UP THE CANYON

The sun is sinking low down in the west;
Another working day has put me to the test.
At every turn the air grows cooler as I climb,
Up the canyon I feel better every time.
Quiet Contemplation, a few minutes to unwind.
River’s got me hypnotized
And I love to smell the pines
Tomorrow brings another day of working
’Till I'm up the canyon headed home again!

The river cuts a steady course,
From years of heading' seaward.
Follow that canyon back upstream.
The rivers song is pure and true,
it never ages.
It's as timeless as a dream.

From “Up the Canyon” by The String Cheese Incident

A few weeks ago I received an email from a friend I hadn’t seen in years. Christy and I met Dave while backpacking in the Canadian Rockies back in 2005. We hiked with him for a few days on that trip. The next year we met up with him for another backpacking trip, this time through the Wind River Range in Wyoming. We hadn’t crossed paths since then though.

In Dave’s email, he mentioned that he was planning to travel to North Carolina for a few weeks in May. He suggested getting together for a hike, and also asked for suggestions for hiking and backpacking in North Carolina. To that point, his hiking experience in North Carolina had been limited to a section of the A.T. in the Nantahala National Forest, many years ago, and a trip in the Smokies a few weeks ago. I sent him a lengthy email with hike suggestions. I also mentioned that I could probably get away for a weekend backpacking trip while he was in the area.

Of course I considered all kinds of options for our trip. The only thing I really ruled out was the Smokies, since Dave had just been there. Ultimately I decided on the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area. That was one of the areas that I’d suggested he visit. I have no doubt he could’ve hiked the gorge solo. However, many of the gorge’s best features are hidden gems that he would have trouble finding on his own. Together though, I could lead him to some of those places.

I called the ranger station on Wednesday, and luckily there were still permits available. I had one faxed, and started thinking about possible routes. I considered two options. The first was on the east rim, from the Table Rock area to Shortoff and back. The other was on the west side, including the Rockjock Trail and a long stretch of the Linville Gorge Trail. Ultimately I went with the second option for a couple of reasons. First, we would have two cars, so I figured we might as well make use of them and do a shuttle hike. Second, the west-side route would include a wide variety of scenery, including views from the cliffs along Rockjock, the intimacy of the river, the pinnacle of Babel Tower, and even Linville Falls, where we’d finish the trip.

Dave drove down from Cleveland on Friday afternoon and car camped in the National Forest parking areaz at Linville Falls. I drove up from Charlotte Saturday morning, and despite heavy fog early on, I still made it to the trailhead on time at 9am. When I pulled in, I was shocked to see the parking area deserted except for Dave’s car. Somehow I knew it wouldn’t be like that on Sunday afternoon when we finished.

We spent a few minutes getting reacquainted before managing to squeeze me, my pack, and Boone into Dave’s car. We drove down the Kistler Memorial Highway, which was in rough shape thanks to recent heavy rains. There were a couple of washed-out spots that made us hold our breath, but Dave managed to get us through. We drove all the way to the Pinch In Trailhead, where we found two or three other cars. We unloaded there and then walked back up the road for ten minutes to the southern entrance to the Rockjock Trail.

The Rockjock is one of my favorite trails, and I was looking forward to showing it off to Dave. It didn’t take us long to get into some fine scenery. After a steep descent, we began contouring along a bench on the rim of the canyon. This area was badly burned in a fire a few years ago, and the lack of trees granted us many fine views. These included Shortoff, Table Rock, the river, and the cliffs of the east rim. I was expecting those views, but what came as a surprise was all of the young, green vegetation covering the hillsides. I tend to hike the Rockjock Trail in cool weather because of the lack of shade, and I had never been through here in May. The lack of shade was more than made up for by abundant shrubs and flowers. One shrub was particularly profuse, and it featured a flower I couldn’t identify:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9067009@N03/5718527983/in/set-72157626593323441

Dave speculated that it might be in the rose family because of the prickly stem, but we weren’t sure. Aside from those flowers, the Mountain Laurel along here was just getting ready to bloom. We started running into Rhododendron, including Carolina Rhododendron and Rosebay Rhododendron, later on, in the shade.

We continued north on the Rockjock, alternating between the the rim of the gorge and the headwaters of numerous small canyons that bisect the trail. It was along here that I was reminded of the key difference between dayhiking and backpacking. Our packs weren’t terribly heavy, but they still made negotiating fallen trees and awkward footing much more difficult.

