This whole regions lives and dies with the tourist dollars, and October is peak season, so this is hitting especially hard. While it seems crazy, if you're able to make your way up here, portions of Asheville (main downtown area) are open and wanting our business!
We're in the NW corner of Carter county, TN and up several 100 feet above the valley, so we didn't have issues in our immediate area, but portions of our county are still in bad shape.
Roan Mountain, about 20 min up road from us, got hit pretty hard so the State CG is closed indefinitely.
Parts of Asheville (River Arts District and along the French Broad River), Swannanoa, and Black Mountain are all very bad to very, very bad.
CGs in that area:
Moma Gerties is fine, it's up on the side of a mountain and I-40 is reopened there at their exit. You can get to it from Asheville or Charlotte direction.
Asheville East KOA is leveled and closed indefinitely.
I'm not sure about Asheville West KOA
From Asheville to Johnson City, TN I-26 is washed out in Erwin, TN (just down the north slope about 15 miles north of the border) - ETA for repair is March 2025. There is a detour around the damage, and I'm going to run down to NC this weekend and see how it goes. I drove a longer detour a few weeks ago and I could take my rig on that route, I'd rather not - lots of 2-lane mountain curves & switchbacks. I'll report back on Saturday how the shorter detour goes.
I-40 at the TN/NC border - east of Gatlinburg, TN area is washed out and closed, ETA repair for September 2025. They're likely gonna have to build a bridge where there wasn't one before. Detour is to take I-81 from Knoxville to I-77 into Charlotte, or I-75 south to Atlanta, and I-85 north back towards SC. I'm not sure about local detours, haven't researched yet but that's very mountainous, steep terrain. Any detour is 2-lane state routes through the mountains - not very rig-friendly but doable if you have no other options. State Route 25 from Pigeon Forge to Marshal, NC (north of Asheville) is an option, but portions along that route had flooding so check first. I've driven that route before, it's passable in a rig but gonna be about an hour of white-knuckle driving !
I-26 from the TN border south into SC is open and fine.
I-40 from Asheville to Charlotte is open and fine.
Areas such as Grandfather Mountain are open for business, but the areas around Asheville remain closed. Lake Lure, Chimney Rock are closed indefinitely and it's gonna be years to repair.
There's a CG called Big Mike's Creekside in Newland NC that, amazingly, got by with little to no damage so is open (if you can get to it)!
If you're in the area, consider visiting and, of course, check your route and call the CGs first!
We're in the NW corner of Carter county, TN and up several 100 feet above the valley, so we didn't have issues in our immediate area, but portions of our county are still in bad shape.
Roan Mountain, about 20 min up road from us, got hit pretty hard so the State CG is closed indefinitely.
Parts of Asheville (River Arts District and along the French Broad River), Swannanoa, and Black Mountain are all very bad to very, very bad.
CGs in that area:
Moma Gerties is fine, it's up on the side of a mountain and I-40 is reopened there at their exit. You can get to it from Asheville or Charlotte direction.
Asheville East KOA is leveled and closed indefinitely.
I'm not sure about Asheville West KOA
From Asheville to Johnson City, TN I-26 is washed out in Erwin, TN (just down the north slope about 15 miles north of the border) - ETA for repair is March 2025. There is a detour around the damage, and I'm going to run down to NC this weekend and see how it goes. I drove a longer detour a few weeks ago and I could take my rig on that route, I'd rather not - lots of 2-lane mountain curves & switchbacks. I'll report back on Saturday how the shorter detour goes.
I-40 at the TN/NC border - east of Gatlinburg, TN area is washed out and closed, ETA repair for September 2025. They're likely gonna have to build a bridge where there wasn't one before. Detour is to take I-81 from Knoxville to I-77 into Charlotte, or I-75 south to Atlanta, and I-85 north back towards SC. I'm not sure about local detours, haven't researched yet but that's very mountainous, steep terrain. Any detour is 2-lane state routes through the mountains - not very rig-friendly but doable if you have no other options. State Route 25 from Pigeon Forge to Marshal, NC (north of Asheville) is an option, but portions along that route had flooding so check first. I've driven that route before, it's passable in a rig but gonna be about an hour of white-knuckle driving !
I-26 from the TN border south into SC is open and fine.
I-40 from Asheville to Charlotte is open and fine.
Areas such as Grandfather Mountain are open for business, but the areas around Asheville remain closed. Lake Lure, Chimney Rock are closed indefinitely and it's gonna be years to repair.
There's a CG called Big Mike's Creekside in Newland NC that, amazingly, got by with little to no damage so is open (if you can get to it)!
If you're in the area, consider visiting and, of course, check your route and call the CGs first!
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