Smoky Mountain Roads

[bostonlouie]

We're planning a trip with our Class A towing a car this fall. We will be coming from MA and stopping in Luray RV Resort on Shenandoah River for a few days and then go on to Pigeon Forge to Pine Mountain RV Park for a week. We will then head to Maggie Valley to meet friends at Stonebridge RV Resort.
After we leave Maggie Valley we will head back north to Dillsburg PA to Kings Campground and then home to MA.
My question is, everything i see online to not use GPS as it will take me to routes that are not accommodating for our MH and tow vehicle. What are the best roads to use to get from each stop that won't take us out of the way too much but not take us through the mountain roads.
We plan on taking our tow vehicle for day trips to some of the scenic roads but when we're going from one campground to another, we'd like to stay safe.
Can you provide any suggestions for the best routes for our itinerary.
thank you.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

My question is, everything i see online to not use GPS as it will take me to routes that are not accommodating for our MH and tow vehicle. What are the best roads to use to get from each stop that won't take us out of the way too much but not take us through the mountain roads.

I think the caveat is "don't blindly follow your GPS", i.e. investigate the various highways in advance and learn the limitations of each. Your are planning on driving thru the heart of the Great Smokies so there is no avoiding twisty mountain roads & grades. Even I40 is viewed as challenging by some drivers.

It's been 15+ years since I traveled those roads in a big rig, so I'll let somebody with my recent experience give advice. However, I've been as far as Maggie Valley by car (from Asheville) recently and didn't see any concerns for RV travel. Further west of Maggie I cannot say.

Just how big is your class A & car? In this region, the difference between, say, 32 ft and 40 or 45 feet is huge!

 

[LMHS]

Buy a truckers atlas and check your planned route against it. If it's not a "big rig" friendly road then you probably don't want to be on it. From what I have seen, far too many RVs can't drive their RVs, of ANY size.

Some of these roads are great most of the way and only a few miles are "tight". And some roads are simply illegal for large vehicles (semis and RVs) to be on them. I know for a fact that a section of US 64 is illegal for large trucks and RVs to be on it. I know of several roads in SW NC/SE TN that GPS will send truckers down and it is unwise or illegal for them (and RVs) to be on those roads and has been for many years. You can't blindly trust a GPS. And you can't trust the forums. I know of several instances where people have said it was okay for RVs to go down the section now known as "Tail of the Dragon" (US129 and ILLEGAL for big vehicles to be on it now). I've posted images and links of trucks and RVs being pulled off the curves. Darned if some bright soul driving their big RV didn't think it was perfectly fine to drive it. Not my tow bill. Not my nerves. And keep in mind that many of the roads thru the Smoky Mtns and surrounding mountains are filled with tourists who have never seen a mountains, never seen a curve and never seen a fall leaf. They are busy looking at the scenery and not the road or oncoming traffic. And they are filled with the locals trying to get to/from work or wherever. They can drive those roads in their sleep. I used to be "local" and I fully understand the bumper sticker "If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot them!"

 

[LarsMac]

Unless you have a trucker, or RV specific GPS, don't trust it.
Even then, double-check the routing information BEFORE you take that road.

For routing information, RVTripWizard (RV LIFE Trip Wizard - RV Trip Planner & RV Safe Routes) is a decent RV routing tool, in which you can feed it your RV dimension, and it works pretty well at routing for your rig. It has a bit of a learning curve, so play with it before you actually set out on a trip with it.

A road designated as a US Highway has to meet certain width and height requirements which state and county roads do not. That will help for most routes.

Garman makes a truck and RV GPS that also minds your height and weight specifics and can keep you out of a lot of pickles. Still, always double-check you routes before making that turn.

 

[Isaac-1]

Don't even blindly trust a Trucker or RV Garmin GPS, over the years my Garmin Dezl 770 (trucker version, much like the RV 770 but with fewer campgrounds in its database) has revealed to me some significant routing and mapping errors, even with latest map updates applied. For example for years when I was about 50 miles from home it tried to route me off the major US highway, 30 miles out of my way onto a state highway, just to meet back up with the same US highway 25 miles from home (that was finally fixed in a map update, but it took years). Another place about 100 miles from home it showed what is in reality a left turn onto the loop around a small east Texas city as a clover leaf to the right, when in reality it is a left turn at a traffic light. (There was apparently a clover leaf there many years ago)

 

[CharlesinGA]

Maggie Valley is on US19 north of the Cherokee reservation. Do not travel south on US 19 beyond the intersection with the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). On the reservation, the road is narrow, 10 ft wide lanes (or less) with drop offs, no shoulders and in some places, guard rails right on the edge of the pavement. Its OK in a car. I pulled my Thor trailer up it once, and returned via the BRP as it was much safer.

And.... stay off the BRP with the Class A. Toad OK. Tunnels on the BRP, especially below the US 19 intersection are low.

If you have not, you should consider riding the BRP from the Ashville to Cherokee in your toad. This is the most scenic, and highest section of the parkway, and there are many overlooks you can pull off on and get good pics. Thats mileposts 382 to mp 469 and is about a 3 hour ride.

This trip I am on now has Google maps driving me crazy. I was looking for the turn off to a state park west of Nashville and it ran me around a block and said "saves 1 min" when in reality I wasted 5 minutes or so. Then it proceeded to take a short cut through an industrial park and a old neighborhood with winding hilly, narrow roads.

Charles