Two days at Lake Santeetlah is enough time for the greatest hits, but only just. Within an hour of the dock you have a 400-year-old forest, a 43-mile skyway that tops out at 5,390 feet, the most famous 11 miles of pavement in American motorcycling, and a 2,881-acre lake with almost no boat traffic. The trick is ordering them so the driving works for you instead of against you. Here is the order that works, built from the guides in this series.
Friday: arrive, stock up, do nothing on purpose
Come through Robbinsville and do your shopping there. It is the county seat and the last full stop for groceries and gas before the lake; Graham County's two-thirds national forest does not include a supermarket district. Get to the water with an hour of light left if you can.
Evening one is for the lake itself. The basics are in our Lake Santeetlah basics guide: 76 miles of shoreline, about 80 percent of it national forest, and a town of roughly 50 year-round residents, which means the Friday night soundtrack is mostly water. If the sky is clear and the moon is down, stay up for it. Graham County is one of the darker places in the eastern United States, and the full rundown is in our dark skies guide.
Saturday morning: Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest
Start with the trees, about 20 minutes from Robbinsville. The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest protects 3,800 acres of old-growth cove forest that was never logged, with tulip poplars more than 400 years old, 20 feet around, and up to 140 feet tall. The trail is a 2-mile figure-eight, an easy lower loop and a slightly steeper upper loop through Poplar Cove, where the biggest trees stand. Morning is the right call: the light comes through the canopy at an angle, the parking area is small, and you will have the upper loop nearly to yourself. Allow an hour and a half and do not rush it. Nothing else on this itinerary is 400 years old.
Saturday midday: the Cherohala Skyway
From Joyce Kilmer you are already near the Skyway's North Carolina end, which starts at Santeetlah Gap near the lake's south shore. Pack lunch before you leave Robbinsville or the lake house, because the Cherohala Skyway has no gas, food, or restrooms in its 43 miles. Drive at least as far as Santeetlah Overlook at 5,390 feet, the high point, stopping at the overlooks that catch your eye on the way up and saving the rest for the way down. If the day is clear and nobody is carsick, the full run to Tellico Plains, Tennessee and back is one of the great half-day drives in the South. In October, this leg doubles as the county's best fall color drive; the timing is in our fall color guide.
Saturday late afternoon and evening: the lake, then dinner
Be back on the water by mid-afternoon. This is the lake's best light and its quietest hour for boat traffic. Swim off the dock, take a boat out along the Forest Service shore, or fish the evening bite; our boating guide covers ramps and the marina, and the fishing guide covers what is actually in here, smallmouth and walleye at the top of the list. If you are staying at 4 Lakeside Trail, the private dock and 100 feet of shoreline make this the easiest leg of the whole weekend.
For dinner, the two reliable plays are Lynn's Place in Robbinsville for the diner version and Tapoco Tavern on the Cheoah River for the sit-down version; both are profiled in our Stecoah and Graham County guide. On a summer Saturday, the better move may be a concert at the Stecoah Valley Center instead, where the An Appalachian Evening series fills a 1926 rock schoolhouse with bluegrass. Stars after, either way.
Sunday: the Dragon, early
Sunday morning belongs to the Tail of the Dragon, and early is the whole strategy. US-129 at Deals Gap packs 318 curves into 11 miles with a 30 mph speed limit and no driveways or intersecting roads, and it is a better drive, in a car or on a bike, before the midday crowd arrives. Stop at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort for the Tree of Shame, the roadside collection of parts from bikes that lost arguments with the curves, then turn around and drive it back the other way. It is a different road in reverse. Lunch at Tapoco Tavern on the way down puts you back at the lake by early afternoon, with time for one last swim before the drive home.
Swaps, if the weather or the season says so
- Rain: Trade the Skyway for Fontana Dam, 50 minutes north, where the visitor center and the walk across the tallest dam in the East work fine in gray weather. The Stecoah gallery is the other good rainy hour.
- Winter: The lake drops as much as 10 feet in the December-to-March drawdown, so swap dock time for shoreline walking on the exposed lakebed, and trade the Milky Way for the Geminid meteors in mid-December.
- An extra day: Give the Smokies their own day. Oconaluftee and Kuwohi are a 75-minute drive each way and deserve more than a squeeze; our Smokies day trip guide lays it out.
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Common questions
Can I do the Dragon and the Cherohala in one day?
Yes, and drivers do it constantly, but between the 43-mile Skyway and the Dragon out and back, it makes a long day of mountain roads with the lake as the hinge between them. The itinerary above splits them across two days, which leaves the lake itself some time. It is, after all, the reason to come.
What should I book or buy ahead?
Very little, which is part of the appeal. The exceptions: tickets for a Stecoah Valley Center concert, since the auditorium holds about 320 people, and a dinner reservation at Tapoco Tavern on weekends. Everything else on this itinerary is first-come.
What is the best season for this weekend?
Late spring through fall each tilt the plan differently: summer for swimming and concerts, October for color on the Skyway and late color at the lake, spring for high water and waterfalls. Winter is the quiet version, with the drawdown shoreline and the earliest nights of the year.