Linville Gorge Plan B

“JGiles, Mozark, Texswoodswoman had a backup plan just in case!IYKWIM

The weather in NC was not pleasant but many of us had vacation plans laid in concrete. So off we went!

Tex arrived on schedule from Waco in a spiffy little sports car (baby sitting for a friend, I need friends like that! LOL) Thursday afternoon in the Rock. The weather was sorta threatening in Northern Arkansas so Tex and I hit some nice day hikes that are normally very busy in nicer weather.

First we visited Hawksbill Crag.
Second we visited Lost Valley - naturally Tex forgot the flashlight which made navigating the cave interesting for her. Of course I didn't share!
We didn't see a single hiker on either trail. Must have been the weather but then again the waterfalls were flowing nicely.

Next we drove across the northern part of the Ozarks to Sylamore Creek. Again, this place was deserted. We basically had the whole valley to ourselves. The spring, the swimming hole and the trail which incidently has some pretty nice bluff overlooking the creek. No wonder bacpac likes that area so much! (Potential Ozarks Hike!)

Friday night along the Sylamore Creek Trail was interesting. The weather forcast was for 3 inches of snow. That got me excited because it so seldom happens in Arkansas, especially when you are in the woods. But, the snow quickly turned to heavy sleet. Pretty "cool" hearing that peck on your tent. Then came the dreaded sound of rain drops then a driving wind behind them. Here I am in my one man Eureka Zephyr thinking oh well it has never leaked and I did seam seal it. The good news is that it didn't leak and the temperature was a balmy 33F the next morning. Things were just a bit damp but that was the worst of it. We didn't hike the whole trail but the piece we saw of it was pretty nice. It does not loop and covers like 13 miles.

On our way back to the rock we took in a cave tour at Blanchard Springs which was delightful and much warmer than being outside in on&off drizzle.

The most amazing thing is that I survived the entire weekend without wearing one piece of Gore Tex raingear. But, I did wear my gators and a windstopper skullcap.

So, how did the other Linville Gorgers makeout?

Moz”

“Mo, you left out some stuff...

Like the gear sale we found in Conway and the really cool deal I got on the black capilene underwear. (TMI, TMI!!!??!!)

Like the great meal we had at the Mozark Mountain Approach Shelter.

Like the dayhike to Petit Jean State Park and the rock hopping, grotto exploring and bushwacking we did.

I can't believe we squeezed all that activity into one weekend.

The only bummer was finding out mid day Saturday that we could have gotten a shuttle ride from a guy at the RV park for 10 bucks and could have done the entire Slyamore Creek Trail, instead of just that one piece. Jgeils, you owe us for that, cause you were our other shuttle driver, buddy!!

Yeah, bacpac, hate to admit it, but that Sylamore Creek area is nice!

Tex”

“I dont get it.. I heard this trip was cancelled?”

“Linville may have been cancelled, but some of us had the time off already booked so we took advantage of the vacation and created a plan B.

The only bad weather we had was Saturday night when it started out with a gentle snow fall, then changed to pelting sleet then it started to POUR..a driving rain. So hard it splashed mud all over the sides of my tent!! Sheesh!”

“Linville may have been cancelled, but some of us had the time off already booked so we took advantage of the vacation and created a plan B.

The only bad weather we had was Saturday night when it started out with a gentle snow fall, then changed to pelting sleet then it started to POUR..a driving rain. So hard it splashed mud all over the sides of my tent!! Sheesh!”

“I HATE this dang firewall at work..I never know if I am beaming out or not?? Sheesh!!

Sorry for the double post...;-)”

“not everyone got the word in time - I had a nice drive to look at Linville Falls then drove home - 14 hours worth of driving. I now feel like a wimp for not going with my gut and staying there at the trailhead to greet smokygirl, skullcap and goose. Oh well it was nice seeing evergreen again and meeting spam & co. Hopefully skullcap and goose who I think stayed at the trailhead Friday night had some use of the wood Evergreen and I cut. As to why I bailed - I was intimidated by the dirt road and the state of my drive tires on my samll Honda. What I should have done is to park on the top of the hill (maybe .1 back up the road) and hoped that it was not iced over on Sunday. oh well - just call me Chicken On Ice With Car”

“LMBO!!!!

Good one Hog!! Shoulda drove West, young man, drove West!!

