Linville Falls: Basin Plunge & Gorge Trails

Trail Mileage: 1.8 miles total (Gorge Trail + Basin Plunge Trail Combined)

Trail Location: All of the Linville Falls trails can be reached from the Blue Ridge Parkway, mile post 316. From November - April when the parkway tends to be closed, the falls can be reached from an alternate parking area off of NC 183 that remains open year round, however, the forest service roads and parking lot are not plowed in the winter.  From the visitor center, the Gorge and Basin Plunge trails are to the left and are more difficult then the other set of trails that leaves from the visitor center and to the right (Upper Falls, Chimney View, and Erwin View trails).

When we arrived at the visitor center it was nearing the end of the day, and I was hungry for dinner so we kept our time at the falls fairly short, choosing to hike only the Gorge and Basin Plunge overlook trails. As we headed up the trail, the Gorge trail is just past the Duggers Creek loop entrance. We forked left and descended a steep 0.4 miles down to the river where we were rewarded with a river front view of the Falls. 

Crabtree Falls

Trail Mileage: 2.5 miles, loop trail
Elevation Gain: 627 ft.
Elevation Loss: 574 ft.

Location: Crabtree Falls is located off the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 339.5

Crabtree Falls Trail

Crabtree Fall Trail Profile

Catching Up

It's been to long since I've posted (over a year), and almost as long since I've done any kind of hiking. I've completely starved myself of the things that seem to give meaning to my life; hiking, writing, and photography. Unacceptable. This is in-part due to living in the flatlands of Ft. Benning, Georgia for most of 2013, but mostly due to life in general. I got wrapped up in completing my Masters Degree, working, and roller derby. After some reflection its clear that portions of my life lended themselves to the opportunity to write (i.e my adventures as a rollergirl; my conservation work along the Chattahoochee Fall Line with The Nature Conservancy), but somehow these opportunities fell by the wayside. Luckily, recent life changes have brought me back to the beautiful town of Boone, NC where hiking means stepping out my front door.

Carver's Gap to 19 East

It was almost an epic day. Almost.

I first experienced "the humps" as a thru-hiker in 2009. It was epic. Admittedly, my experiences along the Appalachian Trail eventually taught me that hurricane force winds can just happen in the mountains without the accompaniment of tornado's or lightening, but I didn't know this at the time. Rather, my first experience will go down in my mind's history as one of the most terrifying experiences along the trail. Still, I  have had the desire to re-experience the humps in good weather. I had seen photos, read blogs, and had been told stories about the beautiful panoramic views that the balds (Little Hump and Hump Mountains) offer. It was these, the fairytalesk stories that I wanted to experience.

Good-bye 2011, Hello 2012

The year of 2011 wasn't exactly the year for adventure, but it was a year for self-challenge. I spent the year being more active than I've been in my entire life. I ran my first 5K and 10k races. I discovered that I like spin class. I discovered that I despise bootcamp. I rediscovered my love for roller-skating. I think most importantly, I discovered what many of my limits are. I've begun to learn to focus on what I'm capable of, regardless of how it stacks up to others. To this I have my Garmin Forerunner 210 to thank. There are days when I know I'm moving slow enough that snails can out pace me, but when I look down at my Garmin and see that my heart rate is at 80% of my max I know I'm really doing about as good as I can do and that's all I can ask of myself. Of course there are those day that I feel like I'm moving like a jaguar and I look down at my Garmin and see that I'm still moving slower than a snail and my heart rate is at 50% of my max. It's at this point I usually whine to myself and say "but I don't wanna" and then suck it up and pick up the pace, because I know I can do anything for an hour. So regardless of whether I felt like I had a bad workout or a good workout, numbers never lie. They tell me whether I did or did not try hard enough.