When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hello all, I took a trip with my family this past weekend to a new place I had never heard of before. Its called the Back of the Dragon, not to be confused with the Tail of the Dragon. It is VA highway 16 that runs North/South from Tazewell VA down to Marion VA. It crosses over two mountains and has 438 curves on a 32 mile stretch of road. It is a blast! And is nowhere near as busy as the tail is. The North end has a great little shop called The Back of the Dragon and inside you'll find a bar, coffee shop, all kinds of apparel, souvenirs, sitting area, and a grease truck was outside while we were there. Also inside the shop is a large map on the wall that highlights a whole bunch of individual "circuit" you can run, very cool and worth checking out! I'll include a link to those interested in hitting up this little piece of drivers paradise (moderators forgive me if that's not allowed)
I'll throw some pictures up too. My wife has most the good ones as I was driving, if I can convince her to send me some I'll update the thread later. Oh another cool feature of this area is there is a professional photographer that sets up on one of the curves during popular times. You'll see my Silk Green MINI under "sports cars" on October 25 2020 on the BOTDpix link.
Enjoy!
NC roads really are too much fun. Some nice ones in VA also! If you ever make it to Tazewell stop in the BOTD shop. They have a huge map on the wall highlighting a bunch of different route through the mountains that are just incredible to drive! Early and late in the season are my favorite when the weather is cooler. Car makes more power lol and its needed on the long hill climbs! You'd need several days to check out all the different routes in the area and that probably still wouldn't be enough time! The locals are great too! They fly lol. And the ones that don't pull over first chance they get and let you by.
Something else I'll mention for the family types is Marion has a drive in movie theater! If you have never been, your missing out.
I’ve been looking for a place to escape the prison of flat, straight line New Jersey. This might be a bit far, but it’s on the list for “one day”..
Believe it or not, my wife actually told me to stop in Walmart before heading out on BOTD the second morning to get a GoPro... I forgot. And because I was driving I didn't get many pictures. I really need to steal her phone at some point and get the pictures off it so I can update this thread!
I'm up there every couple weeks we should get a nam/mini drive going, took a buddy up there last friday.
Make sure you check out burkes garden and the two little general stores the amish run, we like this one, the amish donuts on friday & saturday are great
From Tazewell VA to US 129 near Fontana Dam is about an hour and 20 minutes.
EDIT: I have no idea why i wrote an hour and twenty minutes, it is a 4 hour and 20 minute drive from Tazewell VA to US 129 near Fontana Dam...sorry folks.
I'm up there every couple weeks we should get a nam/mini drive going, took a buddy up there last friday.
Make sure you check out burkes garden and the two little general stores the amish run, we like this one, the amish donuts on friday & saturday are great
Man I would be all about this! I don't know if we'll make it out before next year but if I do I'll def reach out to you. I'd love to do the MINI event at the tail some day too! When we went to the BOTD it was just a quick overnight trip and only drove the road twice in each direction.
We hit up the Dragon again this weekend. We also got to take the kids to a drive in movie Saturday night which was an absolute blast. Played some mini golf and got ice cream while we wated for the movie to start.
The car did amazing on the mountain. The maintenance/upgrades I've done since our last trip out there made a huge difference in the way the car handled. The brakes are definitely the weak link now. I managed to boil the fluid and turned the rotors purple pushing it about as hard as I'm comfortable with the family on board. Already have some Motul 600 on order. I'm pretty sure it still has the fluid it left the factory with in 2003. Its black and smells terrible. I still have lots of pad left but I'd love to hear suggestions on brake pads and possibly rotors. I was originally looking at Hawk HPS pads but I started reading some not so good reviews. I'd love to hear from people that use them. This is a street car that never sees track duty so I need GOOD street pads.
Back to the drive this weekend. The weather was sunny Saturday and in the 70s. Absolutely beautiful drive. Sunday was overcast with some damp roads, a little sporadic rain, and a little cooler in the 60s while we were on the mountain. The leaves on Sunday were really starting to turn and the views were epic. We had been looking at some of the secondary roads on Google earth prior to the trip and decided to try a few Sunday morning. We took Lee highway (11) to Bear Creek Rd (622), it was freaking amazing. It was narrower than 16 and has no center or shoulder lines. The surface of the pavement isn't as well maintained either but there weren't any big potholes, just some rough-ish surface here and there. The only posted speed limit i saw was 55 mph but there are very few places you can reach or maintain 55 safely. There are quite a few houses too but almost no traffic. 622 is also a much more consistent grade. Its a more gradual climb up the hill where as 16 has some extremely steep grades and lots of elevation changes that are hard on the little na R50. A supercharger (or turbo) would help a LOT on some of these climbs. Its very easy to get going too fast though and some of these curves can sneak up on you if you don't know the road. The stone, trees, and extreme grade changes can make it challenging to see more than a short distance in front of the car. I also found myself ducking down in the seat on right hand switchbacks to be able to see under the rear view mirror. Didnt notice that last trip. All in all we had a blast and I learned a little more about the cars handling which is always good. Pretty sure I got one of the rear wheels off the ground at least once. The 19mm rear bar made a big difference over the stock bar and it rotates hard. It just plowed before when you pushed it. Some of that is the tires I'm sure but its a very noticeable change with decent tires. With the Ling Longs I was running the last trip out here there was so much understeer I had to throttle it through the corners to keep it in my lane.
Just like last time I didn't take that many pictures as I was the one driving but I'll throw up what I do have. My wife mentioned getting a GoPro again so I think we're going to actually try and make that purchase before the next trip out here.
Scenic overlook on 16 Same picture as above, slightly different angle Little picnic area at same pulloff/scenic overlook There is no editing or filters on any of these photos. This is actually how the road looks. This was a switchback on 622
Unfortunately we caught the camera-woman off guard in 2021, she was scrambling to get ready as we came into view and she didn't start snapping pics until we were halfway through the curve. Oh well, there's always next time...
Ridden it several times on a motorcycle. We have a group that make a special trip a couple of times each year to ride it. Surprised the store wasn't full of motorcycles. Super ride, much better than the Tail. As mentioned there is a lot less traffic.
The trip we took out there October of 2020 it was pretty cold and wet, so not many bikes. This year (technically last year (2021)) we went the weekend of October 2nd. It was much warmer and sunnier. The BOTD shop had so many motorcycles Sunday morning that we couldn't even get in the parking lot! I was a biker back in my single days and made several trips to the tail but didn't even know the "back" existed. There are so many amazing roads in western NC. You could burn gallon upon gallon of gasoline and only scratch the surface of what is out there!
