Smokey Mountain Redo

As previously reported, I made a "failed" attempt at the Smokey Mountain 500 in August 2019. The Smokey Mountain 500 is a popular three day dual sport ride (about 50/50 dirt/pavement) with layovers in Suches, Georgia (Two Wheels of Suches), Telico Plains, Tennessee (Cherohala Mountain Trails Campgrounds) and Stechoa, North Carolina (Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge).

We launched out of Suches in 2019, but the only section of the loop that I completed was the track from Robbinsville back to Suches.

The problems we/I encountered were:

1. One of our riders crashed off one of the gravel dirt forest roads in the Chatahoochee Forest somewhere around the Georgia-Tennessee border. Here's the first of a series of three videos on the mishap.

2. The clutch cable on my 36 year old Kawasaki KLR600 snapped no more than 10 miles out of Telico Plains causing me to leave the group to find a new cable...that I couldn't find until I got all the way over to Robbinsville.

On June 9, 2020, the week before the Hooch Motorcycle Rally hosted by Two Wheels of Suches, I took on the Smokey Mountain and, with only one close call, knocked it out without any problems...solo. We can now check that off.

The close call was a very poorly marked washout on a forest road right on the Tennessee border.