New Mexico Road Trip

We drove straight through on I-40 West! We stopped a few years ago at the Big Texan Steakhouse. The 72oz steak is redonk! Who could even!?

 

Today we drove up to the Ashville area then through to Great Smokey Mountains NP. We were gonna stop at the Biltmore Estate but they wanted $65 for admission tickets! We were all like, "Later!" The place would be cool to see though, it's obscenely big, look up some google pics. Like 35 bed rooms and 43 bathrooms or something!

The Smoky Mountains. Beautiful. It feels like home around here. I love the desert but being from western PA I kinda feel at home in the deciduous forests of the east. I love the Appalachian history too, I picked up a few books from the visitor center.

This pano is from near the top of Clingman's Dome, the high point of the park. It was super crowded, tough to find a parking spot.



We walked a few short trails to see some falls in the southern section of the park. These are the Juney Whank Falls.



We noticed this old concrete cistern. For some reason it fascinated me... It was located in the stream and was full of water.





These are the Tom Branch Falls. Both falls were very short walks from a parking area. These ones were a lot higher and emptied into a nice wide stream. This would be a cool place to walk if you lived around here.



Tomorrow the Taco slays the Dragon!

 

It's awesome!

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160921/7a04a8877c1a0961819c8152b4a36f46.jpg

^ Me on the Dragon at the overlook/rest area.

 

Nice! I'd love to have a sports car for this!

 

I've been thinking about trading it in on a Taco.

 

A truck is a lot of fun but in a different way than WRX. My brother had an Impreza wagon that he got rid of for a Nissan Frontier. It allows him to explore more back roads but some of those back roads would've been more fun in the Subaru!

 

Yeah I understand they are completely different. I have never took my Subaru off road... I had a '07 WRX before my current '15 WRX. They are fun in the snow but the ground clearance is a bitch.

I wouldn't use the full potential of a Taco... Not many places to go off-roading around the Baltimore area... :/

 

Gotta travel dude! There's so much crap out there to see!

You could try to find a national forest or something similar nearby with some decent graded dirt roads. Take the car out and get sideways! I wish my truck had enough power to drift...

 

I look forward to snow in Pittsburgh so hard so I can go out and slide around. I look for empty roads and try not to be a complete a-hole, but it's a lot of fun!

 

Your thread makes me feel like I need to get out and appreciate my own state more!

 

New Mex is so cool! The people are super friendly, and there's weeks of exploring to be done!

 

Today the Taco did indeed slay the Dragon! Dude, it was so much fun! So much tire squeal! The experience was enhanced by the fact that I have no sway bar! My sister was in the back seat getting tossed all around!

The road was so cool. It used to be an old animal trail the buffalo used in the old old days. The Cherokee would hunt them there. The road was improved over the years to a wider dirt road and eventually paved as part of US-129. 11 miles and 318 curves. Google maps estimated it would take about 30 minutes. I did it in 17-18! Average speed was about 37 mph. Man I know it brought out my inner ass hat but I had a blast! Would recommend to anyone who enjoys operating a road going machine!

All along the way at some more epic corners are guys set up with cameras. They'll snap your pic and post it up on their website where you can buy prints and such. I'm looking forward to seeing if any of mine come up. I'm sure my outside wheel was fully stuffed a few times!

I didn't take many pics as my hands were full driving. This dragon sculpture is at a small shop on the southern end of the road.



The lot was full of sports cars



We then drove on to find an unpaved road called Rich Mountain Road. We looked into Parsons Branch Road, it's supposed to cross a creek a bunch of times but it was closed for downed trees.

On the way to Rich Mountain Rd you have to follow a one way loop that leads to the visitor center. It was so crowded. Traffic sucked. Just people going 2 mph in a long line. Ugh.

We eventually got to the road and our patience was rewarded with over 12 miles of the most beautiful woodland and not a car or other human to be seen. Rich Mountain is a one way road too, so no worry of on coming traffic. You have to start in the park near the Cades Cove visitor center and go out.



We happened upon this little side road about halfway in. It only goes about 50 feet and turns into a foot path. Even that seems to peter out a bit further down.



There's a nice log up there somewhere where you can sit and enjoy the sounds of the forest. The temperature was perfect, no bugs, light breeze through the trees, dappled shade. Man I could have sat there for hours. It's little wonder the mountain folk love this land so much.

Some baby pine trees from near said foot path!



Truck.



The whole time we were out of the truck, just one car passed by, waved and continued on. Man, it's so much nicer to get off the main path. It seems to me that 90% of the people who visit any national park only enjoy 10% of the park. If you go off the main loops and scenic drives you're able to find much more solitude. Find a dirt road or better yet, a 4x4 trail and you'll see fewer people. And even more so if you leave the vehicle completely and go into the back country, but that's another story. For now I'm content with my truck and some dirt roads!

A screen cap of the navi. Rich Mountain eventually becomes a 2 way paved road called Old Cades Cove Road once it leave the park. The park is the green. Even when paved it's well deserted for a while and an interesting ride. It eventually leads to US-321 and to on to US-441 and on again to I-40.

 

Very nice!

So weird seeing pictures of you there literally 2 weeks after me.

You know the photographers site to look for?

www.killboy.com
www.us129photos.com
www.129slayer.com
https://moonshinephoto.blogspot.com/

Some of them are not out during the week. Killboy has two out during the weekend/busy times.

Usually the next day or so you can see your vehicle on the Dragon

 

Thanks for the links dude! The only one I remember was Killboy. I checked his site and signed up for email notifications! Looking forward to seeing what it looks like.

You got any hero pics?

 

lol body roll!



Thanks again for the links!

 

Sorry.. What do you mean hero pics?

Yikes!

No problem! Glad I stumbled on your thread

 

I just meant awesome pics of your WRX flying around the corner!

 

Yes I have some but I don't want to clutter up your thread. I will just post links in a bit.

 

cool man, we want to see them!

 

Hey @boostedka , I just noticed your description talks of turbochargers! Got any pics or a build thread?