Location: Linville Gorge Wilderness, Pisgah National Forest, NC
Trail head: Spence Ridge
Nearest GPSabble Adress: 120
Bost Road Morganton, NC 2865. Then continue north on 181 and follow signs
for Table Rock Picnic Area
Project: Backpacking
My first backpacking trip. A friend
and I sign up on a whim with my university's outdoor/hippie/adventure
club. We have never been camping and decide that our crash course will be
primitive backpacking on the Appalacian Trail. That's how turn-up we are. I am
in it for the rocks (we just don't have many in Florida), and to gain
wilderness skills. I can only assume that my friend is in it for the sense of
adventure.
I rent a backpack from the university
outfitter that is far too large and spend about 3 hours going over the
pack list. I discover the first joy of backpacking: shopping for delicious
non-perishable foods at Trader Joes. Half of the squeezable apple sauce and
salmon jerky is gone before the trip starts. I also discover the first con of
backpacking: trying to jam a large sleeping bag into a small stuff sack. I pack
enough sweaters to swaddle a rhinoceros and sleep in my friends dorm so that we
are ready to walk to the student union at 4 am and begin the drive from FL to
NC.
After a half hour of sleeping pad tetris and cramming our belongings into the trunk of a large van, 11 students and I set out on I-75 to explore the Northern wild. A number of road trip games and ice-breakers ensue, which is only somewhat annoying at a time of day when one should be sleeping. The food makes up for the awkward bonding activities, however. Our trip leaders have packed all kinds of deliciousness you would not guess was non-perishable such as pita pizzas, buffalo carrot wraps, and even breakfast burritos. The drive is almost enjoyable with all of the conversation and people to sleep on. Skipping Friday classes makes it even better. It takes us all day to drive to the trail head.
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| Ze gorge. |
We began on Spence Ridge, which connects to the larger
Linville Gorge Trail. The van is strategically parked at the end of the
Linville Gorge Trail so that we can hop in and drive home on Sunday. Hiking up
to the campsite is short, nearly vertical, and brutal. My backpack is huge and
heavy and sways uncertainly on my child-sized body. I am grateful and tired
when we reach camp, but I stay up with everyone else and talk until the fire
dies because it is so cold. I slept with every one of my sweaters on.
The
next day we hike to the falls, which are frozen. The view of the gorge is still
beautiful, and I bore a few people with the orogenic history of the
Appalachians. Somewhere we find running water and use iodine
tablets to purify it. We hike though a burnt forest to get to our next camp
site and I eat more food than I believe I have ever eaten. It is cool
how everything we need to survive is on our backs, but it kind
of sucks to carry it over a mountain range.
The
remaining part of the trail is short, and within a few hours we are back at the
van. We stop at Louise's Rockhouse Restaurant, where we have
excellent berry pie and enjoy the use of running water. Everyone is
smelly, dirty, and happy, and I make the decision to go backpacking many times
in the future.
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