It gets pretty busy in summer and fall but those times are when weather conditions are ideal for cruising down this epic road. Also, try to avoid it during the rainy spring season. Don't try to attempt the Dragon in winter, as these 318 turns can be quite treacherous in snowy and icy winter weather conditions. Need an excuse to drive the Tail of the Dragon? First of all, it’s surrounded by other slightly-less-curvy, but still exciting and scenic roads, and the Dragon can easily be worked into a scenic route toward Asheville, one of the most beautiful towns in the Carolinas. The Cherokee fought more than one battle in the area, it’s reported there’s at least one Civil War soldier buried near the road, and rumors of an angry land owner hanging motorists who wouldn’t pay his toll also figure into the lore of the Dragon being haunted. 11-mile stretch of Highway 129 in Tennessee and North Carolina. Death and bloodshed, however, also came to the area long before the paved road cut through Deal’s Gap. Five things to know about the deadly 'Tail of the Dragon,' a curvy, 11-mile stretch of Highway 129 in Tennessee and North Carolina. With the stretch having claimed the lives of many over the years (on average, the 11-mile Tail of the Dragon takes at least one life a year), it’s natural to assume the road just has to be haunted. For instance, travelers of the Dragon claim they’ve heard more than one ghost while on the road at night.
Of course, a stretch of road this famous has a legend or two surrounding it.
