Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Pkwy
We could use a little help with our trip planning. We plan to enter Skyline Drive at Front Royal and drive the full length of it. After this we will take the Blue Ridge Pkwy to the Smokey Mountain Nat...
Forum Discussion
You probably would be wise to download one of the maps of the parkway that show the locations for fuel on the Blue Ridge... There is a camp ground just about every 50 miles or so along the 420 mile trip... Only a few fuel stations and I really don't know how late the stay open probably 10PM... There is also the Linn Cove Viaduct 1,243-foot (379 milepost) concrete segmental bridge which snakes around the slopes of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. Thats kinda neat for large RV's haha... Also be aware the tunnels are peaked in the middle so you may need to ride the centerline going through them.. Flashing your lights will help and most folks coming the other way will see your RV unit and kinda know what to expect and wait for you to get thru... Thank goodness they are not very long tunnels.
What you don't want to do with your bigger rig is just take any road exit off the Blue Ridge looking for a fuel station. Some of those narrow roads down off the mtn are very loop back up near the parkway... I would plan my fuel stops at the major roads that cross the parkway...
We have done the trip to Gatlingburg a few times but was either Tent camping and only one trip with my OFF-ROAD Popup camper. Lots of curves and small hills with 35-45MPH speed limits. Also alot of Deer crossing the roadway at dusk....
You don't really see alot of Motor Home type RV's on the parkway but there is a few... The campgrounds were originally built for Tent Camping and not a whole lot of camping space room for the bigger RV's. They do come however...
Most of the campgrounds have a camp store but no fuel available but the hours mostly during the day time. There is generally a WAY Station on the prkway associated with the campground that has fuel.
There is also alot of motorcycle traffic on the parkway which you have to watch for close as they are not noticed until they are right on top of you... The only wrecks I have ever seen on the parkway involved motorcycles... when there are 20-30 of them together they sort of own the roadway haha... There is also some bicycle traffic as well between two major road crossings... When someone sees a bear or something neat they usually pull just off the roadway and this then catches everyone elses attention and they too will pull off. Roadway may be partially blocked here just around the very large curve you just got into with poor visibility...
If you are in a hurry to get from point A to Point b this is not the way to go. For the most part I81 follows the parkway all the way to I40 in TN.
Roy Ken
What you don't want to do with your bigger rig is just take any road exit off the Blue Ridge looking for a fuel station. Some of those narrow roads down off the mtn are very loop back up near the parkway... I would plan my fuel stops at the major roads that cross the parkway...
We have done the trip to Gatlingburg a few times but was either Tent camping and only one trip with my OFF-ROAD Popup camper. Lots of curves and small hills with 35-45MPH speed limits. Also alot of Deer crossing the roadway at dusk....
You don't really see alot of Motor Home type RV's on the parkway but there is a few... The campgrounds were originally built for Tent Camping and not a whole lot of camping space room for the bigger RV's. They do come however...
Most of the campgrounds have a camp store but no fuel available but the hours mostly during the day time. There is generally a WAY Station on the prkway associated with the campground that has fuel.
There is also alot of motorcycle traffic on the parkway which you have to watch for close as they are not noticed until they are right on top of you... The only wrecks I have ever seen on the parkway involved motorcycles... when there are 20-30 of them together they sort of own the roadway haha... There is also some bicycle traffic as well between two major road crossings... When someone sees a bear or something neat they usually pull just off the roadway and this then catches everyone elses attention and they too will pull off. Roadway may be partially blocked here just around the very large curve you just got into with poor visibility...
If you are in a hurry to get from point A to Point b this is not the way to go. For the most part I81 follows the parkway all the way to I40 in TN.
Roy Ken
