Linville Falls in High Water

Sunday, we checked out and headed back towards Linville Gorge.  Our plan was to hike to Babel Tower, another of Alex's favorite hikes.  We drove a ways down Kistler Memorial Highway, but about a mile before the trailhead, it was totally washed out.  A 4WD with high clearance is needed until the road is fixed.  So we turned around and stopped at Linville Falls.  After putting Harper in the carrier, we hiked around Duggers Creek Trail.

The water level was high and the Duggers Creek Falls looked nice in the morning light.

I took off my shoes and waded under the bridge for a nice picture.

We finished the short loop back at the parking lot and put Harper in the stroller to head down the main trail to Linville Falls, which was mostly stroller friendly except for some steps near the overlooks.

There were some nice wildflowers blooming along the trail.

The first overlook we came to was for the Upper Falls View, but I didn't have much luck with clouds to block out the bright sun.

We had a little more luck with some cloud cover at Chimney View.

Then we headed out to the end with a quick stop at Linville Gorge View as more clouds rolled in.

The waterfall was looking nice from Erwins View, the furthest overlook from the waterfall.

After some pictures, we headed back.

From here, we headed north on the parkway and made a stop at Beacon Heights, but it was too cloudy for a view.  So we continued to Boone and had Greek for lunch at Booneshine and then headed home.