Moonshiner 28: Deals Gap to Franklin
55 miles of North Carolina Highway 28 south from Deals Gap to Franklin, nearly continuous curves the whole way and named for the bootleggers who used it to cross state lines during Prohibition. Picks up right where the Tail of the Dragon ends.
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Check current North Carolina road conditions before a trip; NC 511 covers statewide closures and this stretch runs through mountain terrain that sees rockslides and washouts. Check current access · Reviewed 2026-09-22
Planning the drive
This picks up exactly where the Tail of the Dragon ends and doesn't let up: 220 counted bends and 25 switchbacks over 55.5 miles, a sustained density (4.0 bends per mile) held over five times the distance of the Dragon itself. The name is real history, not marketing — bootleggers used this route to move liquor across the NC/TN line during Prohibition because its remoteness and endless curves made it hard to intercept. Rider Magazine: Riding 'Shine Country
Far less trafficked than the Dragon it connects to — most visitors turn around at Deals Gap rather than continuing south — which is the appeal and the risk in the same breath: fewer other cars, but also fewer people around if something goes wrong on a long remote stretch. Check current North Carolina road conditions before relying on it; this is mountain terrain that sees real rockslides and washouts.
Roads to connect
- Tail of the Dragon · US 129Starts exactly where the Dragon ends at Deals Gap.
Driving notes updated .
Road shape
- Length
- 55.5 mi
- Bends
- 220
- Switchbacks
- 25
- Bends per mile
- 4
- Turning per mile
- 409°
- Curviest rank
- 78of 152
Measured from the OpenStreetMap centreline at a 20 m sampling step — road shape only, not a safety or speed judgement. How bends are counted.
Elevation
- Total climb
- 10,393ft
- Climb per mile
- 187ft
- Highest point
- 2,508ft
- Steepest grade
- 7.7%
Sampled every 100 m from USGS 10 m elevation data, a public-domain federal dataset. Total climb counts vertical change in both directions, so it does not depend on which way you drive. How elevation is measured.
Speed limits
Varies
Unverified
Check posted signs along the road.
OpenStreetMap tags this route between 35 and 55 mph depending on the section, but this project does not treat OSM tags alone as a verified source. Follow posted signs.
Posted signs always govern. How speed evidence is handled.
Sources
Difficulty 3/3 (Demanding) is our editorial rating of width, bends and sightlines; “Technical” describes character, not a target speed. Full method. Identified from:
- Rider Magazine: Riding 'Shine Country — the Tail of the Dragon and North Carolina's Moonshiner 28
- Wikipedia: North Carolina Highway 28
- OpenStreetMap road data (45 ways in this trace)
Reviewed 2026-09-16. The trace shows selected road sections, not a navigation route.
Roads nearby
Distances are approximate straight lines between road centers, not driving distances or direct connections.