Tex”

“plan b:

i hit the AT about 11:30 a.m. friday. did an overnighter with about 5 miles on friday and 3 on saturday. did the section from virginia rt. 60 from the long mountain wayside south to the swapping creek bridge. friday was sunny and mid 40's. the start of this hike drops a bit including some switchbacks until you hit the brown mountain creek on the valley floor. you are immediately greeted on your left as you hit the valley floor by a long rocky waterfall. as you start down the valley you begin to see sign of past habitation. i came upon a sign explaining the people that used to live in the valley. freed slaves that lived as sharecroppers here until the forest service buoght them out in the early 1920's. there are many remnants, including a couple of old chimneys still standing. it is a beautiful place. there is an AT shelter (brown mountain creek shelter) at about 2 miles into this hike. the hemlock in the area of the shelter have been wiped out by the wooly adelgid. it is a shame to see. there are many old hemlock (48+ inches) that are either down or ready to fall. falling limbs are a concern if you plan on pitching a tent in the area of the shelter. you contiue down the trail and after about another mile there is a nice pool where a bridge crosses brown mountain creek. another mile and you are at the bridge crossing swapping creek. this was my turnaround point. i went back up trail to a spot i had seen where no dead tree limbs were of concern. the gypsy moth hasn't been through here as they have in other areas of the george washington national forest. it was a glorious clear day and i had camp made by 3 in the afternoon. i did not see one person all day. i climbed in the bag about 7:30 and slept soundly until 11:30 p.m. when i heard people coming up the trail. two hikers with their head lamps passed by on the trail (i was camped about 75 yards off the trail on the other side of the creek). about 10 minutes later they came back by, chatting up a storm, saying "we'll just go back down here until we find a flat spot". about 10 minutes after that i began to hear hunting dogs on the chase up the valley. sure enough, it tokk them about 15 minutes to run the deer through my camp. couple minutes later and they were there, sniffing my tent, then heading on with their chase. 10 minutes after they came through, 3 guys came down the trail with headlamps on. no packs an i didn't see any guns with them either so i imagine they were just letting their dogs work. the rest of the night was quite with the creek babbling by. around 5 a.m. it started snowing. i laid there and listened to the snow slide off the tent for an hour and a half (till it was light out)before getting up to get my food bag and look around. there was around 2 inches by then and it was really coming down. i fixed my breakfast packed up and hit the trail about 9:30. three miles back up to my car and it was a winter wonderland. not another footprint to be seen my entire hike out. it was awesome! by the time i got up to my car there was ~8 inches of snow. then in the time it took to get my gear in the car and ready to leave (10 minutes) it was ice/snow mix. pretty good timing. this is an awesome overnight hike. the natural bridge ATC has done a great job maintaining this trail. with the hemlocks in bad shape it must be a heavy chore. there was much sign of their work. footing was never a concern either even as i hiked out in the snow. sorry i didn't get to linville, not sorry about my back-up plan and the solitude i got to experience. i'll post pictures but they are across 2 rolls of film, the second not yet being finished.”

“Sounds like everyone made the most of it! That is the way it should be - don't waste a day!”

“Well after whimping on the trip for Linville I knew that most likely some folks wouldn't check the thread before heading out so I thought my plan B would be to let my daughter Stephany play hookie from school and we would go up to the trailhead and meet with those that didn't get the message.So Stephany,my 2 mutts Tonka and Dottie and myself loaded the truck and headed out.We met with HOI and Evergreen at the trailhead.We discussed the issues at hand and then HOI, Stephany,the mutts and I went to check out the Falls.The weather was pretty good so we left HOI and went up to Grandfather Mountain and had a great time crossing the Mile High swinging bridge and checking out the animal habitat.So at least my daughter had a good time and the mutts like to get out and pee on new things every once in a while. LOL!”

“Hey - damn! I was all packed with my crampons and new sleeping bag liner and everything! I got to Babel Trailhead at 2 - probably right after you all left. I hiked down to the Linville River. Very beautiful, looked like it was recently burned. A little bit of ice on the trail. I came back up around 4 or so hoping someone would show up at the trailhead.
Then, I started worrying because of impending snow and the dirt road so i drove out and called Spam.
I had a cheeseburger at Louises Rockhouse before I headed home around 6.
Linville is beautiful!
I was disappointed, but I got me a map and I am ready and rearing to go and make a weekend of it.
Damn!”