Hiking Linville Falls. Back after 30 Years.
Blue Ridge Trip '24 #23
Linville, NC - Thu, 5 Sep 2024. 5:30pm
After finishing our hike at Upper Creek Falls this afternoon we called an audible and chose to drive to Linville Gorge next. Somehow it wasn't on our itinerary as browsing through AllTrails earlier in the week didn't turn up any obviously rewarding waterfalls trails we could hike. I knew in the back of my head that was a mistake because I've known about Linville Falls at Linville Gorge for... oh, about 30 years. I visited this park, twice, when I was a graduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. I don't know that I ever got a really great view of the falls back then, but that's all the more reason to go for it now. Plus, Hawk has never been here before.
There's an easy trail about 0.5 mile from the visitor center off the Blue Ridge Parkway to the top of Linville Falls. Up here there's a viewing platform on the slickrock looking down over the falls. This rock get especially slick during storms, as water from the river can surge right over it. And I've got to say, the view of the falls from upstream is particularly unsatisfying. I mean, you can get a sense of what's below: a river that crashes around a goose-neck slot and falls a great distance into the canyon below. But you can't see it.
Fortunately there are other things to see up here.
The upper part of the canyon is quietly beautiful. Especially coming late in the day on a gloomy mid-week afternoon like we did, we had the place largely to ourselves. The huuuuge parking lot 1/2 mile back hinted at how much different it could be on a sunny summer weekend.
The other fortunate thing about this spot is that it's not the end of the trail. The trail continues around the side of the gorge to 2 or 3 lookout points with views down into the gorge. We could even see one of them, opposite the big falls (first photo) in the distance.
Update: the hike continues! Keep reading in part 2.
Linville, NC - Thu, 5 Sep 2024. 5:30pm
After finishing our hike at Upper Creek Falls this afternoon we called an audible and chose to drive to Linville Gorge next. Somehow it wasn't on our itinerary as browsing through AllTrails earlier in the week didn't turn up any obviously rewarding waterfalls trails we could hike. I knew in the back of my head that was a mistake because I've known about Linville Falls at Linville Gorge for... oh, about 30 years. I visited this park, twice, when I was a graduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. I don't know that I ever got a really great view of the falls back then, but that's all the more reason to go for it now. Plus, Hawk has never been here before.
There's an easy trail about 0.5 mile from the visitor center off the Blue Ridge Parkway to the top of Linville Falls. Up here there's a viewing platform on the slickrock looking down over the falls. This rock get especially slick during storms, as water from the river can surge right over it. And I've got to say, the view of the falls from upstream is particularly unsatisfying. I mean, you can get a sense of what's below: a river that crashes around a goose-neck slot and falls a great distance into the canyon below. But you can't see it.
Fortunately there are other things to see up here.
The upper part of the canyon is quietly beautiful. Especially coming late in the day on a gloomy mid-week afternoon like we did, we had the place largely to ourselves. The huuuuge parking lot 1/2 mile back hinted at how much different it could be on a sunny summer weekend.
The other fortunate thing about this spot is that it's not the end of the trail. The trail continues around the side of the gorge to 2 or 3 lookout points with views down into the gorge. We could even see one of them, opposite the big falls (first photo) in the distance.
Update: the hike continues! Keep reading in part 2.