? Hiking in NC ?

“leaving march 18th, 3 days 2 nights. I have no clue where to go. me and some buddies are going, taking photographs and are up for hiking the most strenuous terrain available. however we do not want to leave the state. if you have any information for some relatively new backpackers it would be greatly appreciated.”

“Joyce Kilmer NF will do nicely. Big beatiful old growth forest, rough terrain, ball-busting trails.”

“Go to the Smokies”

“Ohyeah tree, Joyce Kilmer ull do just fine for some tuffies. Ain't nuthin like practicing reading outdated trail maps, hehe.”

“You wouldn't want to miss Linville Gorge...21 miles of some of the toughest trails in NC... rocky areas steep elevations and you have mtns to left to you and more mtns to the right.... it is the challenge in these parts to any native NC hiker.”

“I have a page on my site with some small descriptions of the Gorge. Plus a few photos in the album taken there.

Windwalker2ooo.

Blue Ridge Hikers”

“http://www.angelfire.com/nc3/nctrailtime/

I guess this will.

Windwalker2ooo.”

“Amything in Linville Gorge will bust yer butt. Have fun!”

“what about trails in the shining rock wilderness area?? such as graveyard ridge and the art loeb trail?”

“Art Loeb is awesome! Water can be hard to find but if you see as spring listed on the map than you can count on it. The trails below Graveyard ridge are nice too. I've not been on Graveyard ridge myself but I've heard it's pretty cool”

“Can you drink the water straight out of the linville river? If you dont have a purifier and dont want to boil it what is the price to pay for drinking it?”

“Depends on how good your immune system is and who/what pooped upriver from you. I think there's fewer bugs in the water this time of year but wouldn't drink it untreated myself unless it was an emergency.”

“Just about all surface water will have coliform bacteria in it. Coliform bacteria is bacteria from the gut of an animal. It gets there from an animal pooping in or near the water. That doesn't necessarily mean that you will get sick, but it does up your chances. Surface water also contains giardia and cryptosporidium, and various virusus if you're relatively near civilization. So the answer is maybe you will, maybe you won't. My opinion is don't drink out of a river, treat the water in some way (chemical treatments found at the outfitter are light and cheap).”

“Bring your own...and park somewhere that you can do a loop or two loops.. I would not drink the water in Linville...ever”

“are there any spings around/along the river that are drinkable?”