Took another trip out to the Linville Gorge this past weekend. We (John Zachary, Allie King, Drew Hayes, Justin Wilson and Myself) headed up there without a decided itinerary and we weren’t sure whether there was going to be any fall color left. But we lucked out and scored some great weather. There was still some great color at lower elevations. The weather channel was calling for snow, but we only came across a few flurries and a few spots where some snow had stuck the previous night. After arriving mid-day saturday, we ended up parking at the Table Rock picnic area. We then hiked the mile up to the summit of Table Rock for some great panoramic views before heading back down to the Mountain-to-Sea Trail and Spence Ridge Trail to reach the Linville river. After crossing the river and hiking down a ways we found a great spot to camp up on a ridge above the river. I’m not sure the mileage, but we probably hiked a total of about 10 or so miles. It was cold but we came well prepared, had a good fire raging for a good amount of the night and brought a heavy supply of hot tea. On the hike back we took a different route, which involved hiking a very strenuous up-mountain route to the summit of Little Table Rock which offered an amazing view of the gorge and the surrounding mountains. A great way to commence the hike. Here are some of the photos I made during our trip.
