NC Route 197 Northern Portion

2 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

Northern part of this road coming from Burleson is really nice. Country scenery along a river and not very challenging in terms of steep curves and altitude climb. The latter part gets really steep with some awesome swithchbacks, had to take several in first gear. Should be very careful as there were several spots with gravel in the road from the steep driveways along the way. I would highly recommend the ride. You will have to turn around at the top of the mountain as the other side is a gravel road, unless you want to crawl down the other side. It is shorter and gets you back to Ashville a lot quicker, but is gravel.

2 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Other

I took this route from the start of 197 at the southern part. My Spyder handles unpaved roads fine so I attempted the entire Hwy. I did need to keep speeds VERY low throughout the unpaved part but the scenery was great. Lots of areas to see rapids, lots of small waterfalls, etc. The paved part was nice, lots of curves, sweeps, switchbacks. Only advice I'd give is make sure your tank is full before you go because there is literally nothing to stop at.

327 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Great ride along the river. Stop in Burnsville and have some lunch. Nice scenery, great people! This was my daily ride from work to home.