The Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort at the US-129/NC-28 junction — gas, food, and the meeting point of three legendary driving roads. The addressable start of Moonshiner 28.
Welcome to Deals Gap, and to Moonshiner 28 — and welcome aboard. I'm Ranger Quinn, riding along the whole way to keep you pointed right and tell you what you're seeing. With us too is Ranger Boone Merrick, who's got a satchel of tales, and this road's got the tales to fill it: bootleggers, outlaws, drowned towns, and buried treasure of a kind.
You're standing at a famous crossroads. Three of the great driving roads of the eastern mountains come together right here at Deals Gap: the tight, technical Tail of the Dragon on US-129, the high sweeping Cherohala Skyway to the west, and this one — North Carolina 28, branded Moonshiner 28 for the blockade-whiskey country it runs through. We're taking 28, southeast about sixty miles to Franklin.
Now, the practical word: fuel up here at the resort store before you roll, because services out on this road are thin — a stretch or two with no gas, no food, nothing but mountain. When you're ready, pull out of the resort and pick up North Carolina 28 heading east, away from the US-129 junction — watch for the little 28 shield. It carries you along the lakes and down into the Nantahala. It's a twisting, flowing road — not the Dragon's white-knuckle hairpins, more long curves you settle into. Take your time, watch for bikes, and enjoy it.
When you turn off the car, the tour pauses — just tap play on your phone to pick up where you left off. All right — Boone, say hello, and let's run some 'shine.
Photo: William Klos from Mason, US · CC BY 2.0
