Linville Trip Report

“Okay, I ain't much of a trip reporter but here goes.

Friday:About 1020 hrs Fullmoon and Hired Geek showed up and we hit the road for Linville making a quick stop for some sippin whiskey in route. At Noon we pull into Louises Rockhouse in Linville Falls,NC for lunch. JB and Sticks were already there waiting on us. Afew of us had the Big Bacon Cheesburgers and Fullmoon and Hired Geek had the Clam Chowder.We finished up quickly and headed to camp.When we arrived at our selected site Moonshine was there with the campfire going and Refridgerator and Marko had just arrived and started setting up their gear, so the rest of us did too.JB had his infamous outdoor kitchen set up in no time flat and had also had a trailer full of wood for the fire.A little while later Yaotaman and acbabe showed up and started to set up and discovered that they had left their tentpoles at home but I was able to supply them a tent.Once all had a place to sleep I made some Chili and Yotaman put on his Campout Stew.We ate very well and put on extra clothes as the temps dropped even more. Lonewolf pulls in camp around 7 pm and decided that he would share JB's big REI tent with the heater! LOL! After sipping on some libations and tellin tall tales for awhile and then heating up some hot water for our Fartsacks I decided that I was going to call it a night. I am a hammocker and as I was within sight of the campfire so I got a chance to entertain the crowd as they all got watch me inside my sleeping bag lose my balance and plop out onto the ground with a big thud! Of course all had a good laugh and THEN asked iffin I was okay!!!

Saturday: I woke up about 3 am and looked out from under my tarp and noticed that Fullmoon wasn't in his Hammock. He had gotten cold and crawled into the Big REI tent with JB and Lonewolf...with the heater.I think since this is becoming an annual habit that we may have to pool together and buy Fullmoon a new sleeping bag or take some bigger tents next year!!!LOL! Oh and by the way this is the guy that jumped into the river last year with temps in the 20's!!!!! JB fried up some sausage for everyone and perked a couple pots of some good Coffee to get us started. Oh it was cold as a Well Diggers Arse!!!We finally got our stuff together and headed down to the Pinch In Trailhead to drop a car and thats when Fullmoon started gettin sick so he had to take Hired Geek's Jeep back to camp. We left Sticks car there and then piled up in my Suburban and Moonshines Pick up. With all vehicles in place Me,Moonshine,Hired Geek,Yotaman,Sticks and Lonewolf hit the Mountains to Sea Trail heading straight down into the Gorge. We later turned left on the Lead Mine Trail which is a very UN used trail that had a little work recently done but was still a bugger of a trail.Finally at the Linville Gorge Trail we regrouped, took a few pics and headed out for one of the most beautiful walks in the entire Gorge.We took a lunch break near the intersection of the LG trail and the Pinch In.We started to get very cold during the break so elected to get moving again only problem was that due to a lack of communication we left Sticks and his dog Angie behind. After a short distance we realized our mistake and stopped only to hear Sticks cursing us us from a little ways off the trail LOL!! Sorry Sticks!!! We regrouped, made explanations and headed up the Pinch In also known as the toughest mile east of the Rockies!!! I think that all of agree thats a fact!!! After a few cramps and a few rest stops we all made the summit and took a few pics next to the trail sign at the top. We all made it back to camp and JB had some of the best soup made up and hot that I've ever had and The Fridge had some New York Strips!!! WhooHoo!!! I ate til I thought I would absolutly pop!!! Yotaman and acbabe decided to head back home as the weather was brutally cold the night before and then later Fullmoon and Hired Geek decided to head out as Fullmoon still wasn't feelin well.The rest of us did the campfire thang and we all retired about 10:30.

Sunday: We all woke up, packed up and went to Louises for a great breakfast!!!


Thanks to all that came!! I still had a GREAT TIME!!!


By the way...there is a chance that this may have been the 10th instead of the 9th Annual trip! If you were one of the attendees of the first one please let me know what year it was iffin you remember.Those folks were Me Nakedape,BS,Freedom,Radagast and Skiracer
last edited: 1/18/09 11:50:49 AM”

“spam great trip report”

“Spam, you forgot to mention that it was -3*F Saturday morning. And dispite the cold, my wife had a great time and said she would do it again as long as it is not as cold as this year.”

“Sounds like a good (albeit very cold) trip, Spam.”

“Well I'm so glad to hear that Yotaman!!! Tell her that we all very much enjoyed her being there and that I'm gonna put in a request for warmer weather in the future!!!”

“LOL spam, she will appreciate that.”

“Hey Spam, meet me in Winston next Saturday morning and lets do one night with the Hammonk crowd at Mt. Rogers”

“noshootin I may have to pass on that trip, not because I wouldn't like to go but I have some others things I gotta take care of.Sorry you couldn't make it out this weekend!”

