Linville Gorge Rock Climbing
I'm a novice climber and rarely go climbing. But I won't turn down the opportunity to get out on the rocks when friends are heading out and have space for me.
It was a beautiful sunny and warm March day. We headed out to Linville Gorge to climb.
I rarely go to Linville Gorge Wilderness even though it's an amazing place. It's about 1 hour 45 minutes from the house and I don't like driving that far for a hike, even though I used to do that often when I didn't live in the mountains. I've only been out there three times so far, both for backpacking. The Linville River is about 2,000 ft. below and the gorge is 12 miles long. A trip down into the gorge and back is steep and strenuous for backpacker and day hikers. Linville Gorge is designated as a wilderness area and it's also a pretty rugged area.
For rock climbing, we stayed up high and just had a short approach.
Bri, Torry, Andrew and the three dogs (Tybee, Tyki and Torry's dog Tucker)
Tyki, Tybee and Tucker hung out in the sun, ran around, and begged strangers for food. This guy had cheese.
Looking across Linville Gorge to Lake James from the top of the route (L). And looking down to Bri who is belaying me (R).
A quick photo on our hike back out. (Pre-)spring in western North Carolina is definitely one of the best times of the year.