Blood Mountain

For quite a while now I've written about how addicted I am to the drive over Blood Mountain - my daily commute while I was a student - and I've gotten some puzzled comments in the past about why I find the drive so interesting and exciting. So exciting that I actually grin and giggle when I get back to it after a few weeks or months away. What exactly draws me back to the same drive over and over again?

Simply put, it is driving nirvana for anyone who loves cars, loves the art of driving, and loves driving on a road that is anything but straight. The views are spectacular, the turns are challenging and potentially dangerous, but the experience is truly unforgettable.

I've driven Blood in a 1993 Mustang - which was not nearly as exciting as it sounds. Driving the LX Mustang with a four cylinder engine and very low torque doesn't make for a terribly quick drive. I've driven Blood in a 1995 Eclipse with a 205hp turbo-charged engine and all wheel drive that scared the living hell out of me. At 16 the Eclipse wasn't fast, it was frighteningly fast - and the sheer torque that jerked the car through the corners was so high that it left me in a cold sweat. I've also piloted a 1995 Miata, a 1988 Mercedes-Benz 190E - both of which were incredibly enjoyable - the 190 could handle even the tightest hairpin turns with only a hint of body roll. My 2000 Saturn was utterly forgettable but my most recent car, my 2005 Corolla S is truly the highlight of them all. Leather wrapped wheel, good horsepower, and more importantly, excellent torque and a great transmission leaves me wanting more each time I come off the mountain. I've had some really fantastic drives.

The road itself is remarkable and today I'll do my best to take you over it from memory - and hopefully give you an idea of what it is I'm raving about so often.

Heading towards Lumpkin County and my alma mater on highway 19/129 South, you pass the quaint and charming Sunrise Grocery - the sunrise itself actually breaking from just behind the tree line as you leave what little civilization you had, behind. Blood Mountain looms ahead with its dense pine and hardwood forest filling out the sides of the road. A series of gentle left right S bends is your first encounter with Blood Mountain, and reminds you that this will be no ordinary drive. Your first tight right hander is immediately followed by a medium left which presents you with the only passing lane you'll get before you descend the mountain on the other side. As you accelerate out of the corner and onto the straight past Vogel State Park, the passing lane continues; if you need to get out in front, this is the place to do it and the uphill grade will favor cars with good torque. As the passing lane ends nearly half a mile up the road, you'll enter your first tight left hander - a 90 degree corner that continues your rather steep ascent up the mountain which then breaks into a medium right that can be taken at a fairly high rate of speed. A few moments later, a fantastically quick left-right dogleg allows you to flick the wheel and roll the car at nearly 50mph as the trees part on your left - opening your view to the gorgeous mountains and valleys below. This is also the first time you'll meet a sheer rock wall to your right - with no guardrail - reminding you that while Blood is beautiful and exhilarating, it is not to be taken lightly.

A few more gentle kinks in the road and you'll wind your way past Mountain Crossings at the Walasi-Yi Center - an old CCC project turned hikers' hostel and home to some of the most scenic views around. You'll cruise past the tourists and bikers at a calm 20mph - but the truly exciting part of the drive, the descent, is about to begin. The road rolls sharply away down and to your right, as you steer past the 35mph speed limit and feel the car rapidly picking up momentum - begging to be opened up as you rush downhill and approach your first tight left hairpin turn. Braking before the corner, your pulse quickens as you lean into the tight left and feel the car roll as you accelerate through the apex and past a series of cabins on your left as you straighten out. The road still rolling downhill quickly, as it will for the next several miles - leads you into a tricky complex of corners, first a medium right, immediately followed by a blind tight 90 degree right hander. Careful braking is needed to get the car set up properly as you enter these corners. Clip the apex too tightly and you'll run wide on the exit - a very bad combination as oncoming traffic frequently clips the double yellow - leading to some very close calls. Another left hander follows as you then wind your away into a series of gentle to medium bends that really lets you to open up the throttle and slot through the corners. The view of the steep mountain faces to your right and the lush valleys which fall away ahead of you are breathtaking - and in the colder months, large sheets of ice and incredibly large icicles will hang from the sheer rock walls to your left. Sunrise here is absolutely breathtaking.

A true highlight of the drive then follows - two quick successions of S bends allow you to feel the suspension of your car put to the test. The first is a tight S bend - with yet another sheer rock wall to your left and another panoramic view on your right - line up the car properly here to get a rushing start and the chance to experience some relatively high cornering speeds. You must be cautious though - a bad line through here will lead you to stomp on the brakes to sort the car out again as you'll quickly run out of asphalt. Then comes my favorite part of the drive - another, much longer S series that breaks downhill and, when taken at the right speed, can allow you to slalom the car through the corners without braking or accelerating. It is a beautiful moment that leads into a tight, rapidly descending right hand hairpin turn that, when taken correctly, will give you the rare opportunity to feel your wrists cross as you turn your wheel to nearly complete lock - leaning your head to the right as you feel the car push towards the apex of the corner as the road continues to fall away. If you're ever going to feel the art of driving perfected without being on a race track - this is probably going to be your moment.

The other highlight comes in this same section, when taken in the opposite direction on the way back. The same series of S bends that you slalomed though the first time can be taken straight as you drive back up the mountain - this time you can watch your dashboard pitch left, then right, then left, and right again as the car rolls over the sloping undulations in the pavement. It's a fantastic moment that's nearly as much fun as the run downhill.

Another series of medium bends allows you to accelerate the car up to higher speeds, now approaching 50 to 60mph as you push the car harder, the wider section of road and the clearer views giving you a bit more nerve than before. These corners allow you really feel the car push the limits of adhesion - as you can force the front end into each bend - the road is pitched at just the right angle, giving you maximum grip. Finally you'll reach your next passing lane - which feels like forever if you've spent the entire time behind a logging truck or an out of state tourist. Blasting by any unwanted company, you'll use the passing lane to open up your apex and take the next series of rolling corners in a straighter line - feeling the car getting a bit nervous as you approach a medium left that also falls away from your driving line - that can still be taken at nearly 60mph in a Corolla, but only in the best of conditions.

As the passing lane ends you'll be approaching your last series of truly spectacular corners before you leave Blood Mountain. The lane ends with a downhill left, that will force you to gear down or, as in my case, pop back out of overdrive and feel the revs jump back up as the car settles back into a tighter line. A medium right is again followed by another, very tight, right hander, reminiscent of the same series of corners you had to take at just the right apex earlier in your drive. This time, however, the shoulder of the road is easily a car width and a half wider, allowing you to really drive deep into the corner and still come out of the other side cleanly - which means a higher cornering speed. By now you're nearly done, and a gentle medium right hander, taken at 50mph as you continue your last rapid descent under a gorgeous canopy of lush green trees, will provide your exit off the mountain as the heavy tree line breaks into a valley with another general store and a quaint country bridge. Your drive on Blood Mountain is now over. If done right, it's the most exhilarating and exciting twelve minutes of driving nirvana you could ever hope for at seven in the morning and one hell of a wake up call before class.

Blood Mountain is simply an amazing place - despite the name. It draws everyone from trail hikers working their way through the AT, to weekend vacationers, to daily commuters, to cyclists who tackle the daunting hills in an effort to increase their endurance, to auto enthusiasts who drive their Porsche 911, or their Lotus Elise, or their BMW Z4 up from Atlanta to take in a truly incredible drive.

A drive that I was fortunate enough to call "my daily grind" for four years and nearly 80,000 miles.