Linville Gorge Wilderness Backpacking - Devil’s Hole Revenge

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Important:

1. If you have not done a D6 backpacking with Trip Leaders you need to provide evidence that you have adequate backcountry experience. Trip Leaders reserve the right to remove anyone from the attendee list.  
2. Since we have at least 2 river crossings and will be camping/hiking next to Linville River, we will closely monitor rain forecasts and water levels.  River conditions may warrant trip cancellation or may add up to 12 miles to the trip and change the location of camp sites.

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About Linville Gorge Wilderness:

From USDA webpage:

"The Linville Gorge Wilderness, in the mountains of Western North Carolina, is part of the Pisgah National Forest. The gorge is formed by the Jonas Ridge on the east and Linville Mountain on the west and is bisected by the Linville River which drops 2,000 feet into the valleys below. The terrain is steep and rugged with numerous rock formations. It is covered by dense hardwood/pine forest and a wide variety of smaller trees and other plants. Recreation opportunities include hiking backpacking, rock climbing, fishing and hunting."

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Itinerary:

This is repeat of the trip we did in May 2017.  On that adventure, we could not locate a river crossing and missed a night's camping at Devil's Hole.  We're attempting to get our revenge.  

We will use combination of system and social trails. So some of the trails may be over grown and not well maintained. 

Total millage: 25 "Linville Gorge" miles

Total elevation gain: 10,500 ft.

First Day: 3.7 miles – 650 ft ascent, 2,500 ft descent

1. Start driving from carpool location at 7:30 am
2. Arrive at the Table Rock Parking Lot around 1 pm. Table Rock Parking Lot is on the east rim and approximately in the middle of the gorge.  We'll likely go up ~1 mile to catch the views and have lunch on Table Rock.
3. Start hiking south on the east rim along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.  
4. We continue for about 2.5 miles till we reach the Cambric Trail. Then we start descending in to the gorge to get to our camp site. This is a steep and treacherous trail. We lose 1,325 ft in 1.2 miles.
5. When we get to the Linville River we set up a camp, gather fire woods, explore around and enjoy the nature.

Second Day: 10 miles – 2,970 ft ascent, 2,990 descent

1. We get up early and start hiking no later than 8:30.
2. First we climb up on the Cambric trail again to get back to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail on the east rim. Then we continue south on the Mountains-to-Sea trail till we get to the south boundary of the wilderness.
3. There we cross the river and start hiking north on Mountains-to-Sea Trail for about 1.8 miles. At this point the Mountains-to-Sea Trail starts climbing up west rim.  We'll pick-up Leadmine Trail and hike for 1.3 miles to get to the Linville Gorge Trail.  Then we continue 2 miles, cross the river, and return to camp.  We gather fire wood and enjoy an evening of camaraderie and fellowship.

Third day: ~7  miles - 4,280 ft ascent, 2,925 ft descent

1. We get up early and start hiking no later than 8:30.
2. After crossing the river, we start by climbing up Pinch-In Trail. This steep trail goes up to the west rim.  We climb 1,700 ft in 1.5 miles to reach the west rim of the gorge.  
3. There we go north for 0.5 mile on an unpaved road to reach Rock Jock Trial.  We continue north on this trail for 3.8 miles. We should get a lot of good views on this trail.
4. We reach Conley Cove and begin our decent into the gorge again. This is another steep trail.  In 1.3 miles we descend 800 ft.
5. After reaching the Linville Gorge Trail we hike north to get to where we need to cross to get to Devils Hole.  This is where it gets tricky.  We need to locate where to cross the river and find the Devil's Hole camp site.  This will require some bushwhacking and synchronization with GPS coordinates.  The exact spot where to cross the river will be determined once we're confident we know the location of Devil's Hole on the other side.  If we cannot find Devils Hole, we'll need to go back to Spence Ridge and cross the river there and look for a place to camp.  This will add considerable distance to the hike.  
    

Fourth Day-   4 miles - 2,000 ft ascent, 1,400 ft descent (assuming we camp at Devil's Hole)

1. We get up early, eat breakfast and gather the camp. 
2. We use Devils Hole trail which is a ~1.5 miles trail with 1,190 ft accent to climb up to the east rim.
3. Then we walk south on the east rim to get to our cars. We may need to walk for ~2 mile on unpaved road.

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Map: Click here

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Notes:

- We will have river crossings, so be prepared.

- Don’t forget to bring your allergy or other medicines.

- I may cancel the trip based on the weather condition.

- On the way back we probably will stop to grab a bite

- Please plan to arrive at least 10 minutes before departure time to car pool location.

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Trail Map: 

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Click here  for google map