Beyond the Blog Day 4 (May 1) - Cherokee to Blue Ridge to Maggie Valley

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This was our last day at Stonebrook Lodge, as we would be finishing the day near Waynesville and it made no sense to backtrack all the way to Murphy. So it was our first big skip forward, if only for a night. The hotel situation would get worse before it got better….but for the moment, we enjoyed a good breakfast in Murphy and reviewed the course for the day. Initially, I had wanted to start on Rte 19 at the Birdtown Community Center and run on the road all the way through to Lake Junaluska. After driving the road a few times, it was obvious this route was simply non-viable (ie. “suicidal”). There was no shoulder to run on at all, so I had to start my run a few miles down the road approaching Cherokee, where sidewalks suddenly appeared. It actually was pleasant, running through the town of Cherokee and past the popular casino. It's a touristy mountain town but not completely overrun like Blowing Rock or Banner Elk. One backdraw is that the primary means of getting around is by ATV...all of the locals drive them and they also offer lots of ATV tours. So it can be a bit noisy and you definitely have to watch yourself on crosswalks, but other than that, I enjoyed the run down past Santa’s Village to the Happy Holiday RV park. I retraced my route back, with Mike B. and Matt running with me the whole way, and that was fun. Mike and Sheley were a huge help as well, and we soon had to move on to our next leg, the Blue Ridge Parkway. It would have been foolish to attempt a run over the mountains on Rte. 19/Wolfetown Road, so we drove to the Soco Gap Overlook and planned another six mile leg there (bringing us to 16+/-).

This time, Sheley decided to run with me, and we had quite a challenge in front of us.   The Blue Ridge goes straight up to 5,000 ft from Soco Gap to Plott Balsam Overlook (you start at elevation, meaning you don’t have to actually go up 5k feet).   It was incredibly beautiful, with Mountain Laurel just coming into bloom, but it was hot and the road just kept meandering higher and higher. We were passed by a few cyclists, who were really working hard getting up the mountain, and by this point we had decided to stop at the next overlook.    There was an elevation marker where we collapsed:


It seemed fitting...the marker was from my birth-year and it was as worn out as I was.   When we collapsed on the wall, a car passing by immediately stopped and asked us if we were okay!  We were fine, laughing, in fact, but it was nice that they stopped.   Did we look that bad?



The final leg, which needed to be 8-9 miles, was a run through Maggie Valley on the sidewalk, almost to Waynesville.   A couple of things about Maggie Valley….they have a very active motorcycle community, and we were there at one of their biggest convocations: “Thunder in the Smokies”.   There were hundreds if not thousands of Harleys roaring up and down the street.  It was not a big deal for me, since they had very good sidewalks (like Cherokee).   In fact, it gave me something to look at, and there was quite a lot to see!   Mike (McKissick) and I ran together for a few miles, and I needed to take a break because of the heat and the previous climbing.   We stopped at the Wheels Through Time Motorcycle Museum, which had hundreds of cycles parked in the surrounding field.   While we sat on a wall drinking Coke, we watched the pageantry unfold in front of us...there were some astounding sites and extremely questionable fashion choices.  Some of these women could barely contain themselves in their leather corsets.   I wish I meant that in a good way, but alas, I don’t believe there were any vegetarians or ultra-runners among this hardy crew.


I continued to overheat but made it back to our starting point to log a total of 24 miles that day.   It was all I had in me. I wish I had kept better track of my elevation changes, because I’m pretty sure that Day 4 was one of the top climbing days.   


The day ended well, although I was completely wrecked.  We found a wonderful brewery, BearWaters Brewing Company, on the creek.  We had a few cold ones (I think I only had one, actually) and some tacos, and all was right with the world.   We headed to our next hotel in Waynesville, a very simple spot overlooking the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway.   I don’t remember anything that happened after checking into my room, I’m pretty sure I just passed out asleep.

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