I was determined not to miss the side trail out to Razors Edge Point on this hike. Razors Edge is one of the most spectacular spots in the whole gorge, and I knew Dave would want to see it. I had just started watching for it when I reached an obvious side path heading in the correct direction. However, it didn’t look right to me. Still, I didn’t want to risk missing it, so we took the path. We followed it downhill through thin forest, with occasional peaks of the canyon below teasing us onwards. The farther we went, the more certain I was that we weren’t heading for Razors Edge Point. I was curious though, so we pressed on. A few minutes later we emerged on an impressive cliff. We were at Sunshine Point, which I’d last visited 10 or 12 years ago. Razors Edge Point was immediately to our north, and the view from here is nearly as good. Appropriately, the overlook was bathed in sunshine.

It was a bit before noon, but there was no way we were passing up this ideal lunch spot. While eating, we enjoyed views of Shortoff, the NC Wall, the Amphitheatre, the Chimneys, Table Rock, Hawksbill, and the river 1000’ below. We also watched a group of buzzards soaring on the thermals, high above the river.

After lunch we returned to the trail and continued north. After a few minutes we reached the side trail to Razors Edge. We skipped it though, as we didn’t really have enough time to check out every feature along Rockjock. We pressed on to Split Rock, Bluejay Falls, and Hackers Point. We did make a short side trip out to Lost Dog Pond and Petraeus Point for more views. Petraeus Point used to be called Osama Point back before 9/11. I don’t know who it was originally named for, but I’m sure it wasn’t THAT Osama. Still, maybe we should think about changing the name again, from Petraeus Point to Seal Team Six Point? Somehow that just seems appropriate.

We continued on to the Conley Cove Trail and started down. Conley Cove was in good shape, save for one fallen tree that had managed to block the trail twice! We passed the caves and continued descending on more switchbacks. There were lots of flowers along here, too, including a profusion of Solomon’s Seal. We eventually made it down to the river and the Linville Gorge Trail. There was one couple camped just downstream from the junction, while the site immediately upstream was badly trashed, as usual.

It was getting late in the afternoon, but we still had several hours of daylight to work with. Still, I knew we’d have to start looking for a campsite soon. I didn’t want to camp in Conley Cove, as that area tends to be crowded and trashy. At this point though, we hadn’t seen many people. We’d passed two small groups of dayhikers, and the couple camped near the junction were the only other backpackers we’d seen. Still, I knew that good campsites were few and far between along the LGT. I hoped we’d find a decent site farther upstream as we resumed our hike.

We reached the waterfall sometimes called Cathedral Falls (though I’m of the belief that Cathedral Falls actually refers to a large rapid on the river) a bit later. There is a small campsite below the LGT across from the waterfall, and I descended to check it out. Unfortunately there were only two small tent sites, and one was right at the bottom of the path that descends steeply from the LGT. That path is straight down, and it would be a natural runoff channel after a good rain. Since rain was in the forecast for that night, we decided to continue on. I could just see one of us swimming in our tent there in the middle of the night.

We passed the Spence Ridge Trail junction and continued upstream. We climbed away from the river again, traversing steep cliffs with difficult footing and occasional deadfall. We also passed some impressive rock formations, including massive overhanging cliffs and small caves. We saw a few possible campsites, but they were all marginal at best. Finally we spotted a good one, on a bank above the river. I was pretty sure we were close to Sandy Flats, but this spot was too good to pass up. Plus it was 5:30, 7 ½ hours after we’d started our hike. The only thing the site lacked was a side stream for water. After a bit of debate we decided to filter the river water. I’m pretty sure drinking a few liters of Linville River water won’t kill me.

We set up camp, did our chores, and got dinner going. I enjoyed jambalaya with sausage while Dave dined on Tuna Mac. Boone had the usual, plus some of Dave’s leftover Tuna Mac. We relaxed around the (cold) firepit afterwards, enjoying the sound of the tree frogs and the river rushing by below us. We chatted about all kinds of things, including some recent and favorite trips. Eventually a few raindrops interceded, and we took that as a sign that it was bed time.

I slept well, except when Boone would pace around the tent and then collapse on top of me. Without him, I may have slept straight through the night! I woke up the next morning surprised, as there hadn’t been any rain while we slept. It was a cloudy morning though, and I knew that we might still catch it. Still, I was hopeful that the weather would hold off for us on the final day of our trip.

We had a quick breakfast, broke camp, and hit the trail around 8:45. We continued up the canyon on the LGT and reached Sandy Flats a couple of minutes later. Surprisingly, there wasn’t anyone camped there. We hiked on, first climbing away from the river before returning to it. We finally ran into some folks camped along the river just before the climb up to Babel Tower. Still I was surprised at just how quiet the gorge was on a nice Spring weekend.

