A week in Linville Gorge

Written By Bryan Deel

This summer, I got to co-lead Blue Ridge Expeditions for Green River Preserve, and rediscovered a love for sharing my passion for wild spaces. I was teamed up with Kimi and Lizzy, and together we made magic in the Pisgah high country. We were able to introduce campers to breathtaking expanses and cascading rivers, and through the process watch them open up and find the budding parts of themselves they will come to rely on as they expand into a diverse world. It was such a moving experience, and Kimi and Lizzy and I started thinking of what the next level adventure could be for the GRP expeditioners. This is where the idea for the Linville Expedition was born. We submitted it and were told to go for it! So in early October we went to the Gorge to do a reccy and build a plan for next summer.

The leaves were just beginning to turn as we hiked towards Table Rock and we got our first glimpse of the Gorge. “Oh my, this will be the Campers’ first glimpse of the Gorge,” we said with a gasp. Raw and rugged, 15 miles of wilderness lay before us. Over the next three days we covered 30 miles of hiking, climbing and river “work”.

The Linville Gorge, also known as the Grand Canyon of the East, is an awe inspiring trench carved through quartzite mountains by the Linville River. This means the rock climbing is pretty spectacular. There are routes for all levels of ability, and we explored several routes we would like to offer expeditioners. We will also teach rappeling and rope work. This will be the next step in preparing campers to safely and confidently go out into wild spaces with friends or family. The landscape is a tangle rock pillars, chimneys, cliffs and escarpments decorating its steep walls, and we will explore many miles of it. When I say explore, I mean we will be truly engaged with the landscape. The vegetation is dense and varied and the trails are often steep and littered with roots and loose stones. Common fauna include bears, snakes, things that sting, peregrines and massive corvids that whoosh by with an enviable grace. It can be a hard place to be, until you relax and let it settle into you. Backpacking in the Linville Gorge is difficult, but the rewards are vistas unparalleled in the East. The scale is incredible. It’s not the distances so much as the relief, and when you reach a stopping point and drop your pack the aches dissolve in wonder over what you are seeing. I’ve been coming here for twenty years, and it always feels like I’m seeing it with fresh eyes. An hour walk from the trailhead and you are transported to a backcountry experience that offers scrambling, climbing and swimming in a pristine river with deep, clear holes and giant trout.

Among the caves and alcoves and mysteries is a rich lore of Native American experience, pioneer mishaps, and even paranormal phenomena. The Brown Lights of Linville Gorge is a curiosity that visits campers on occasion, and provides scientists and skeptics fodder for a continual exchange of speculation. We got really excited thinking of camping in the Chimneys, a very exposed ridge section of the Gorge, and the Brown Lights appearing for the expeditioners. I have seen them on one occasion and I can’t begin to explain what causes them. I saw an orb of light, November 2, 2008, travel from low in the gorge to a level roughly even with my camp on the ridge between Table Rock and the Chimneys. It made me nervous at first, and then I felt calm as I accepted it was just something I couldn’t explain. It moved on up the gorge, leaving me in awe. Showing this to campers would be a highlight of the trip for sure!

Perched atop the Chimneys, you feel you’re sitting where people have brought their joys and troubles for thousands of years. It is a meditative space. People pour themselves into this immensity for many reasons, and catharsis is often the gift returned. We were tired and hungry, but the Gorge kept drawing us to this place, and being able to safely share this with others makes our hearts grow.

So, once you’ve experienced the prominences, the jagged formations that make up the upper portion of the central part of the gorge, now it’s time to see the river. Even in October, we couldn’t pass up the swim. The Linville River is a tumble of massive boulders, and we decided to use them to create a Tyroledan Traverse to cross the river. This will be another skill we teach expeditioners, and we’ll have a bunch of fun and get soaked in the process!

So, three expedition leaders went into the Linville Gorge Wilderness and came out with a grand program for Summer 2026. We will share the cultural, geographical, geological, zoological and botanical beauties of this space with expeditioners, and teach a bunch of wilderness skills. We will backpack, climb, scramble, and open ourselves up to this profound landscape. I love this place.