Pitch-in/River Trail/Rock Jock

Eh-See-Oh

River of many cliffs- Cherokee name for the Linville Gorge

Background: 

The Linville Gorge has been dubbed the "Grand Canyon of the East," and it is not undeserving of this title. The gorge itself is named after Mr. John & William Linville, two English explorers who were scalped by the Shawnee Native Americans in 1766. Quite a way to have your name immortalized right?

I've hiked quite a bit along the rims by now and this is my only hike into the gorge to date. I can tell you a few things with certainty--this is an unforgiving environment. This is not a place to hike into unprepared. A simple google search of "lost hiker in Linville Gorge" will tell you the stories.

A map is not optional, as much of the trails are not blazed (wilderness area). Even with a map, it is very easy to get lost due to the amount of spur trails that generally lead you nowhere. A lot of the time I only found my way because of my experience in hiking and knowing what a worn in trail looks like. Even so, the whole time I was hiking along the Linville River Trail, I had this sinking suspicion that I was getting lost, even when on the right trail.

But that's what makes it fun right? And that it was.

Hike Report: 

Distance: 11 miles

Time: ~6 hours 

Difficulty: Strenuous 

Similar to FR 210 on the east rim of the gorge, Kistler Memorial Highway is a gravel road that runs the entire western rim. I picked out a route that seemed to be a reasonable distance (based on the free map I found online, see below) of about 7 miles. See trail 21, 7, 17 below. 

I had planned on getting a little bit of an earlier start than I did, but ended up leaving by about 2pm, knowing that it would be dark by 8pm. A 6 hour cushion on 7ish miles is plenty of time. Well, I turned out to be wrong about the distance by about 4 miles. I happened to stumble upon another trip report on another website (here) with the exact distance of 11 miles..

6 hours for 11 miles in the Linville Gorge is tough, and I did not realize that until I was on the Rock Jock Trail, it was about 6:45pm, Clif and I both utterly exhausted by the amount of elevation gain (over 3600 feet total on the hike) and just worried about getting back to the car before dark because it still seems like there is a good bit to go. Also, throw in the fact that my cell phone is dead. That leaves you a shirtless hiker practically power-walking up switchbacks and up and down gaps of the western rim as the Rock Jock snaked its way back up to the trailhead. 

Anyways, I got some fantastic pictures of this hike before my phone died. And I care to share. Here are some pictures of the initial descent into the gorge. My knees are used to a good bit of trail running and I mountain bike, but the pitch in trail descends almost 1700 feet over 1 mile with a maximum grade of 43% according to alltrails.com. 

Incredibly, in these backcountry and wilderness areas, you get reminders that you aren't completely alone. I ran into a man with a baby strapped to his back like a backpack set-up hiking up by himself. I had a few words with him and he said it was over 50 pounds. This man is my hero. Moving along..

New growth forest and trees that are still standing from the forest fire that affected parts of the gorge in 2013

A side-benefit to the forest fires a few years ago are incredible vantage points all over the trails. Like this one, a view of Shortoff mountain from the Pitch-In trail

Finally, the bottom. We made it down in about 30 minutes despite the challenges to our joints! Now, above I stated that the trails here aren't blazed, and while that is true for all but the MTS, there are signs at official trail intersections.

The bottom of the Linville Gorge definitely holds most of the magic of this place. Giant boulders, huge trees, old growth forest and a huge canopy make this place feel like you just walked down into another planet.

Clif cooling off as usual 

I don't know when the Linville Gorge (river) trail was made, but my guess is it is much older than the wilderness designation. A lack of trail blazes made it very difficult to stay on trail, and I found myself going down spur trails to nowhere many, many times. It was particularly difficult to stay on trail going through one of the many camping areas along the river, because there would end up being lots of spur trails to lead you astray. 

What ended up helping me the most was choosing the most worn in trail, as you can surely tell the difference between an old trail and a spur trail made by campers. Even then, there are times on the gorge trail where brush and branches make it feel like you are going the way. There are lots and lots of stories of lost hikers in the gorge, so it is best to either have a good sense of direction or bring someone with a good sense of direction. I'll say that I am a fairly experienced hiker by now, even in wilderness areas, and most of the time I was hiking the gorge trail I felt like I was getting lost, even when I was going the right direction. 

Huge boulders were scattered all along the floor of the gorge, this is one of my favorite pictures 

A view of the Chimney's (of the east rim) from the Linville Gorge trail

I was looking for the "Rock Jock" trail sign, and ended up with the Conley Cove trail. The Conley Cove trail was not on my map but looked to be about where the Rock Jock should be, so I took it anyways as it was already after 5 and I knew the Rock Jock was going to be at least 3-4 miles of strenuous hiking to climb out of the gorge. I was right to take this trail, as it led directly to the Rock Jock after lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of switchbacking...

An early picture of the Rock Jock trail meandering near the bottom of the west rim 

The trails of the Linville Gorge would become very technical at times, this is one of many rock gardens traversed on the Rock Jock  

By 7pm my phone had long died on the early parts of the Rock Jock, so I have no pictures of the trail. I can tell you that it is an absolutely beautiful trail with lots of fantastic views of the gorge through the open and burnt forest and many rock outcroppings that I unfortunately did not have time to check out.

So yeah, back to it being 7pm and uncertain about just how much farther to go. I knew it would be dark shortly after 8pm, so Clif and I had been hoofing it at a fantastic pace that probably wouldn't have been as fast if we hadn't been chasing dark.

But we made it out before then, we always do. This hike is one I'll remember for the sheer technicality and strenuous nature of the trails. Guides recommend planing on doing 1-1.5mph on the trails of the gorge, and I can definitely see why. Fortunately, Clif and I were able to do about 2, because we simply had to!

Always a great time here, I will be back..