gorgefest 40

With a booked calendar, I realized this weekend might be my last chance for a long slog pre-Barkley. If it’s got to be the last supper, it might as well be a gorgefest!

In all our recent ramblings, we’ve yet to get back to the rugged gem that is the Linville Gorge Wilderness. So on Wednesday, I plotted out a 40+ mile lollypop/figure-eight loop into and out of the gorge.

Lily dropped Uwharrie and I off at the Overmountain Victory Trailhead at Black Bear Cove (Lake James) six miles out of town by 10 PM Friday night. We followed logging roads and then bushwhacked up the southeast ridge of Bald Knob. This thick ascent seemed to go on forever in the dark.

We happily merged with the snowbound MST at the summit by midnight. Now on the ridge, a bone-chilling wind prompted us to quickly get moving.

Uwharrie and I left the MST to continue north on the icy Kistler Memorial Highway past Wiseman’s View. We intersected the road (around 11 miles in) at 2 AM. The next seven miles promised to be relatively fast along the west rim.

Far below, the light of a yellow waning gibbous danced on the surface of Lake James. The stars were out, and beyond the dark mountainous silhouettes, thousands of city lights flickered across the piedmont. What a beautiful night!

Confident that we could make it to the summit of Table Rock in time for sunrise, we made our first descent into the Gorge along the Babel Tower Trail. In the moonlight, the river appeared like a silver thread winding it’s way out to the lake.

As we continued downstream along the Linville River Trail, we encountered a dangerously iced over rock ledge. When I shined my headlamp down, the vertical run-off disappeared into the darkness. If we lost our footing, we’d fall at least 100 ft. into jagged rocks.

I spent 10 minutes trying to break up the ice with a large rock. My first step onto the ice slid out from under me. There seemed to be no alternate route than straight across. I held my breath and took three very precarious steps before gaining more solid footing. Uwharrie had little difficulty crossing!

We were now committed to overcoming whatever other obstacles awaited around the bend. To make matters worse, I accidentally smashed my headlamp against the side of a rock. The light went out and I heard batteries scatter across the trail.

Fortunately, this is why I carry all the junk in my pack. I pulled out my backup light to survey the damage. I looked and found a battery and replaced the others from my backup stash. I sipped some coffee from my platy and got out another piece of gear that I occasionally carry: an ipod.

Sketched out and faced with the challenge of Table Rock by dawn, I needed Fela Kuti to pull me through the rest of the night. We hit our rhythm down to the only bridge in the gorge and up Spence Ridge. The sky turned from dark purple to light blue as we hurried and climbed through the snow to the MST and on up to the summit.

Somehow we made it, and the panoramic sunrise made our hard push worth it. South of the crimson orb, we could see downtown Charlotte. Scanning west, across Morganton, the South Mountains, over past Marion, the Blue Ridge escarpment, pink in the morning light, the snow-capped alpine spine of the Blacks towered highest.

I ate some fruit leather, a couple packets of oatmeal and drained the last of my coffee. Uwharrie finished her beef jerky while I read the map. Twenty minutes later, we were shivering uncontrollably. We continued on over the Chimneys down to Chimney Gap and up to the Cambric Branch Trail.

In the daylight, we made our second descent down into the gorge. This rim-to-rim crossing would involve a ford and I was anxious to see what the river looked like. Uwharrie was the first across and got swept 50 feet downstream before escaping the main run. I stepped in with a stick for added stability. The frigid water came up to my ribs.

I paused momentarily to get a post-crossing picture and then we bushwhacked up the Pinch-In to warm up on the sunny buttress. We climbed out of the gorge and made it to Kistler before 10 AM. At this junction some eight-hours later, I decided rather foolishly to explore a cross-country route over Paddy and Dales Creeks instead of returning over Bald Knob back to Black Bear Cove.

When we left the road, we shot a bearing and began a 750’ descent in under a mile down to Paddy Creek. This quickly turned into my worst bushwhacking experience. The forest was a mess of deadfall, briars and laurel. It took an hour and a half to get to the creek, and by this time, I was incredibly scratched up and exhausted.

We surveyed the steep climb out of Paddy Creek and it too looked treacherous. The heat of the day was zapping me and our 3 PM cut-off was drawing nigh. We decided to follow the creek a few miles downstream and take roads the remainder of the way.

The emerald waters of Paddy Creek glistened in the sun. Still, the going was slow and frustrating. We preferred to wade downstream than contend with the laurels and deadfall along the banks. Finally on roads, we ran to the South Mountains Children’s Home to rendezvous with Lily and my folks before 2 PM.

After an early dinner at Jalapeno’s and a nap, Lily and I made our way up to Asheville to hear the Black Lillies at Jack of the Wood. After 27 hours on the go, it was time to get some rest…

Plodding along the Kistler Memorial

Lots of great icicles on the rock shelves in the gorge

The treacherous icy ledge that almost turned us back

Sunrise from the summit of Tablerock

Looking downstream into the gorge from Tablerock

Enjoying the first rays of daylight (but still freezing)

The snowy trail through The Chimneys

Looking downstream from Cambric, Pinch-In visible across

Looking upstream from Cambric Branch

The river ford was up to my chest and the current was strong

Uwharrie resting on Pinch-In

Looking upstream from Pinch-In

Back on the Kistler Memorial with the Blacks beyond

The beauty of Paddy Creek

Finally on the road home!