CLOSURE

 

 

Last April, I set off on a solo backpacking trip in the Linville Gorge Wilderness.  When I left the trailhead, I had no idea that I was about to embark on an epic journey of survival.  I lived to tell about it though.  Last Saturday, I returned to the scene of that particular weekend of insanity.

 

On Thursday, I got in touch with Myron and Dorcas, who had just returned from 3 months of canoeing and relaxing in Florida.  I couldn’t think of a better way to welcome them home than to invite them on a hike in Linville Gorge.  Despite the fact that they hadn’t seen a single hill in three months, they agreed to join me.  We met near Hickory, and took two cars up the Kistler Highway from Lake James.  The drive was fast and easy, but not without excitement.  On the way up one of the steeper stretches, I was nearly run over by a Jeep running at about 45 mph down the mountain.  Despite a spectacular gravel-spewing fishtail, he somehow managed to avoid hitting me.  I was relieved when we finally reached the Conley Cove Trailhead, even though the parking area was full.  We found an overflow spot a short distance south, and left my car there.  Saucony and I piled into Dorcas’ car, and we made the 3 mile drive back to the Pinch-In Trailhead without any further drama.

 

We left the trailhead at 10:15, descending the brutally steep Pinch-In Trail.  This path starts out ridiculously steep, and then it gets worse.  If you plan to hike this trail, I’ll offer two pieces of advice.  First, bring along a hiking stick, or trekking poles, or a cane, or maybe a crutch.  Any of these devices will save your knees from some serious pounding.  Second, make sure to trim your toe nails before hitting the trail.  A friend of mine actually got bloody toes once simply from hiking down this trail.  The path was so steep, his feet repeatedly rammed into the front of his boots.

 

We descended for a few minutes, and reached the brink of the escarpment.  This part of the gorge was heavily impacted by the 2007 fires, and the area looked completely different than it had the last time I’d been there.  Although the abundant char isn’t pretty, it is interesting.  On the upside, the fire did open up a lot of new views along this ridge.  We took a break there, to admire the view of the frothing river slicing between sheer rock walls far below.  After taking in the vista, I set out to explore.

 

Last spring, on my disastrous backpacking trip, I had attempted to follow the Rockjock Trail from the upper end of the Conley Cove Trail to the Pinch-In.  If I had been successful, this is where I would’ve ended up.  That didn’t work out though, as 7 hours of bushwhacking through a misery of horizontal trees, Rhododendrons, and briars left me at the next ridge to the north when dark fell.  I now headed in that direction, with the idea of trying to find my route, and the cave I’d slept in that night, in the back of my mind.  I found blue ribbons marking what must’ve been the original connector to the Rockjock Trail, once upon a time.  After a short distance, I dropped down to cross a small stream.  I climbed the next hillside, but I was having increasing difficulty following the ribbons.  There was no path, and the entire area looked completely different, thanks to the fire.  I scanned the hillside ahead and above me, confident that my cave was up there somewhere.  My interest in finding it was quickly waning though.  Hiking through the burned forest was growing tedious, and I was already covered in soot.  Even though the fire had cleared out some of the undergrowth, I knew what bushwhacking up there would be unpleasant.  No thanks, been there, done that.

 

I headed back to rejoin Myron and Dorcas, who had wisely waited back at the trail for me.  We then resumed the descent, tackling the steepest part of the trail.  Eventually the trail dropped off the ridge to the north, and the grade eased a little.  We entered a cove a short distance above the river.  The forest here was quite pleasant, as it had escaped the ravages of the fire.  We wandered on down to the Linville Gorge Trail, where we paused to consider our route.  My plan was to follow this trail upstream, before climbing out of the gorge on the Conley Cove Trail.  However, we had a side trip of some significance to tackle first.  I wanted to visit Daffodil Flats, which features an entire cove full of the early-spring flowers.  Since it was late March, I knew we’d be in for a treat if we could find the right place.

 

We followed the trail downstream, passing a nice campsite and some pleasant views of the river.  Before long we entered an impressive Beech Grove.  Do you know how to identify Beech Trees?  They’re the ones with the initials carved in them.  From there, we continued downstream on a surprisingly easy trail.  This part of the Linville Gorge Trail follows an old road, and bears little resemblance to the goat path farther upstream.

