The Cherohala Skyway was completed in the fall of 1996 after being under construction for some thirty-three years. It is North Carolina's most expensive highway carrying a pricetag of $100,000,000. Winding up and over 6,000 foot mountains for about 15 miles in North Carolina, it then descends another 30 miles into the deeply forested backcountry of Tennessee. The road connects Robbinsville, NC, with Tellico Plains, TN. It can be desolate at night or in the winter months and there are no facilities other than restrooms for the entire 48 miles. There is little evidence of civilization from the views that rival or surpass any from the Blue Ridge Parkway.