A few weeks ago we were leaf peeping up around Mount Mitchell in North Carolina. We stopped for refreshments in Little Switzerland and discovered folks in that area promoting North Carolina State Road 226A as a "motorcycle & sportscar route". Sort of the same theme as the Tail of the Dragon over in Deals Gap. They are promoting the road as "Diamondback". www.DiamondbackNC.com
So we drove it for fun. About 12 miles long and an advertised 190+ turns. Its fun. To me the biggest difference compared to the Dragon it Diamond back has a large altitude change depending on which way you drive it, you are either going mostly uphill, or mostly downhill. My memory of the Dragon doesn't include a lot of vertical change.
Little Switzerland is a cute little tourist stop with lodging available. The route doesn't seem to be heavily patroled (at least late Sunday afternoon). And, it seems on busy days they also have a photo team selling images.
It was a fun diversion and obviously a shorter drive to get to if you are coming in from the East Coast.
