Linville Gorge is an awesome place to hike and backpack! The views from the Chimneys, Shortoff Mountain and Table Rock alone are incredible, not to mention the river itself, which is really cool too. The trails here are some of the steepest and toughest that I’ve hiked in the Eastern U.S., though I’ve been told by friends that it’s very challenging hiking up in the Northeast. In either case, anyone who has ever hiked in Linville Gorge will agree that you earn every view within its boundaries.
Our vehicle transit ended at the Wolf Pit Parking lot at the end of none other than Wolf Pit Road where the Shortoff Mountain Trailhead is located. The trail starts off at the Southeastern base of Shortoff Mountain and winds up the mountain for a bit before coming to the trail junction of Shortoff Mtn Trail and the MST(Mountains to Sea Trail). We headed West on the MST and descended steadily across a fire scorched landscape to the river where we contemplated whether to cross the river that night or in the morning. We decided to pitch camp because it was getting close to dusk and no one wanted to risk being cold and wet that night. We spent our first night at the spacious campsite on the East bank of the Linville River. The river is very wide at this area so the current is constant and repetitive and lulls you to sleep.
The following morning we crossed the river to the West bank and proceeded to head North on the Linville Gorge Trail. This was one of the roughest trails I’ve ever hiked due to a few factors that made it extremely difficult to walk smoothly and steadily and confidently. The trail was surrounded and covered with various sized rocks that would throw me off-balance and trap my boots which would in turn cause me to want to use my trekking poles. But the trail isn’t very wide so when I attempted to use my trekking poles they would get trapped by the rocks as well. Needless to say, this trail requires all of ones faculty to get through it safely. Even with all of that said it’s an incredible trail that I would do over again at any given time!
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We spent our second night at a campsite located under a grove of pine trees just up from the river bank. And although it was nearly impossible to find any firewood there, it’s still one of my favorite places to stay. It was large, flat and capable of providing a great site for several tents. The pine trees and needles added fragrance and cushion to an already awesome place. I can’t wait to go back and stay there again.
The next morning we headed out early because we knew we had a pretty long day ahead of us. We passed several campsites on the way to Spence Bridge but none of them as nice as the one we stayed at the night before. Spence Bridge was out so we had to hop across boulders and wade to get across the river and on up the Spence Ridge Trail. Spence Ridge proved to be a fairly tough trail to climb but nothing compared to what would be coming up in a few miles. At the top, Spence Ridge intersected Little Table Rock Trail where we headed East to a small parking lot off of FS210. We proceeded down FS210 about a half mile and headed Southwest on and up the MST to Table Rock parking area campground where we stopped for lunch. Let me just say that this section of the MST is by far the longest, steepest and straightest trail I’ve hiked anywhere in the East. It literally went straight up for a long way until finally it relented with some switchbacks. It was very tough.
We finally reached The Table Rock parking lot where we proceeded to rest and eat lunch at one of the several picnic tables at the South end of the parking lot. Once we finished, we headed South on the MST past the Table Rock Campground and on up to the Chimneys. We kept hiking on the ridge with some really great views and some tough little hill climbs until it leveled out a bit with more great views from rocky outcroppings. We came to Spring Tree Trail on the left and then a little further to our campsite(also on the left) was about .2 mile after that. There were a few campsites on the right that we passed but we settled on this one. It was spacious and flat with room for all of us. Come night-time there was a great view of the city lights from this campsite which added to its appeal.
Here are some of the things I remember about my first time at Linville Gorge…
A) After breakfast on the first morning we immediately had to ford the cold waters of the Linville River.
B) Very steep trails with little or zero switchbacks.
C) A good portion of side-hilling on extremely steep trails.
D) Hiking through fist and bowling ball size rocks along the river that tried their best to trap boots and twist ankles.
E) Beautiful night 2 campsite amongst a grove of pine trees just up from the river.
F) Hiking straight up, up and up a steep trail that took us up to The Chimneys.
G) Hiking through The Chimneys and feeling the force of the wind as I rounded the bend while weaving through them.
H) The wind gusts that night that made me consider my tent site very carefully in lieu of widow makers.
I) The view of the city lights from our campsite that night.
J) Passing several bear hunters and the sound of hounds hunting bears half the time we were there.
K) Seeing Lake James as we were heading down Shortoff Mountain toward Wolf Pit.
All in all this was a very challenging hike that is well worth doing again in the future.
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Here is some additional information:
http://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/wildView?WID=319
http://www.hikinginthesmokys.com/linville_gorge.htm
http://www.hikingthecarolinas.com/linnville_gorge.php
http://www.ncnatural.com/Resources/Adventure/Gorge/Linville-Gorge.html
Linville Gorge Information
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