Blue Ridge Parkway?

Hi folks,
I’m planning to ride my 2006 Silverwing towing a mini camper trailer down Skyline Drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) then cross the Great Smokies National Park into Gatlinburg TN mid to late this September. I’ll ride back up the same way, except a detour to get together with friends in Union WV on the way back.

I’m familiar with Skyline Drive, as I live 20 miles from the northern entrance and have driven its northern half several times by car. The route across the Smokies from the BRP is only thirty five or so miles to Gatlinburg so I’m not too worried about that either.

My questions are about how easy it is to find gas stations and campgrounds on the BRP itself.

I’m assuming it’s fairly easy to find gas and I don’t need to take a spare gallon of gas with me just in case?

Will I have trouble finding camp sites without reserving ahead if I’m traveling during the week in September?

If anyone is familiar with the Blue Ridge Parkway and can share anything about this or any other aspects of riding it, and input would be greatly appreciated!

Isn't all the info you require about gas stations, campsites etc already loaded onto your sat nav/GPS. It certainly is on my Garmin, and it'll be on maps, and the fact that you're posting on here using a tablet, iPad etc, means all the info you need can be accessed within seconds. Most areas have tourism websites, gas stations, stores, cafés and restaurants, have displays of free tourist info and maps there for the taking.

It really isn't complicated at all.

I don’t have a dedicated sat nav / GPS. I just use my iPhone and the Waze app for navigation, and since I’m on a tight budget I have to use what I have available. I use my iPhone for internet access and posting here too.

Yes, once I’m there, on the route, the Waze app will tell me where the next gas station and campground is located.

If there’s a better sat nav app, especially one that gives me access to this information now, I would like to know.

I was just hoping someone was familiar with this route and could offer some input. The Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park destination here in the states so this is not illogical.

I was only on the Parkway a few times in the past-  if memory serves me correctly, whenever you get off an exit, you’re basically in a town somewhere so I would assume finding a gas station wouldn’t be too difficult.

I found this just now:

https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/gas-availability/

So even if you were near the flashing bar on the gas gauge you still have about a gallon left and it’s quite unlikely you would be > 50 miles from a station while on the Parkway.

I’ve traveled to Gatlinburg and the Smokies via the ST1100- not once did I have an issue with gas (yes, bigger tank and more range, but I was riding with others with smaller tanks and you’re really never too far from a gas station on those roads).

Have a good time- sounds like a great trip!

Erdoc48 wrote:

I was only on the Parkway a few times in the past-  if memory serves me correctly, whenever you get off an exit, you’re basically in a town somewhere so I would assume finding a gas station wouldn’t be too difficult.

I found this just now:

https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/gas-availability/

So even if you were near the flashing bar on the gas gauge you still have about a gallon left and it’s quite unlikely you would be > 50 miles from a station while on the Parkway.

I’ve traveled to Gatlinburg and the Smokies via the ST1100- not once did I have an issue with gas (yes, bigger tank and more range, but I was riding with others with smaller tanks and you’re really never too far from a gas station on those roads).

Have a good time- sounds like a great trip!

Excellent, thank you!

I've just looked at Google Maps and dialled in a route from Nashville to Blue Ridge Parkway; I chose a town at random in order to get a route.
It shows a button at the top of the map labelled 'Petrol'.
I clicked on that and it shows where the petrol stations are.
You might just write them down or even 'grab' the map and print it then at least you'd have a reasonable idea where petrol is.

Just done Kingsport to BRP; plenty of gas around.

Thinking back to my biking days when I was into the old air-cooled Boxer GS's, and way before online forums, I somehow joined a riders group called GS International. I remember corresponding with bushy bearded bloke called Turkey Tom, who ran a campsite for motorcyclists on the Blue Ridge Parkway.complete with teepees to rent.

I can't remember much else, he was probably selling GSI stickers or something.

MikeO wrote:

I've just looked at Google Maps and dialled in a route from Nashville to Blue Ridge Parkway; I chose a town at random in order to get a route.
It shows a button at the top of the map labelled 'Petrol'.
I clicked on that and it shows where the petrol stations are.
You might just write them down or even 'grab' the map and print it then at least you'd have a reasonable idea where petrol is.

Ok thanks. I’ll check that out.

My Garmin always seemed more accurate than Google or Apple Maps in the past.

While on my Maine to California and back journey in a GMC Safari in 2019, I found the Waze app and compared it to what my Garmin was telling me throughout the trip. At the end of the trip I gave my Garmin to a friend and I’ve only used the Waze app on my iPhone X since then.

I’ll go back and take another look at Google maps.

Check for road closures and construction also. It's all Federal land and they use Radar speed limit is 45 I think, shouldn't be a problem.

Some of the side roads have steep drop-offs stick with major connections.

469 miles not a stop sign or traffic light gotta love it.

Having ridden the Parkway end to end----just get on and ride---when gas is down to half, get gas. SilverWing puliing a trailer is not going to get the best mileage. Drive line is going to be working hard. Maps work for me.