Deals Gap (el. ) is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

along the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

–

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

state line, bordering the

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, whi ...

and near the

Little Tennessee River The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River that flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, into North Carolina, and then into Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. It drains portio ...

. At south of the gap is the

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

that shares the same name, located at the intersection of US 129 and NC 28. The area is popular with

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

and

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

enthusiasts, who cross the gap into Tennessee to drive along "The Dragon", famous for its 318 curves in .

The Dragon

Deals Gap is a popular and internationally famous destination for

and

enthusiasts, as it is along a stretch of two-lane road known since 1981 as “The Dragon” and the "Tail of the Dragon". The stretch of the Dragon in Tennessee is said to have 318 curves. Some of the Dragon's sharpest curves have names like Copperhead Corner, Hog Pen Bend, Wheelie Hell, Shade Tree Corner, Mud Corner, Sunset Corner, Gravity Cavity, Beginner's End, and Brake or Bust Bend. The road earned its name from its curves being said to resemble a dragon. The stretch bears the street name "Tapoco Road" in North Carolina and "Calderwood Highway" in Tennessee and is signed entirely by US 129 (hidden SR 115). Since part of the road is also the southwestern border of the

, there is no development along the stretch, resulting in no danger of vehicles pulling out in front of those in the right of way. It mostly travels through a forested area and there are a few scenic overlooks and pull-off points along the route. The

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...

on the Dragon was before 1992; it was reduced to in 2005. The presence of law enforcement on the Tennessee portion has dramatically increased since 2007. During the summer months, the Blount County Rescue Squad maintains a presence on The Dragon on the weekends to assist

Rural/Metro Rural Metro Fire, founded in 1948, is an American private fire department that provides fire protection and emergency medical services to individual homeowners and commercial businesses in unincorporated locations throughout the United States, prim ...

with emergency calls stemming from the frequent motorcycle accidents that occur there, as Rural/Metro dispatches from nearby

Maryville, Tennessee Maryville is a city in and the county seat of Blount County, Tennessee, and is a suburb of Knoxville. Its population was 31,907 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area and a short distance from popular tourist desti ...

, and emergency response times may be in excess of an hour. Approximately 37 traffic fatalities were recorded on this stretch of road from 2000 to 2017. In December 2021,

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

CGP Grey CGP Grey is an American-Irish educational YouTuber, podcaster, and live streamer who creates short explanatory videos on subjects including politics, geography, economics, sociology, history, and culture. In addition to video production, Grey ...

drove a

Tesla Model 3 The Tesla Model 3 is a compact executive sedan that is battery powered and produced by Tesla. Limited production of the Model 3 began in mid-2017, with the first production vehicle rolling off the assembly line on July 7, 2017. The officia ...

equipped with the latest beta version of

Tesla Autopilot Tesla Autopilot is a suite of advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) features offered by Tesla that amounts to SAE International Level 2 vehicle automation. Its features are lane centering, traffic-aware cruise control, automatic lane cha ...

through Deals Gap. The autopilot successfully navigated the route without human intervention.

References

External links

Google Earth view

Deals Gap
at the

Open Directory Project DMOZ (from ''directory.mozilla.org'', an earlier domain name, stylized in lowercase in its logo) was a multilingual open-content directory of World Wide Web links. The site and community who maintained it were also known as the Open Directory ...

Chasing the Tail of the Dragon
Reference point article on 2014 Tail of the Dragon (TOD) at Deals Gap, North Carolina {{authority control Unincorporated communities in North Carolina Unincorporated communities in Swain County, North Carolina Motorcycling subculture in the United States Communities of the Great Smoky Mountains U.S. Route 129

The Dragon

See also

References

External links