We climbed on switchbacks towards Babel Tower. Part of the way up we were treated to a nice view of Table Rock downstream and the Futuristic Wall towering over us on the far side of the river. We reached the Babel Tower junction a few minutes later. The Carolina Rhododendrons were particularly beautiful here. We dropped our packs there so we could make the side trip out to Babel Tower.

I actually found the correct ascent path up the tower on the first try. We all scrambled up, and Boone almost made it unassisted, needing only one boost. At the top we found a tent and a solo backpacker. We met the backpacker, Matt, who currently lives in Eden, NC. We talked with him for a bit while taking in the view of Table Rock and Hawksbill down the canyon. In the other direction, dark clouds threatened. Luckily though, those storms seemed content to stay just north of us.

Eventually all three of us descended and then climbed up to another section of towers farther east. We walked out Hells Ridge a short distance to another overlook of the canyon below. From here it looked like we would need to backtrack and descend through dense vegetation to continue farther east. It was getting on towards lunch time though, and I was hungry. I decided to save further explorations of that area for another time, and we headed back to the junction with the LGT, where we’d left our packs. We had lunch there and enjoyed the flowers. A couple of groups of dayhikers passed by while we ate. Still it was hardly crowded.

After lunch we continued upstream on the LGT. The dayhikers we had seen had been headed for the cascade just upstream from Babel Tower, so we decided to skip it. We hiked on, and somehow I missed the junction with the Cabin Trail when we passed it. We hiked by more impressive cliffs, caves, and other rock formations, and enjoyed more flowers along with the occasional view of the river. Later we descended a short side path to an impressive rapid. We got water from a side stream there before resuming our hike.

We enjoyed one more stretch of trail along the river before beginning an arduous ascent to the junction with the Bynum Bluff and Pine Gap Trails. There I suggested taking the side trip down to the bottom of Bynum Bluff. It had been a long time since I’d been there, and I wanted to revisit that area. That side trip is longer than I remembered, but eventually we found ourselves back down at the river. Oddly there is a large trash can there. It was overflowing, and I hope whoever put it there is planning on coming back to empty it soon.

We returned to the 4-way intersection and continued north on the Pine Gap Trail. For some reason I was thinking that the hard hiking was behind us, but I was wrong. Before long we were back down almost at river level. Another grueling climb ensued, with more slippery, awkward footing. By the time we reached the Pine Gap Trailhead, Dave and I were both ready to call it a day. Unfortunately my car wasn’t at that trailhead. It was on up the road at Linville Falls.

I contemplated just walking up the road to the car. However, I really liked the idea of finishing the trip at Linville Falls. Plus, Dave had never seen it before. With renewed determination, we started up the Marion Wright Trail bound for the falls.

Compared to the LGT, the Marion Wright Trail was a gentle woodland stroll. We passed lots of flowers, including quite a few Crested Dwarf Iris. At the first side trail signed “view” I descended to check it out. I was most of the way down to the overlook when I realized that I really should’ve left my pack at the junction. The side path ends on a tiny, precarious perch high above the river, with a neat view of a line of cliffs upstream. Unfortunately the overlook has just enough vegetation to prevent a good photo.

I rejoined Dave on the main trail and we continued on to the next overlook spur trail. I started down this one, but quickly realized that this was going to require a long hike out of the way. It was getting late, so I decided to save this for another time. We continued on, enjoying some easy hiking for a change. We popped out of the woods onto the trail to Erwin’s View, and scared the hell out of a group of tourists in the process. That made the trip worthwhile all by itself!

We walked down to Erwin’s View to check out the falls. Then we headed out, through swarms of tourists out for a walk on Mother’s Day. We reached my car around 6 and headed back down Kistler to pick up Dave’s vehicle. The condition of the road hadn’t gotten any worse, and we made it through without much trouble. At the other trailhead Dave shared a post-hike beer and we discussed his plans for the next few weeks. We looked at some maps, and I gave him some additional suggestions. I hit the road at 7:15, rather late for dinner. I made record time going home though, thanks to some aggressive driving down the mountain on Kistler and no stops. I made it to southwest Charlotte by 9pm, and Christy was nice enough to wait on me for dinner. It was a fine ending to a great weekend. I enjoyed seeing Dave again after all these years and giving him a tour of one of my favorite places. Now I’m looking forward to hearing about the rest of his trip.

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