Linville Trip Report

“Okay I'm not a very good trip reporter but I'm gonna give it a try.
Day 1:
Dynamonkey stayed at my house Thursday evening ans Friday morning we loaded up the truck and went by to get Govmentmule then headed to Linville.As soon as we got to the Kistler Memorial Highway we hit an ice and snow covered road with many twists, turns, curves and hills so this was going to be a true test of my yet to be used 4 wheel drive.We made it up and down the road with no problems at all. It was 49 degrees and beautiful when we arrived at the Babel Tower Trailhead.There already were Moonshine and Refridgerator and they were sampling some of Moonshines Peach corn squeezins.Refridgerator had his Hillberg Expedition tent set up along with his heater and 3 inch thick sleep pad.Govmentmule,Dynamonkey and I set up our hammocks and unloaded the chili fixins.Soon after 21 gives me a call because he had come in a different way this time and had missed the turnoff and wanted to be redirected.A few minutes later 21 comes into camp in his Toy truck sideways and I was wondering iffin he was going to slide up against my real truck (Chevy)but luckily he didn't.LOL!I got the chili started as others got the campfire going.Jb was next to arrive and soon after Yotaman came rolling in and Sticks follwed.After a while I get a call from Hyway and Mildbill as they couldn't make it up one of the hills so I went and picked them up along with a big bag of shrimp and a bushel of oysters and the equipment to cook them with of course.I think if not mistaken they got the oysters in the pot even before setting up their tents.Another call comes in and this time it's Lonewolf and Noshootin. The same hill got them as well so I went to pick them up.We went through a pot of oysters and a pot of chili pretty quick so we started another pot of each only this round of chili was special and delicious.Fridge had brought a bunch of steaks so we cut up a bunch of Ribeyes and put them in the chili along with some shrimp and boys was it absolute perfection!Yotaman brought a Stawberry cream cake and a pecan pie to finish off a great meal.Soon afterwards the bottles came out and started to get passed around, the fire got bigger and the weather started to deteriorate.Mocs123 showed up after dark and joined in but was too late for the chili but was in luck and got a ribeye instead.21's friend Kyle showed up later and was wondering what the heck he had gotten into with all the ribbing and bull#&%!$ting that was going on.We talked a little about what options we had for the next day since the weather was to be alot worse and without a decision went to bed.

Day 2:
The Gorge is no joke so we carefully considered what to do this day and after about an hour we decided that it might be too icey in the gorge to go with packs and knew that there would be very little firewood so we elected to basecamp where we were and do a dayhike.We shuttled a few cars down to Conley Cove trail where we started our day.Down the CC trail we meet up with the river and the Linville Gorge trail.We stop for everyone to catch up and soak up the first view of the river.We continue along the trail until we come to the bridge that take you over the river to the Spence Ridge trail where we had lunch.Here's where the excitement starts.21 decides that he wants to go down in TT history in the same spot that Smokygirl did a few years back.He strips down and jumps in!If you could have seen the look on his face when he hit that water you would all be rolling in the floor right now.Cameras were everywhere so be looking for the pictures.Take into consideration that not only is this fridgid mountain water but the temperature was about 20 degrees.We hit the trail once again and after a couple of hours on the LG trail we ended up where the trail was supposed to go up to meet the Babel tower trail but with all the snow and ice we somehow lost the trail for about a hundred yards.After looking at the map and checking Refridgerators GPS we backtracked and found the trail.Now by the time we made the Babel tower trail most of our batteries where running low and it took a couple of power bars to make it back to camp but we filtered in one at a time where the three that elected to stay at camp had firewood and a raging fire going for us.Boy was that great because as soon as we stopped hiking the cold really kicked in.We did a repeat evening with the oysters and bottles and ribbing and joking and went to bed with the temps in the teens.

Day 3:
4 degrees was the temp and getting packed up was a real struggle but we eventually did and finished the weekend with a good breakfast at Louises Rockhouse!I had a great time and iffin you didn't come shame on you!”

“great report spam! it was good seein' ya' buddy!

whatcha think about the name full moon?”

“I think that would be appropriate.

We also dubbed Kyle with the name Devils advocate so be looking for D.A. for short!”

“haha.... i like it!”

“Good report Spam. I really wanted to go on this but just couldn't do it logistically. I'm dying to go there. One of these days I'll get to. Glad you all had a good time. Sounds like you had quite a feast even for car camping!”

“Full Moon? I think White Whale would be more appropriate.”

“{8-0”

“I have these pics... who wants them......”

“By the way guys I found a pair of shoes a pair of sunglasses and a bag of hand warmers in my truck so start caliming iffin they are yours.

