The NC side dropping off the crest toward Robbinsville — spruce and hardwood, the picnic pullouts, and the long views down into the Nantahala.
You've crossed the high country, and now the road begins its long, graceful descent down the North Carolina side toward Robbinsville. The overlooks along here look out over the Nantahala — a Cherokee word usually translated 'land of the noonday sun,' because some of these gorges are so deep and narrow the sunlight only reaches the bottom at midday.
As you drop, watch the forest change back in reverse — out of the cold spruce and fir up top, back down through birch and maple and oak as the air warms. In autumn this descent is a slow-motion fireworks show; the color starts up high in early October and works its way down the mountain for weeks. There are picnic pullouts along here made for exactly this — pull off, sit at a table on the edge of a hundred-mile view, and eat your lunch on the roof of Carolina.
Keep an easy pace on the way down; a long descent tempts you to pick up speed, and some of these pretty curves tighten more than they look. You're headed for Robbinsville and the deep Cherokee history waiting down there. Roll on.
Photo: Dougtone · CC BY-SA 2.0
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