Took “Foxtrot” (my daughter) and hiked just under 11.7 miles in Linville Gorge today. Shortoff Trail from the Wolf Pit parking area, MST to a point just shy of Table Rock ridge on the ascent up from Chimney Gap, then back to Wolf Pit. Took a shortcut on the way back down the Jeep Trail, as we were running out of time.
We hit the trail an hourish later than planned and it was already getting warm. Sweat was the name of the game and we did a lot of it. Very humid and hazy, so views were not as nice as usual. Still, lots of blooms and LOTS of USAF jets shooting the Gorge today. Most I’ve ever seen/heard. Other than a break around lunchtime, they were flying through the Gorge almost the whole time we were there.
Someone (USFS? Friends of the MST?) cut new switchbacks in the STEEP part of the MST going up from Saddle Camp to Table Rock ridge. The old trail was, well, straight up and had eroded into a chute that was 4’ deep in places and ROUGH! The new trail is much easier to hike. Still plenty challenging but I didn’t have to stop a dozen times on the way up to catch my breath like always happened with the new trail. . They filled the old chute with brush they cleared from the new trail. LOTS of nice views from the new trail, too. The switchbacks add about .25-.3 mile to the distance shown on this section from Avenza.
By about mile 8, my butt started to get kicked. I took in 10 liters of water, 6 of which were water bottles in my pack to add training weight. It wasn’t enough, but I didn’t want to filter on the return trip due to our time crunch, so I toughed it out. Foxtrot had a 100 ounce water bladder and never ran out.
All in all, a good, but humbling day. I was hoping to do better on endurance. We are training for a 70 mile backpacking trip later in summer and I’ll have to do more than 12 miles per day most days on that trip. Sigh. Just have to keep chugging along.
My view of Foxtrot most of the day. Her in front and me trying to keep up.
Obligatory shot of Lake James from Unbelievable Point. I always send this shot to my wife so she knows we are alive and on trail.
Table Rock from Shortoff Mountain. Never get tired of this view.
Foxtrot heading up the new switchbacks and some views from said switchbacks.
Beargrass/turkeybeard where we turned around on the MST.
On the way back down Chimey Gap, this large fence lizard jumped off the trail. His tail is growing back from saving his life from some predator at some point.
Typical view of Foxtrot as we trudged back across Shortoff. She got harder to keep up with as the day wore on, except on the downhills. She sprained her ankle in January and is still very cautious with it on rough terrain, especially downhills.
Closeup showing the new switchbacks on the “now-old” Avenza map.
