UP THE RIVER

Deep in the Linville Gorge Wilderness, the Linville Gorge Trail religiously follows the Linville River for more than 10 miles. It leaves the riverside occasionally due to the rugged terrain, but for the most part, the river is its companion. Unfortunately, it ends too soon. A couple of miles downstream of Linville Falls, the trail abandons the river, climbing out to the Kistler Memorial Highway on the west rim of the gorge.

This has always bothered me. Why doesn’t the trail continue upstream, to the falls? Is it because of the rugged terrain? It’s possible, but the terrain downstream from the falls hardly seems any more rugged than elsewhere in the gorge. I’ve always wondered what might be hiding in that remote, seemingly inaccessible part of the gorge.

Of course, the absence of a trail doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to hike there. The mountains of North Carolina are currently bone dry. There has been maybe one decent rain there in the last month. With water levels near record lows (30 cubic feet per second), last weekend was the perfect time for a river walk.

It’s a long haul from where the LGT leaves the river up to Linville Falls. It wouldn’t be a long hike on a proper trail, but walking in a river has a way of slowing your pace. I wasn’t sure that tackling that distance would be reasonable in a single day. Fortunately, I got a tip on a message board about a scramble path that could cut the hike in half.

I explained my plan to my hiking buddy, Jack. Jack was the perfect person to suggest this hike to, as he’s enthusiastic enough to try some of my crazier ideas, but not insane enough to sign up for a suicide mission. He seemed all for it, which surprised me a little bit. I think part of me was hoping he’d tried to talk me out of it. After all, I still have bruises from our last river walk and bushwhack up Steels Creek a few weeks ago.

Christy and I headed up to the mountains on Friday evening. We camped at Price Park, which was a bit of a zoo. On Saturday morning I managed to get up before sunrise to take some photos of Grandfather Mountain from Price Lake. Later we enjoyed perfect weather for tailgating and an ASU football game. By Sunday morning though, I was ready for an adventure!

Christy dropped me and the dog off at the Linville Falls Visitors Center, where Jack was waiting for me. She headed back towards Boone to do a 45 mile bike ride while Jack and I gathered our gear for the day’s adventure.

We walked the Park Service Trails, which weren’t terribly crowded at 10am. We knew that would change though, so we made visits to a couple of the overlooks first. Last was Erwin’s View, where we enjoyed a long-range vista of the falls and the surrounding cliffs. More interesting to me was the view downstream. There the river cut through a deep gorge. If everything went according to plan, that’s where we’d be in a couple of hours.

We backtracked from Erwin’s View and found the beginning of the Marion Wright Trail without any difficulty. The trail is unmarked, but it’s pretty obvious if you know where to look. We followed this trail, which was in pretty good shape, south along the cliffs. Although we were close to the rim of the gorge, this section is wooded and the views are limited.

We crested a minor hill and continued to follow the ridge. After a few minutes, we reached a point where the river makes a sharp bend to the west. The trail parallels the river from high above, but this is where we left the relative sanity of a pleasant path. An obvious ridge drops steeply south right where the trail curves to the west. There is a fair bit of fire damage here, which actually makes the initial descent easier. Beyond the burn, we found ourselves on a faint path. We were able to follow it for some distance before it faded away in a rhododendron thicket.

At this point we knew we were close to the river. Turning back never crossed our minds as we thrashed our way through the rhodos. We headed down, following the path of least resistance. Before long, we could actually see the water below us. Unfortunately, the final drop to the river looked dangerously steep. It was hard to tell from the middle of the rhododendron thicket, but a safe route down wasn’t apparent. We’d have to find another way. But should we head upstream, or down?

Initially we headed downstream for no apparent reason. After a bit of crawling, we reached another point that we couldn’t descend. This was discouraging, and we ended up circling back upstream. After 20 minutes or so, we were right back where we started.

Our other option was upstream, so we tried that. It was even uglier this way, with some gnarly thorns and Devil’s Walking Stick mixed in with the rhododendrons. I’ve done some nasty bushwhacks over the years, and this one was about as bad as it gets. At one spot, Jack lost his hat – twice. The worst part was having to crawl over a fallen tree and under a tangle of rhododendron limbs on the edge of a cliff.

