Senior Moments

Upper Linville Falls, Linville Gorge, North Carolina. November 8, 2012.

(Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)

In early November Betsy and I went to Asheville, North Carollina, to visit Mount Mitchell and enjoy some of the beautiful scenery along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  But Mount Mitchell State Park was closed because of snow, and a big part of the Parkway was closed due to construction.  So we had to go with Plan B.  Plan B included a morning visit to Grandfather Mountain and a late afternoon visit to Linville Falls.

We had visited Linville Falls back in 2004, but this time we had a little more fun getting there because of the road closures.  We reached a Forest Service trailhead to the falls in the late afternoon.

The trail first led us to Upper Linville Falls (above).  The upper falls is a small double falls above the main falls.  Although the falls are small, the setting is very pretty.

Linville Falls, Linville Gorge, North Carolina. November 8, 2012.

We couldn’t see the main falls from the upper falls, so we decided to hike to an overlook about half a mile away which offered a distant view of the main falls.  I had to use my long lens to get the above photo.  There is a small, twisting gorge (‘The Chimney’) between the upper and main falls.  You can see the water flowing from the bottom of the chimney before reaching the main falls.

It was getting late, so we didn’t make it to the Chimney View overlook, nor did we have time to hike to the base of the main falls.  I guess we’ll just have to go back.