drlogik 

I'm planning to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway this summer. I plan to take it easy, watch the scenery, fly fish and photograph a little. I hear 5 to 10 days.

For those of you who have done it, what's a reasonable amount of time considering I don't need to set any records and actually want to watch what goes by instead of lines in the road? Planning to go south to north, with camp nights and some credit card nights.

BTW, anyone live in NC, TN, VA or SC that may want to do it with me? PM me.

pdlamb

If I were in shape to do the BRP again, I'd plan for two weeks. That would average about 50 miles per day for 10 days, with a couple days for weather (heavy rain and dense fog), and a day or two off to sit in Blowing Rock and eat ice cream and fudge (aka recovery).

Going south to north, the first two days will be the toughest. Mt. Pisgah is the first campground you come to, some 60 miles of long climbing into the ride. Yeah, you could coast down to Waynesville, but you'd have to climb 5 miles back up the busy road to start 15 miles from Cherokee (by 23/74 -- it's about 35 miles by the BRP). Second day, assuming you do more than coast down to Asheville from Pisgah, you've got the monster climb out of Asheville (fun and beautiful on a clear day!), and after 70 miles you make it to Crabtree Falls. IME things get better after those two days. You'll still rack up a lot of climbing, but they're comparatively short and punchy.

Have you read about the slide and closure south of Roanoke? That was one FUN downhill -- I think I'd try to wait until they've reopened that section. Supposedly this spring, so hopefully it'll be done by August. Some "OK, I can ride it even with the traffic" around the south side of Roanoke on 221, and another 4-lane racetrack going south to the Parkway on 220 on the detour. OTOH, it's downhill to motels from the Parkway, and if you leave in the morning, 75% of the traffic is northbound while you'll be heading south.

PM me if you want suggestions for access to Blowing Rock and Boone.

niknak

My wife and I rode the whole BRP south to north in 2019. Some friends joined us for a large chunk of the route. It took us 12 days, none of which were easy. According to my Strava records, we rode 544 miles with 53,434 feet of elevation gain. That's an average of 45 miles per day and 4,453 feet of elevation gain per day. Even on an unloaded road bike that's a big ride.

Highlights:
- Easy navigation
- Quiet roads except near the big cities
- Nice campgrounds
- Riding along the Linn Cove Viaduct
- Peaks of Otter Lodge and Campground (good food at the lodge and nice campground)
- Almost no riding on flatland (I hate grinding along flat roads)

Challenges:
- So much climbing (you better have good fitness because you'll mostly spend each day climbing)
- Resupply points and campgrounds were usually off-route, which meant more climbing
- Humidity (coming from Nevada, it was a shock for us)
- Often riding with only views of roadside trees. It's pleasant but not inspiring scenery.

thumpism

This is important. If you get off the Parkway to find a store it will likely be at least three miles downhill to any town or settlement, nice coasting but you will have to climb back up. However, it is possible to get off the roadway and into the woods (or follow one of the many gravel access roads) to stealth camp someplace. Don't get caught!

Steve B.

Its thought to be easier riding north to south as the steepest and most difficult climbing is all down on the southern section, especially south of Ashville. That lets you acclimate to the hills instead of the hardest right out of the gate. Camping and lodging logistics plays a big part of this though.

pdlamb

The Parkway rangers aren't afraid to hassle and/or ticket if you're caught camping on Parkway land. But often the Parkway is only a hundred yards wide or so, giving way to national forest, state or private property. The boundary isn't always well marked, unless you consider a faded 6" diamond from the mid 1950s a good marking. Camping on national forest land is generally allowed. But if you smell something sour in the air, no you didn't smell or see anything and keep riding!

thumpism

The TransAm route is only on the Parkway for a few miles but there are some turnouts, overlooks and picnic areas in that distance. Dusk caught us at the last one before our return to the real world the next morning so we decided to risk overnighting when we expected there would be no picnickers and probably no ranger checks. Big storm drove us into the restrooms but the mice drove us back out and we were gone before morning visitors could arrive. A typical touring day.