Foothills Parkway East, Tennessee, United States

5The_Loup_Garou 5:00 PM Aug 21, 2018

Foothills Parkway East (Hwy 339) - Lovely!
As we stay at Blackberry Farm, in Walland, we had not driven this section of the Foothills Parkway East (Hwy 339), in just too many years. I had forgotten how beautiful it is, and actually probably more so, than the other section, Foothills Parkway 8G, that goes down from Walland, to connect with Hwy 129 (leading to Tail of the Dragon). The Hwy 339 section of Foothills Parkway has more twists, and elevational changes, and that is always fun, especially in a little Lexus convertible, from the BBF "fleet." It was a lovely Spring (early Spring, as there had just been light snow) day, and the Foothills Parkway was just what we needed. While the trees were just beginning to leaf out, the roadway was the star. Traffic was light, and my wife put the little cabriolet through its paces. When we last drove this section, it was mid-October, and traffic was bumper-to-bumper, but the Autumn color was spectacular. One plus for this Spring drive was that some vistas, normally obscured by leaves, were open, and gorgeous. I highly recommend that anyone in the area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, take the time to drive this section of highway. We spent about an hour going from Cosby to I-40, then looped back via Hwy 32/Waterville Rd. The whole loop took us about 3 hrs, and those were hours well-spent.

5The_Loup_Garou 5:00 PM May 30, 2019

A Lovely Spring Drive
In May, we had the opportunity to drive all three sections of the Foothills Parkway: The Foothills Parkway East (Cosby), the new section between Walland and Wears Valley, and then the original section, between Walland and Tail of the Dragon. This is a review of the former, the Foothills Parkway East. We left Cosby at Hwy 321 and 329, headed east/northeast toward I-40, near Hartford . Note: Foothills Parkway East is designated as Hwy 329. Signage to the Foothills Parkway East was very good in Cosby, so no issues there. Unlike the two other sections of the Foothills Parkway, this one has more turns, though the alignment is still good, as is the grade. In age, it is the middle child of the three sections – the other two now being contiguous. There is doubt that they will all ever be joined. The views are probably a bit better in the Foothills Parkway East section, though we found good views on all three sections. Heading east/northeast, from Cosby, as we were, the better pull-outs are on the right side of the roadway, looking back toward Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and toward Lindsey Gap. We stopped at most, and were rewarded with very good, to great views. Traffic was light on this Spring morning, and most vehicles were motorcycles (like on the other two sections of the Foothills Parkway). Maybe it’s because of the turns, depicted on the maps, but it seems that automobile drivers just avoid the Foothills Parkway, and all three segments. After about 2 hours of easy driving (including stops for the little parking areas), we were at I-40, and headed to Waterville Rd, and Hwy 32 (now that had some major twists to it), and finally back to our cottage in Walland. It was a lovely day, and a lovely drive, and I was glad that on this trip, we completed the entirety of all three sections of the Foothills Parkway. We both agreed that the Foothills Parkway East was the most beautiful of the three.