MotoRevRoute Twisty Staff Pick
The Snake (US 421)
Bristol to Mountain City
- Distance
- 31 mi
- Riding Time
- 52 min
- Climb
- 3,793 ft
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Surface
- Paved
- Character
- Twisty
- Saves
- 0
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Road Guide
- Best Season
- April through October. Leaves and frost make the shaded curves slick late in the year.
- Fuel
- Fill up in Bristol or Mountain City. Shady Valley has very limited services.
- Watch For
- Tight switchbacks with little runoff, logging and farm trucks, gravel in the apexes and law enforcement on busy weekends.
Weather Along the Route
Forecast at the hour you reach each point, from the riding time. Leave Departure empty to leave now. Forecast from Open-Meteo.
US 421 between Bristol and Mountain City is known to riders as The Snake. East of Bristol it climbs Holston Mountain in a long run of tight switchbacks, drops into the farmland of Shady Valley, then climbs and descends again toward Mountain City.
Stops
- StartBristol
- FinishMountain City
Comments
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- Distance
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- Time
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- Climb
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