Linville Gorge Waterfalls

This past weekend, Sandy and I headed to the mountains for some waterfalls. I had recently gotten the new edition of NC Waterfalls by Kevin Adams and we wanted to get some new ones from the new book. We originally planned to head to Brevard, “Land of Waterfalls”, but all the campsites and hotels were booked solid, so we stayed in Marion and went to Linville Gorge instead. Saturday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed north on US-221 towards the Blue Ridge Parkway to get English Falls. We pulled off along the side of the parkway near milepost 322. From here, we walked a short ways north on the parkway past the guard rail and then headed into the woods. There was absolutely no trail and the shrubs were dense, so the going was extremely slow. We made our way down to the creek near the top of the waterfall and crossed then had to make it down past some cliffs to the base. We got around the first set of cliffs and found a very steep path down. We looped around the cliffs to head towards the base but there were more cliffs in the way. As I was walking, I heard some buzzing and realized I hit a hornets’ nest. Screaming and running, I got away with only a couple stings. This would not a be a good place for a medical emergency. We then got around the lower set of cliffs and finally made it to the base of English Falls.

It’s a beautiful waterfall, though the water was a little low today. After a couple pictures, we slowly headed back up. We drove a little further on the parkway and got off at Linville Falls. This is a popular area and the parking lot was full, so we had to park along the entrance road. We started off hiking the short Duggers Creek Falls Trail. A bridge crossed the creek just below the waterfall and we could see it from here.

I scrambled down to creek level for a picture. The waterfall is pretty neat – it’s small but flows through a narrow gorge. The water level was low so it didn’t look its best today. But the rosebay rhododendron were blooming all around.

Next, we got on the Plunge Basin/Linville Gorge trail and first hiked over to the Plunge Basin Overlook. This is the only Linville Falls overlook that I had not been to. The overlook provides great views of the falls from high on cliff face above.

Far below, we could see people swimming and relaxing around the base of the falls. After a couple pictures, we headed down into the gorge. Even in low water, Linville Falls is a spectacular waterfall.

We sat on the rocks and enjoyed the view for a while, getting pictures from different angles and then started making our way back. I got a picture from further down the river with a large boulder and smaller cascades in the foreground.

From here, we got on the Kistler Memorial Highway (Old NC Hwy 105) and drove south along the western rim of Linville Gorge. Near the start of the road, there were many other cars parked at the cabin and various trailheads. As we drove further south, the other traffic lightened and soon we were the only people around. We stopped at one point for great views of the southern end of the gorge.

It was about 10 miles on this very bumpy and steep gravel road to FSR-106 where we turned right. We followed this road for about 2.5 miles to the end, just past a couple of radio towers. Parking right before the gate at a campsite, we continued on the gravel road for about a half-mile and turned left onto an unofficial path at a tree with light blue paint that headed down via switchbacks. We came out at some cliff faces with nice views of the Black Fork Gorge.

Continuing on, it was less than a mile to Still Falls. This waterfall has a very small watershed and was essentially a wet rock. The cliffs surrounding the falls were pretty cool though.

We didn’t stay long as there wasn't much to see and made our way back. Back at the car, we drove a couple more miles south on Kistler Memorial Highway and pulled off along the side of the road. Heading into the woods, we followed an old path that led down towards Yellow Fork. The hike was gradual at first, but progressively steeper. As we followed a ridge down to the gorge, we entered an open area where there was no shade. The hot sun and heavy humidity made for a strenuous hike, though it was at least short. Near the edge of the gorge, we turned left and climbed down a rickety ladder and scrambled down into the gorge at the base of Yellow Fork Falls.

Like all the waterfalls this weekend, the water level was a little low, but it was still a really nice waterfall. In higher water, I think this one would be spectacular. We relaxed for a bit in the nice cool gorge and then made the strenuous hike back up. We finished up the drive through the gorge and headed back to Marion for dinner. We were both exhausted and went to sleep shortly after arriving back at the hotel.