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
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
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
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
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
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