the devil’s triangle

[rant] I enjoy spirited back-road driving as much as anyone, especially when the roads are as twisty and turny as they possibly can be. I further understand and appreciate that those roads can be more than a little under-maintained, and that their lanes are often quite narrower than those found on highways or even normal surface roads. However, keep your gorramed wheels between the gorramed white line and the gorramed yellow line. If you cannot do that, slow the hell down, or get the hell off the road. That is all. [/rant]
In other news, while the Tail of the Dragon is the more-widely-known back-country, windy-arsed drive here in Eastern Tennessee, I am of the opinion that the Devil’s Triangle is, indeed, the more-fun, and more-challenging drive. The elevation-changes are quicker, the hairpins are hairier, and there are no pansy guiderails to keep you on the road. And given the so-esoteric-I-could-not-identify-them supercars I met going the other direction (though there was one Ferrari bringing up the rear), I am probably not alone in my opinion.
There are a lot of pickup-trucks, 4-wheelers, dump trucks, and other natives roving about the roads (there are no fewer than three quaries back up in there, a penitentiary, some logging, and more than a few communities), so the roads are well-used and occasionally relatively busy. There are a shortage of pull-off locations on some stretches of the road, but use them if you have a build-up of traffic behind you. Also, the clockwise direction of the loop has had some serious asphalt patching – serious amounts, and seriously bad. If you do not like having your nether regions massaged, go counter-clockwise. On the flipside, though, if you like steep downs better than ups, go clockwise – it is a tossup.
Fair warning, though: gasoline, food, and heads are only really available at a little town at the middle of the southern edge of the Triangle (otherwise known as Oliver Springs), so plan accordingly.
If had made the drive about week ago, the leaves probably would have been better, but they have honestly been somewhat disappointing this year in general. Some trees are generating some vibrant oranges, reds, and yellows, but others are just going straight from green to ground. Some blame the excessive amounts of rain we have received, some blame global warming, I just wanted some prettier colors.
Anywise, if you want to have some fun on the backroads of TN, the Devil’s Triangle and the Tail of the Dragon are both solid competitors. However, please be safe, please do not drive past your abilities (your abilities, not your car’s), please be respectful of other motorists on the road, and please stay in your own gorramed lane.