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Ride from Hell
Western North Carolina

The maps identify this road as Woods Road. It runs north and south just to the east of the Tuni Gap Road, Clay County, North Carolina. This is the same area that the FBI spent years searching for Eric Rudolph and he is still at large. This is desolate country here, so we are warning you ahead of time to come prepared for the worst. We suggest that you bring sleeping bags, a fire source, maps, GPS, extra food, warm clothes, and girly magazines if you travel alone. Forget the cell phones in most of these backwoods areas; you are miles from a signal.

Nancy traversed part of this road in a recent adventure race; one of those eco-challenge things where people abuse their bodies to the extreme for days. I had more fun abusing my body in other ways before I got old. Anyway, she only saw the "good part" of this road in her race. We found the bad part on the KLRs in early April, 2001.

To get to the beginning take Junaluska Road (1505) north from Andrews or south from Wayah Bald Road between US19 and Franklin. Take Big Choga Road (1657) easterly and then turn right onto the gravel Forest Service road known as Tuni Gap Road. After about 1.6 miles turn left onto Woods Road.

The first few miles are about what we expected from this sort of road. Then we started to hit creek crossings and lots of mud. No big problem here, we were having fun getting the dual sports dirty for a change. Each crossing got worst and then it seemed as if Clear Creek was flowing down the middle of the road. There were stretches where the muddy sections would run for a fifty yards - tough riding but we were still having fun.

We thought that the road would soon leave the bog and climb to a dryer road. Then we came to a crossing that was so wide and deep that I had to stop and check out the depth before chancing a crossing.

We then came to an intersection. Usually we can tell which way to go, but this one was tricky. We really wanted to take a right and climb out of the swamp, but decided to go straight and hope for the best.

We made the correct choice as the road finally turned and climbed toward Tusquitee Gap. No more mud but we were suddenly confronted with a deeply rutted, rocky road that would have given 4Xs a hard time - and it got worse. Someone had the great idea to "patch" the bad places with the largest gravel I have ever seen. These "patches" (rock the size of a softballs or bigger) were a foot or two deep! Talk about the KLRs getting squirrelly! I kept looking in the mirrors and being surprised to find Nancy staying upright and right behind me. Every once in a while there would be a spring wetting the road again, but that was nothing compared to the rock quarries.

We then passed through the gap and thinking the journey could get no worse we were once again surprised. We now had the softball sized gravel, wet corners, and a steep descent (1600 feet) in the next 4 miles which we had to negotiate at a snail's pace.

At the Tusquitee Road pavement we did a high-five and decided to race home the easy way for a six-pack or two. We warn you to think twice before trying this route. It is the hardest 8.5 miles either one of us have ever ridden. We didn't take any falls, but it was pure luck. We forgot to take any pictures because we were too concerned about getting to a decent road.

This Forest Service Road is only for the best riders.

UPDATE: We returned to this road in the late summer of 2002 and found that the northernmost section through the bogs was being filled, graded, and graveled. The steep southern section leading down to Tusquitee Road will likely remain in the rough condition that we first found it. REJ