Day 5 began with a resolve to enjoy the ride and more threat of rain and fog. The ‘rents had agreed to come up and play sag wagon with me today so I started with a climb from Asheville to Mt. Pisgah while I was waiting for them. By far the longest climb of the ride it was great fun although the Tunnels were a bit intimidating and the rain started to fall as I was descending back to the car.
I met up with the ‘rents back at Mt. Pisgah and we started the long ride south.
We set out with the goal of riding to the end of the parkway rather than doing both directions. I have to admit that after 4 days of climbing every hill I was glad to be able to enjoy a descent without having to climb it again 
The day proved to be both beautiful and dreary. Today contained tunnel after tunnel (many on the descnet into Cherokee).
The trees pictured here were at around 5800 feet at the top of the last long climb (7 miles) of the day.
Heavy fog above 5600 feet was no fun and the descent of the last 7 miles was done in driving rain but I was glad to have gotten to the southern end of the parkway with just 1 missed climb (Mitchell).
We celebrated with a buffet lunch at Harrahs and headed back to Asheville for an evening at the Biltmore Inn.
The ride is certainly not without its asterisks (the biggest one the missed miles between Little Swizterland & Asheville). In total I rode around 380 miles and climbed over 50,000 ft.