“Sounds great, I'm gonna have to make it one of these days, I sign up every year and something always comes up Linville weekend. One day...”

“thanx for the good times.already lookin forward to next yr.glad everyone made it home safe. a good 1.5 inches of snow lastnight.great trip report spamalama obama.lol jus kiddin”

“I sure wish we'd get some snow here!!!”

“thanks for sharing your trip report!!!!...sounds like a good time!!!!”

“You had 18 signed up for this trip. How many actually showed?”

“Go back to bed NIGAL”

“eleven showed~~”

“Yotaman......YotaMAN is a she..??..lol..”

“Great report Spam, expect to get 1 to 5 inches here tommorrow Anyone else got sore legs this morning LOL well back to the Salt mines”

“Sounds like all were had by a good time. Now about those pics...........”

“T0 all the guys who put up with me at the camping trip: i sure do appreciate the kindness you showed me !!! i enjoyed meeting all of you. you are all a great group of guys. A special thanks to jb, marko, fridge, and fullmoon for keeping me company and warm while hubby was out hiking with the rest of the group. And a special thanks to spam for the tent and the warm vehicle on Saturday morning. Thanks again, acbabe

ps. riverwarrior, yotoman is my husband so yeah he is a guy, lol
last edited: 1/19/09 1:38:46 PM”

“Sounds like you guys had a good trip. Sorry I missed it. There's always next year!”

“I fully expected to be sore today but luckily I'm not!!!

I just got off the phone with nakedape and he was on the first Linville Gorge trip. We have come to the conclusion that this WAS the 10th year and I apparently screwed up some where along the line or I may have not counted the year that some of us showed in an ice storm and decided that it wasn't going to be a good idea after all. So I reckon we'll call next year the 10th Annual anyways!!! It will be posted soon for the 3rd weekend in January 2010...so put it on your calenders!!!!”

“Hey Spam, I am also not sore today. I was very sore behind my knees saturday night, especially after that long drive. But I have been fine since. Thanks for a very tough hike, glad we were not backpacking it.”

“I'm glad you guys enjoyed the hike, I enjoyed the breeze at camp.

Next year, OK.”

“Hey Spam - yeah, I felt it, lol. I guess my legs were just not used to that kind of activity and it took overnight for it to set in.. I was pretty sore yesterday--But well worth it!

I had a great time, and I'm glad you guys picked such an ambitious hike for us to complete on my first trip out.

Spam, let me know when you're going to come to North GA. I may be able to slip away and meet you there.”

“There are so many places that I want to visit Hired Geek like Blood Mountain but I have no idea when I'll be able to get there@!!! Soon I hope! It was great to meat ya!!!”

“Spam I am planning on doing the AT section that includes Blood Mountain (Springer Mountain to Neels Gap) sometime this October. I'll post the trip when I get closer to having an exact date.

BTW: How is your knee.”

“I know it's over a year away, but I am planning on doing Springer to Franklin NC during my spring break in 2010...

'32oz”

“hummm - I should be doing that section in just a couple months”

“You got mail!!, Well maybe..I guess it depends on if your email address is correct, lol
See ya later.
Randall”

“Mocs that sounds great I may be able to do it as long as it isn't on the 15h thru the 17th of October! I haven't had any trouble with my knee for awhile now...hope it stays that way!!!”

“hey did any one get any photo's of this trip ?”

“Here are my photos! They are on Myspace and ya might have to have an account to look...not sure!

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=63346548&albumId=2717899”

“It looks like it was cold.”

“Iffin I remember correctly....it was!!!”

“Nice pics Spam”

“I would have taken more and actually tried but at times the camera wouldn't work because it was so cold!!!”

“gotta keep the battery warm. I usually keep it in my crotch and rub it to keep it working.”

“Great trip!!! Spam them're some nice pix! I ain't forgot about looking up them pix from our first Linville Hike. That's back when I was still shooting with film (I think), so they are dated on the back.

Hate like a mutha I couldn't meet some of y'all.

Spam that river is bigger than what I remember, for some reason.”

“hyway, theres a lot of things in life you have to keep in your crotch and rub to keep working...”

“I thawt hiway had got rid of them critters. They back again!?”

“LMAO what Naked ape said....”

“They say Kerosene will take care of them thangs!!!”

“so who took the jar??”

“That's what I would like to know.”

“they will pay dearly for it I'm sure.
last edited: 1/26/09 1:22:49 PM”

“hey i cleaned out the trailer and it was nit in the laft over wood.”

“dang”

“Man I looked in that trailer like five times!!!”

“I thought I saw it after the hike but when I came back from home it was gone.it looked 3/4 full so I know it wasnt drank or broken.”

“You were correct about those critters we saw at break being a salamander. They were two-lined salamander larvae.

You are the dude.



”