Old NC 105

[bhayes423]

Me, my girlfriend and a friend are looking to get our feet wet in overlanding and from what I've read Old NC 105 is a solid choice for our area ( Knoxville, TN ). We have March 16-20 off of work and want to make the trip that week and end it with a night / day in Asheville. Do have a couple questions and are open to any suggestion for the trip!

Are there any easy / moderate trails off 105 that we can access? Would like to engage all 4 wheels at some point if possible.

What are some of the favorite / recommended:
- Camping spots
- Fishing spots
- Hiking spots

How busy do you think it will be this time of year?

Looking to slowly increase the difficulty / length of these trips because our end goal is to make the trek to Seattle and back within the next year. Also, if there are any other routes that are recommended over 105 in the Asheville area let us know! As long as we can hit up some breweries when we are done we are game.

 

[Relic6.3]

Was watching to see if anyone with more knowledge would respond to this. I have camped up on 105 one time; it is basically just a gravel forest service road. Very beautiful and definitely worth the trip over, wherever you are coming from. I am not aware of any 4wd trails off of Hwy 105 but "Mountains to Sea Overland" has a YouTube channel that he has documented quite a bit of Western NC; some of his videos do show trails in the area where 4wd was necessary. You could even run a circle down 105 and up around the other side of Linville Gorge and make a large portion of the trip on Forest Service roads. Mountains to Sea Overland

There are a bunch of dispersed camping spots along Hwy 105. If you use Gaia I have attached a gpx file of 105 with camping spots marked out. When I camped up there I stayed at a spot just South of the Wiseman's View Overlook turn-off; it was an easy hike to Wiseman's View (there is a pit restroom there). I did not do any hiking of the trails down into Linville Gorge to the river but I did see plenty of them, and I imagine fishing would be permitted but I'd check with the Forest Service Office for clarification (828) 652-2144; that's the Nebo location.

As far as how busy it will be... I see a LOT of chatter on the Carolina Overlanders and North Carolina Overlanders Facebook groups about getting out there regardless of the weather. Some make a point of heading out if there is even a chance of seeing snow. Definitely make a little time to check out Linville Falls if you haven't ever done that.

Hopefully some others that are more familiar with the area can chime in with more specific info to help you with your trip planning.

GPX viewer

 

[huachuca]

I'm not that familiar with the NC 105 area but would recommend the Pisgah National Forest Lake Powhatan campground if you're in need of a campground around Asheville - large, private sites with clean johns and hot showers. Also suggest you stop in one of the USFS District offices and pick up a Forest Service map ($5+/-). It will show all the FS roads and the staff there can likely offer some great suggestions tor trails and camping.

If you ever get down to the Robbinsville, NC area (Nantahala NF), FS 81 parallels Santeelah Creek for some distance and has several dispersed sites right along the water. I'm not much of a fisherman but always see a lot of folks with fly rods in the area when we camp there. FS 81 is usually in good shape but has several spurs that can be challenging if its wet. The western end leads into TN and connects to another FS road in Cherokee NF.

Al