I first visited Linville Gorge back in 2013 and it was very memorable for several reasons. It’s not difficult to understand why people love the place but it definitely makes you earn its splendor. Here are a few of the things I remember from my first time at Linville Gorge like the parking lot where we started our hike was called Wolf Pit; crossing the cold Linville River on the first morning; steep trails without switchbacks; wind gusts through the Chimneys; side-hilling trails along extremely steep Dogback Mountain.
We parked at the parking lot at the North end of Wolf Pit Road that actually fills up pretty full a lot of times on the weekend. We took the Wolf Pit Trail up the South end of Shortoff Mountain until it intersects with the MST after about 1.5 miles and heads West out to some rocky overlooks which are pretty spectacular. It was empty on Thursday as we headed in and we had the pick of any campsite we wanted so we settled at one of the Camp Shortoff campsites. There are two large campsites at Camp Shortoff – one on the East side of the trail and one on the West. Both are very large and very flat and this time we stayed at the campsite on the West side of the trail both on Thursday and Saturday nights.
The trail that we hiked was predominantly the MST, or Mountains To Sea Trail until we got to Table Rock then we veered around it and took the extremely steep Little Table Rock trail down to Spence Ridge trail. We headed West on Spence Ridge trail until we came to the river which was just too swift to walk across with the bridge still down. We searched up and down the river but we were unable to find safe passage.
We headed back up Spence Ridge trail and made camp in a really nice campsite that was fairly flat and plenty of room for our group of four tents, one hammock and one tarp. This was a beautiful site that I would gladly stay in again and I hope I do.
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The next morning we broke camp and headed up Spence Ridge trail to the Spence Ridge parking lot where we hiked the road up to the Hawksbill parking lot. We hiked up the Hawksbill trail to Jonas Ridge then dropped our packs and hiked the rest of the way up to Hawksbill to take in the views which were pretty magnificent and just as beautiful as the last time I was here a year ago.
After we finished up enjoying the views at Hawksbill we backtracked back down to the road until we linked up with the MST again and followed it all the way back to Shortoff Mountain where we made camp at Camp Shortoff for the night.
Here are some pics of the trip that show why people go back time and time again. It’s a wonderful place!
| FOOTWEAR/BACKPACKS/CONTENTS | WEIGHT OUNCES | WEIGHT POUNDS |
| SHOES/BOOTS NOT INCLUDED IN PACK WEIGHT | ||
| VASQUE SCREE LOW SHOES | 36.00 | 2.25 |
| TREKKING POLES NOT INCLUDED IN PACK WEIGHT | ||
| BLACK DIAMOND FL ULTRA DISTANCE TREKKING POLES | 16.00 | 1.00 |
| BACKPACKS | ||
| MOUNTAINSMITH LOOKOUT 45 BACKPACK | 66.00 | 4.13 |
| TENTS | ||
| NEMO VEDA 1P TENT W/FOOTPRINT | 39.00 | 2.44 |
| QUILTS | ||
| ENLIGHTENED EQUIPMENT REVELATION 40 DEGREE QUILT W/ STUFF SACK | 17.78 | 1.11 |
| SLEEPING BAGS | ||
| COLUMBIA LINER BAG | 10.20 | 0.64 |
| SLEEPING PADS | ||
| THERMAREST RIDGEREST SOLITE REGULAR CUT DOWN TO 20X60 | 12.00 | 0.75 |
| THERMAREST NEOAIR TREKKER LARGE | 26.00 | 1.63 |
| TARPS | ||
| SMALL TARP | 5.00 | 0.31 |
| TYVEK | 2.00 | 0.13 |
| FOOD | ||
| 3 NIGHT FOOD – LOKSAK ODORPROOF BAG/ZPACKS BLAST FOOD BAG | 100.00 | 6.25 |
| BASICS | ||
| MINI COMPASS AND TEMP GAUGE | 0.70 | 0.04 |
| ZPACKS CUBEN FIBER ZIP WALLET | 2.00 | 0.13 |
| SAWYER FILTER MINI(2OZ), ONE SQUEEZE POUCH(1.5OZ), SCOOP CUP(2OZ) MESH BAG | 5.50 | 0.34 |
| SAFETY LANYARD – BG COMPACT SCOUT KNIFE/ADVENTURE MEDICAL RESCUE HOWLER/NITEIZE STS LIGHT | 2.80 | 0.18 |
| TOILETRY KIT – MEDICINE/TOOTHBRUSH/TOOTHPASTE ETC IN OUTDOOR RESEARCH SMALL DRY DITTY SACK | 10.40 | 0.65 |
| FIRE KIT: DRYER LINT/LIGHTER/LIGHT MY FIRE FIRESTEEL | 2.80 | 0.18 |
| POTTY KIT – TROWEL, TOILET PAPER, HAND CLEANER BOTTLE/HOLDER IN NYLON SACK | 8.00 | 0.50 |
| CLOTHING | ||
| VIVOBAREFOOT ULTRA SHOES | 6.00 | 0.38 |
| EDDIE BAUER RIPPAC RAIN COAT | 12.70 | 0.79 |
| MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR ORKO GLOVES | 1.50 | 0.09 |
| MARMOT CALEN PULLOVER | 12.00 | 0.75 |
| MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR POWER STRETCH BEANIE | 1.50 | 0.09 |
| FALL-SPRING CLOTHING BAG 3 NIGHT QUILT: SHORT WOOL SOCKS/UA BOTTOMS/EXOFFICIO BOXERS/UA SHORTS/TSHIRT IN REI PILLOW STUFF SACK | 43.00 | 2.69 |
| FROGG TOGGS UL PANTS | 4.40 | 0.28 |
| COOKING | ||
| EVERNEW TITANIUM STOVE/SOLOSTOVE ALCOHOL BURNER/ALCOHOL/SNOWPEAK MINI POT/FOLDING VARGO TITANIUM SPOON | 16.00 | 1.00 |
| WATER BOTTLES – BLADDERS | ||
| PLATYPUS 1 LITER SOFT BOTTLE EMPTY | 1.50 | 0.09 |
| SOBE BOTTLE EMPTY | 3.00 | 0.19 |
| LIGHTING | ||
| BLACK DIAMOND IN HMG NANO CF8 CUBEN STUFF SACK | 4.30 | 0.27 |
| TOOLS | ||
| LIGHT MY FIRE MORA KNIFE | 7.00 | 0.44 |
| MIRROR / COMPASS / MOUNTAIN LAUREL DESIGNS CUBEN FIBER BAG | 1.50 | 0.09 |
| EXTRAS | ||
| BATTERY IN HMG NANO CF11 CUBEN STUFF SACK | 4.00 | 0.25 |
| TOTAL SUM OF WEIGHT OUNCES | 428.58 | |
| TOTAL SUM OF WEIGHT POUNDS | 26.79 | 26.79 |
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