About This Trip
The Tail of the Dragon, or just the Dragon, is the 11-mile run of US 129 in Tennessee that ends at Deals Gap on the North Carolina line. It is said to hold 318 curves, a few of them with names like Copperhead Corner and Brake or Bust Bend, and it has carried its nickname since 1981. The road edges the western boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with the Cherokee National Forest on the other side, so nothing is built along it and no one pulls out from a driveway.
This trip starts in Maryville, the Blount County seat, and reaches the Dragon on the Calderwood Highway, US 129 along the Little Tennessee River. It then drives the Dragon south to Deals Gap and continues into North Carolina, where US 129 follows the Cheoah River before the route takes back roads into Robbinsville, about 74 miles in all.
The speed limit on the Dragon, 55 mph until 1992, has been 30 mph since 2005. Motorcycle crashes are frequent enough that the Blount County Rescue Squad stands by on summer weekends, because an ambulance from Maryville can take more than an hour to arrive.
Stops
Maryville, TN
The seat of Blount County, a city of about 32,000. From here the route heads south to pick up US 129, the Calderwood Highway, along the Little Tennessee River toward the Dragon.
Deals Gap, NC — Foot of the Dragon
A 1,988-foot pass on the Tennessee–North Carolina line at the south end of the Dragon. Just over the line at the US 129 and NC 28 junction is the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort, which calls itself the Dragon's original home and has a motel, campground and its own Tree of Shame.
Robbinsville, NC
The Graham County seat, a town of about 600, where riders gather between the Dragon and the Cherohala Skyway, the 43-mile National Scenic Byway that runs west from here over the Unicoi Mountains to Tellico Plains, Tennessee.
Where to Stay
Driving this in a day? You can still book a room near the start or finish of the route.
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Scenic byways on this drive
More places to stop and photos on each road's own page.