Hike of the Month - The Road to Nowhere, Bryson City, NC

Remember my hike of the month vow? 

My mother and I vowed to do a new hike each month of 2018. We braved freezing temperatures in January and now we endure sweltering Carolina summer temperatures for July! It's worth it!

This month we chose a hike we have eyeballed in the past. Upon googling NC hikes, we often came across this "Road to Nowhere" that, as it turns out, actually goes somewhere!


This road has quite an interesting story, too! The cliff notes version: Highway 288 was buried under Fontana Lake in the 1940's and the National Park Service promised to replace it with a scenic Lakeview Drive which would also serve to allow people to visit cemeteries. They constructed six miles of road into the Park ending at a tunnel and then construction stopped. They faced "environmental issues" eventually deemed to expensive to solve. So the road ended. The road to nowhere. However, just through the 1,200 foot tunnel, the pavement ends and a network of trails awaits. 

There are a few different options you could take and we actually took the wrong trail and did a slightly longer than expected loop! Oops! That's what happens on new trails! 

No hike is complete without a sweaty selfie!

We went off the Lakeshore Trail, taking the first left onto the Tunnel Bypass trail which takes you past Campsite 67. At the intersection, we took the Goldmine Loop trail which brings you full circle back on the Lakeshore Trail where we headed back through the tunnel. I think this came to be somewhere around 4 miles. 

Our plan was to take the second left catching the Goldmine loop to the other part of the Tunnel Bypass trail so it would've been around 3 miles and less uphill!
We had some steep inclines! Those workouts on the stair-master paid off. We had a slight view of Lake Fontana but otherwise, not too many spectacular sights. There was a small stream waterfall. I think the most exciting part of this hike is the long, dark tunnel along with the history! 

Read more about it here: Road to Nowhere and definitely take a look at the map here: Road to Nowhere PDF


Do you get lost on hikes? What's your favorite thing to see in a hike? I like waterfalls! 

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