The Tail of The Dragon, a popular motorcycle and sports car road, known for its 318 curves in eleven miles has been described as one of the most challenging drives in the United States. It begins at Deals Gap in North Carolina, winding it's way from some great remote Smoky Mountain Scenery. Motorcycle and Sports Car enthusiasts come from all over the world to “Ride the Dragon”
The Tail of the Dragon is an eleven mile section of U.S. Highway 129. Since modern earth moving machines were not available in the early days of road building, construction techniques involved designing the road to wind around all of the mountain curves, and in and out of every hollow, without benefit of dirt fills to straighten the path. For the eleven mile section of U.S. Highway 129 that is known as "The Tail of the Dragon" this process resulted in a pattern of "S" shaped curves that was determined by the topography of the rugged mountain terrain, much to the delight of modern day thrill seekers. It is one of the few places in the world where people come just because of the road!
The Tail of the Dragon has been voted as the number one motorcycle road in the world. It is also popular with sports car clubs and other groups. It has been featured in many motorcycle magazines and has been the subject of numerous other travel and adventure articles in a variety of publications. Scenes for a number of motion pictures, including "Thunder Road", and "Two Lane Blacktop" were filmed on sections of The Dragon. Filming for some of the scenes in "The Fugitive" were shot at the Tapoca Bridge area, located just south of Deals Gap. Harrison Ford's jump scene was shot at Cheoah Dam in this area.
Follow U.S. Highway 19 to Highway 129 at the West end of the Nantahala Gorge. Follow Hwy 129 past Robbinsville to the Tapoca Bridge and Deals Gap. Enjoy "Riding The Dragon"!
http://smokymountainfun.googlepages.com/tailofthedragon