Luckily, beyond that obstacle the terrain was more reasonable. We managed to descend the rest of the way to the river. There we found a heavenly stretch of rapids, pools, and smooth, sunny rocks. We stopped there for an early lunch and cooled off in the river. It was a great spot, and needless to say, we had it all to ourselves.

Before we left, I wandered downstream a short distance. I quickly found myself at the base of a 30’sheer cliff. The brink of that cliff was the spot we had reached on our initial descent. I’m glad we chose to find a safer way down!

It was right at noon when we began our adventure upstream. Initially we were able to follow the bank on the west side. We walked on rocks that are probably submerged during normal flows. The easy walking didn’t last long though. Before long, we were forced to get wet. We walked up the river, which was easier than expected. The current was fairly gentle, and some stretches of the river bottom had moss that actually provided traction. Other areas were slippery, but we managed to get through the hike without a single fall.

Before long we passed an obvious path descending the steep bank on the west side of the river. I think this was the path we had followed down from the Marion Wright Trail. Apparently we lost it somewhere along the way. If I ever do this again, staying on that path will be my top priority!

We continued up the river, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, and occasionally in the middle. We probably could’ve stayed on the banks most of the way, but much of it was overgrown with weeds and with awkward rocks underfoot. Frequently it was easier to simply walk in the river.

We did find some outstanding scenery along here. The best part was directly below Erwin’s View. We found a lovely cascade here, with a massive cliff towering above us. A bit upstream we actually stumbled upon a small campsite with a fire ring. Near here I spotted what looked like a primitive trail descending the east bank. It may have been nothing, but it sure looked like a scramble path of some sort. Perhaps there is way down to the river from the north end of the Red Trail?

Once beyond the cliffs of Erwin’s View we knew we were close. Still, it was a shock to see people on the rocks in the middle of the river. The falls was just beyond. Approaching it this way was really cool, especially for Jack, who’d never been to the base of Linville Falls before.

The plunge pool wasn’t too busy, despite the perfect weekend weather. We loitered there for awhile, as we weren’t in any hurry. The hike upstream had only taken a little over an hour. This was much faster than I had expected. I suppose we could’ve managed the whole hike from the north end of the LGT to the falls. Oh well, I guess we’ll save that part for next time.

We loitered for awhile and made some (mostly) futile efforts at photographing the falls despite the bright sunshine. I had actually left my tripod in the car, due to the poor lighting. This proved to be a mistake though, as a few stray clouds did give Jack the chance to make some decent photos. I think I learned a lesson here – always bring the tripod!

After an hour or so, we headed out. We climbed the park service trail and steps, and completely missed the Yoricks Trail junction even though we were looking for it. By the time we reached the side trail to the Plunge Basin Overlook, I knew we had missed it. Since we were there, we took a few minutes to take in that view. Then we doubled-back in search of the Yoricks Trail junction.

I’d never hiked the Yoricks Trail, but since it was early, I wanted to do something to extend our hike. On our second attempt we found it, although it was still far from obvious. We hiked the Yoricks Trail, which didn’t have any views. Still, it was a pleasant walk in the woods, and at the very least it gave us a break from the tourists that were now swarming Linville Falls.

We hiked Yoricks for 30 minutes or so before arriving at a primitive sign on a tree that announced that Sittin Bear was 5 hours ahead. That didn’t sound right, so we consulted our maps. Somehow we had missed the junction with the trail that would take us back to the Visitors Center. We headed back, and missed the junction again. This time though, we wandered down the correct trail, rather than the one we had hiked to reach that point. We were really puzzled when we found ourselves approaching the parking lot! This all worked out well though, as Christy arrived about 10 minutes later to pick me up.

The next time I’m itching to do a river walk, I’ll have to try starting from the northern end of the LGT. I still want to explore the stretch of river around Babel Tower, too. It looks like those hikes will have to wait until next summer though, as the mountains are expecting a good bit of rain over the next few days.

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