By the way guys feel free to give your version of the story.
last edited: 1/20/08 11:09:52 AM”

“Yotaman reporting. It really was a fantastic trip. I am glad I came. Those who were not able to make it, really missed out. It was a pleasure to meet all of you. Yall are a fun bunch. Hope to make it again next year.
By the way, did anyone else do a 180 on the way out? I did and boy did I tighten my you know what up.
last edited: 1/20/08 1:17:33 PM”

“Call me ASAP...though I know they are gone
502.710.1770

Or if somebody has his phone number call me and leave it on voice mail if I don't answer!
last edited: 1/20/08 1:47:20 PM”

“hey spam great trip report... Also I know lone wolf lost some sunglasses”

“http://picasaweb.google.com/RefrigeratorFridge/LINVILLEGORGEJan2008

I could not show the total pic package. I am confirming FULLMOON is of legal age.
last edited: 1/20/08 2:15:34 PM”

“wow, i just want to remind folks that it WAS 20 degrees outside...”

“Sticks left his trekking poles by a tree where his tent was.That was the only spot that I did not check before I left.”

“Pics are up

http://community.webshots.com/user/Mocs123?vhost=community&action=publicAlbums

Great trip, I enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new people.”

“Well Fridge, looks like the full monty is not required, considering the form fittedness of the skivvies. 21/ Fullmoon is easy on the eyes at least. ;)”

“i'm only assuming treebait is a female?”

“Awe don't tell him that!

Nice pics guys!”

“Uploaded a few...
http://www.thebackpacker.com/pictures/editalbum.php?id_album=7mgvmkxu&rp=%2Finfo%2Fmypage.php

I only gave the link because of the full moon...”

“Sticks, link doesn't work.”

“sticks link http://www.thebackpacker.com/pictures/album/7mgvmkxu.php”

“Sounds like yall had a great time...I thought about you when it was a blizzard out yesterday!

Glad you low landers were able to make up to the hills as well ;-)”

“sorry I missed your call hyway...I had left my phone in the car and was at Medoc working out....I just got my phone out and saw my missed calls :(”

“Nice pictures! Cute butt 21! Great trip report. Dang, I missed another great trip. Maybe next year.”

“that was Bill calling. He wanted to know if you had any snow. None in wilmington, but there was snow from the mountains all teh way to within a 1/2 hour of home.

I didn't make it up the hill. No 4 wheel drive, no chains and no knobby tires.

With the exception of breaking my tent, I had a grand time. I love the gorge, some of my best moments have been there. Great group of guys. Plenty of food and firewood.”

“Believe it or not my sticks were still leaning against the tree where I left them...also who had the hammer? Moonshine has it.”

“I'm glad to hear that sticks”

“i forgot the hammer but i think i might just have to leave it with moonshine...”

“Just showed the pictures to my wife. She really liked Full Moons butt shot.”

“Some great photos from all around!”

“found hammer set of sticks and lots of yellow snow at the camp just before dark.the kister hwy was slick I'm glad everyone made it home safe.nice meeting all of you and hope to see ya again.”

“Hey JB I've got my Glasses I told you I thought I Put them up. Damn got home put up my gear was drying out my tent fly in the sun on my back deck when my wife comehome and said our Damn cat had shreaded my tent. Now I got to call Eureka and see how much a new fly will cost. Or I might try E-bay Great trip Ejoyed it to all If you didn't come you really missed out. 21 trying to get warm In Fridge's tent the cost was just to high.”

“sounds like a good trip. Fridge, you missed a good hike, a little nippy.”

“Nice butt shot! fullmoon...hm-m-m..I like it...”

“hey yota, I have been expecting you to tell us more about your 180. what happened”

“Well I was going down one of the hills, I was in 4lo and 2nd when my rear started fish tailing a bit. I started picking up speed and the next thing I know is I am going sideways down the hill. Now there was a good ditch on the left and a bank of ground and snow on the right. Luckily I front tire hit the right bank and that brought my rear around so I was facing up hill. The road leveled out at that point and I came to a halt. I then put my tranny in L which is the lowest gear I got and drove the rest of the way down at a crawl. Took me 20 minutes to get off that road. LOL
last edited: 1/21/08 5:53:26 AM”

“yikes. I am even more glad that I didn't make it that last mile to camp. From where I was parked to the highway was all down hill, but not very steep. Now on the way in when my tires started spinning and I started sliding backward gave me a second of near-panic before I slowly applied the brakes and the sliding stopped.”

“I would have wound up wrapped around a tree had I attempted this trip.”

“I never slid once.”

“well ain't you special, but what were you trying to slip here?


last edited: 1/21/08 7:19:11 AM”

“na...nothing special......I just have experience driving on snow.......You can have the badest 4wd on the market but if you do not know the rules of snow and ice driving, it doesn't help you.”

“agreed, thats why I am glad I couldn't make it to camp in my van. We don't get a lot snow in Wilmington and what ice we get is usually gone by 10 am”

“hyway..that pic isn't fair buster......i never took a pic of you falling on your tent....”

“i didn't take it, and no one was out of their tent when I busted my tent”

“Damn hyway.......my wife is going to put me back in the dog house. She asked me did I behave myself and I told her I always behave as usual...hehehe..”

“fridge, I have very limited driving experience in snow and none on ice and except for that one instance, I thought I did pretty good.”

“yotaman...any slip slide you can drive out of without a dent is dang good....you did quite good.....I have had my share of those moments.”

“Fridge, you're a dang speed demon!

Man, I should have been there to help with all that food.

Hey mister, does your dog bite?”