 

The farther we traveled, the more the terrain flattened out.  We crossed several streams, and passed through a number of pleasant glades.  A few wildflowers made appearances, such as Violets and Yellow Violets, but we hadn’t seen a single Daffodil.  We reached a nice camping area in an open hardwood forest, and I began to wonder if we had somehow missed them.  We left the camping area on the wrong path, as we strayed too close to the river.  We eventually realized our error, and wandered inland.  We stumbled back onto the path, rounded a bend, and there they were.

 

The view was astonishing.  I was expecting a forest glade with hundreds of flowers.  Thousands would’ve been a better guess.  A yellow carpet of Daffodils stretched away from us as far as we could see.  Linville Gorge is an amazing place, with soaring cliffs, eye-popping views, and a raging whitewater river.  That it could also contain a place like this – a place of such quiet beauty – blew my mind.  I’ve seen a lot of impressive wildflower displays over the years, but I don’t think I’d ever seen this many flowers in one place before.

 

We spent the next 30 minutes exploring the glade and taking photos.  Capturing this place on film was challenging, due to its sheer magnitude, but that didn’t stop us from trying.  By the time we finished, it was time for lunch.  I considered eating there, but it just didn’t seem right.  It would’ve been like having a picnic in a cathedral.  Instead, we returned to the camping area, and wandered out to the river.  Here we found a long, narrow beach bordering a killer swimming hole.  March is just a bit early for swimming in the Linville River, but it was a perfect day to lounge in the sun.  We did just that, while Saucony retrieved sticks from the river.

 

After lunch, we backtracked upstream.  After less than an hour, we reached the Pinch-In junction (which is now marked with a sign).  From here to the Conley Cove Trail, we’d be covering new territory.  Until Saturday, this was the only stretch of official trail in Linville Gorge that I hadn’t hiked.  I was looking forward to seeing what I’d been missing all of these years.

 

A few minutes later, we passed a large group of hikers heading the other way.  This group looked like they’d been through quite an ordeal.  From the looks of them, they had gotten more from their hike through the gorge than they had planned on.  As we passed each hiker, they all wanted to know how far it was to the Pinch-In Trail.  At first we told them it was a quarter-mile.  The group was so large though, that by the end, I was telling them that it was a half-mile.  Considering how those folks looked, I hoped they made it up that trail in one piece.

 

It didn’t take us long to figure out why those folks looked so worn out.  This stretch of the trail is exceptionally rugged!  Steep climbs and descents, bad footing, fallen trees, and abundant boulders made for a challenging hike.  Fortunately, the neck-craning views of the cliffs above provided inspiration.  At several openings in the forest, I noticed the cliffs of the North Carolina Wall and the Amphitheatre towering above us.   After what seemed like an eternity, we reached a huge sloping boulder along the edge of the river.  We stopped there for a break to admire the river one last time.  The North Carolina mountains are full of elegant streams, bubbling brooks, cascading rivers, and powerful creeks.  None of these terms begins to describe the Linville.  The Linville is a train-wreck of a river – a massive collision of monstrous boulders and foaming whitewater.  It provided a wonderful companion for our afternoon walk.

 

After our break, we reached a large camping area, where we spotted a number of tents, but no people.  Here we joined the Conley Cove Trail for the climb out of the gorge.  Ascending this trail is actually fairly easy, as it is well-designed with numerous switchbacks.  Unfortunately, there are several fallen trees across the trail.  These provided a few more challenges before the hike ended.  We finally reached the junction with the Rockjock Trail, and the loop hike I had started 11 months earlier was finally closed.  I couldn’t quite leave the Rockjock alone though.  We hiked up it a short distance, before following an alternate route out to the Kistler Highway.  This brought us out right where I’d parked the car, providing a bit of a shortcut from the regular route.

 

We finished up a bit before 6, some 7 ˝ hours after starting the hike at the Pinch-In Trailhead.  I drove us back down to the other parking area, and dropped Myron and Dorcas off.  It was nice hiking with them again, but I hope I didn’t scare them off.  Linville Gorge is a challenging destination for someone who just spent three months in Florida!




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