I will be riding in the Deals Gap/Dragon/Robbinsville area June 3-6. If anyone is going to be there, please let me know. I would love to meet up for some rides.
I've heard on our local sportbike forum and on the the Deal's Gap Inn Facebook page that the Governor is leaving the road closed because they cannot strike a deal with North Carolina for who will patrol and provide EMT services to the road.
Actually Deal's Gap is open on the North Carolina side. There is no access from the Tennessee side due to the rock slide. US129 is closed down by the lake between where the curves start and the Foothills Pkwy. If you come up into Robbinsville via the Cherohala Skyway you can get to Deal's Gap and the Robbinsviller area.
There is good news and bad news on the Dragon. The good is due to the closure on the TN side, there are no semi's coming through blocking the road in every tight corner. The bad is there is a heightened Highway Patrol presence due to TN having to rely on NC support for EMS.
The Dragon is actually open from the North Carolina side, it is just not a through street. You can ride the full length of it from NC to the rockslide in TN from 8am-8pm, you just have to turn around and go back. It might actually be a good thing with no through traffic, no trucks, tourists in cars, etc. Besides, there are tons of great roads all around. Even if it were totally closed, I would go just to ride Cherohala Skyway and others.
Ooops! Looks like I was responding at the same time as someone else
I really enjoyed the Blueridge Parkway - it was worth the ride in itself. Next time I want to ride the Cherohala Skyway as I understand it is awesome. Have a great trip!