I was up there on Saturday with my girlfriend. We rode from Athens to Tellico Plains, across the Skyway and into Robbinsville. WAY too much traffic around the Dragon so we skipped that and rode to Cherokee and then on to Mt. Mitchell. Then back into Asheville for dinner and down to Franklin, NC for the night. There are so many better roads than the Dragon, if you'd just venture out and do a little wandering.
It was cold and rainy most of the day.
Oh, and I hate trikes.