a water leak and had to go home and take care of it so that left ellen and nancy and deb and i to continue our expedition the further we climbed in elevation the wider the ground became the plan was to get away from blacktop as quickly as possible we want to do that by way of this forest service road not suitable for passenger cars okay and this forest service route just like many others this time of year in this area was blocked off and we were forced to get back on the blacktop the only good thing about this was we got to ride along the ridge top of the snowbird mountains it was very scenic up here we finally made our way off of blacktop and found our way to the metropolis of denton this is a very old settlement and the population is noted as several we found a nice pull off on top of the ridge to stop and take a little bit of a lunch break we were running this forest service road along the top of the snowbird mountains the hopes was that it would continue for quite a while but by the look of the map it didn't look like it was going to be very long and we were going to end up in the town of andrews after we made it through the town of andrews we found our way back to our old friend the nantahala river this was just a new section that we had never seen before [Music] [Music] [Music] after marking our way up otter creek we crossed over telico gap we were now in teleco north carolina this would lead us to our next river the tennessee river we made our way out of andrews planning to take four service roads over to robbinsville again the further we ascended the wider the ground got looks like a lot of people have been turning around right there i've got these gates closed and just like a lot of the other forest service roads we found multiple gates closed and were forced to turn around and make our way back down we kind of considered camping up here but if we get snow depending on how much we get it could be bad getting off here in the morning or rain to ice yeah yeah that would be even worse for sure after a brief discussion we decided even as picturesque as it was the safe bet was to make our way back off the mountain and not camp up here for the night before we knew it daylight turned to dark and we still hadn't found a campsite we ended up at another primitive campsite from the national forest service we pretty much had this one to ourselves too but it's not the kind of camping that we prefer to do these campsites were not far from santilla lake we woke up to rain that morning as the weather had predicted it was a good thing that we hadn't stayed on top of that mountain because they actually did get ice and snow up there we packed up camp pretty quick and set out on our last day's adventure that's it cool like today was going to be a lot of blacktop and very little gravel and dirt as we were getting close to the touristy towns of bryson city and cherokee and we're getting close to the smoky mountain national park which doesn't have a whole lot of off-roading in it i did find us a couple places where we could get off the pavement and hope to find a little off-road adventure what do you think the only problem was the off-road adventure was covered with ice and snow a little bit slushy here chances are it's frozen up there we're looking at this map and if it's slushy here we're questioning if it's frozen up higher because the elevation is going to rise we're going to be climbing another 1200 feet we're going to climb another 1200 feet what do you guys think it would be interesting 1200 feet if we climb the hallway um okay we have to go down the other side too yeah yeah yeah we're gonna be knocking on 5000 feet if we go this direction yeah we'll be up almost five thousand over five nice thousand know if there's ice under the snow up there i'm gonna go right here that's not a move a motion to uh check it out yeah he's walking on it to see what it feels like turn it's not going to get any better going up turn around a little slick yes it's a little slick and it's not going to get any better with elevation i think smart thing to do is probably go ahead and turn around if it was just snow it wouldn't have been that big of a deal when there was ice underneath it and i knew we would be gaining elevation i found this another road up i hoped it would be a little better the plan was to get to buzzard's roost that overlooks i-40 before we made our way home and again we were stopped by another gate at this point we had no choice but to turn around we were right at the interstate we decided to call this adventure a wrap and make our way back home bill was just telling me when he went to the hurricane when he flew to the hurricane on the way back they had to fly this valley back home because of the tops at two inch call this video concludes our trip around the smoky mountain 1000 this route is not difficult at all for a four-wheel drive but it does offer some of the most beautiful scenery that you'll find in the southeastern united states just like always let us know what you think in the comments below remember like share and subscribe and until next time see ya

Channel: Coddiwomple Overland

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Keywords: Coddiwomple, Overland, overlanding, offroad, off road, 4x4, car camp, jeep, wrangler, jk, jku, camp, camping, scenic, adventure, Tennesse, overland vehicle systems nomadic 3, overland vehicle systems nomadic 270-degree awning, roof top tent, OVS, overland vehicle, pisgah, pisgah national forest camping, Cherokee, cherokee national forest, cherokee national forest camping, clayton overland plus kit, overlanding gear, overland, North Carolina, south carolina, nantahala, chattahoochee, adventure travel

Id: qx3IhfwBxNc

Length: 114min 40sec (6880 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 20 2021