i noticed a trip report on the linville gorge recently and realized that i forgot to post my own trip report that i undertook this past 4th of july. i'm a member of the yahoo linville gorge group and posted this there:

"okay, so as some of you know, i undertook my first big challenge in my
short backpacking career this past weekend. At brad's suggestion, my
friend and i hiked a loop at the Gorge starting from Pinnacle TH and
taking the MST north to Spence, crossing the river and back down the
LGT to Pinchin. all in all, around 20 miles in three days, highs and
lows, and a trip i'll never forget. i apologize if this is too long,
but it's my first trip report, and i'm not certain how detailed they're
supposed to be!

Day 1: we started at Pinnacle around 1 p.m. on friday. the weather was
gorgeous with sunny skies and temps around 85 deg. a short walk from
the trail head to the scenic Pinnacle was just what we needed to get us
excited about the next 2 days. we climbed down the MST to the river
rather quickly and took some pics. by that time, the weather had
changed rapidly and we had experienced sudden bursts of showers, but
had not stopped. seconds after taking pictures, the skies OPENED UP!
before we could cross the river, we found ourselves huddled under a
tarp and waiting it out. the rain ended as fast at it had begun and we
crossed the cool, refreshing river with a rainbow just over us. AWESOME!

we raced up to shortoff, through the burnout, sometimes struggling to
find the path and markers. it was really something to see where the
fires had reached and the death and life of nature was really cool. we
just reached our first camp on the north side of Shortoff right at dusk
and refilled our water and ate, and slept early.

Day 2: the next morning, we awoke to much fog and damp EVERYTHING. we
quickly ate some oatmeal and got on the move around 8 a.m. we stormed
down Shortoff (the cooler temps definatly helped!) and passed a rather
large group of hikers that we would later befriend and share a nice
cold beer with at Table Rock. the climb up through chimney gap was
definatly tougher than i had imagined. it's been a few years since i've
hiked, but i tend to stay in relative good shape due to playing soccer
and such. As we approached Table Rock parking lot, we were in awe of
the great views on both sides of the ridge we were on. spectacular
stuff. as mentioned before, we hiked up to Table Rock and shared a cold
one with some really nice folks. the sun would break through
occasionally burning out the fog in the Gorge, but for the most part,
the weather remained humid and cool and rather foggy. we caught the LTR
trail and it was pretty slippery going down due to the rains the day
before. we stopped at the bottom of the trail to refill from one of the
many streams. this is when our first bear sighting happened. a small
black bear seemed as much surprised at us as we were at him when he
came tumbling down the ridge just ahead of us. he arrived on the trail
about 50 yds ahead of us and looked us over before retreating.

the hike from there to spence was really nice. cool temps, amazing lush
greenery, and the sound of water all around. the spence trail was short
and we came to the walking bridge quickly. we stopped for a quick snack
and continued on across to the LGT. we hiked south only a little while
until we reached a camp site around Conley trail around 4 pm. we made
camp, refilled water, and played in the river a while. the water was
incredibly refreshing, since by that time, we were feeling pretty
dirty. a good hearty meal, nice hot fire, and drying shoes concluded
the night.

day 3: i awoke to incredible stiffness. i believe this to be mainly due
to the fact that i slept in a tent instead of my usual hammock. we
broke camp early, skipped breakfast and got on the trail eager to reach
the car. our original plan intended us to hike the LGT as far as it
could go, then rock-hop the river and bushwack a short distance to the
saddle of the MST and then up to Pinnacle. we decided we weren't too
comfortable with that idea and to hike out of Pinchin. we would regret
this later. the hike down the LGT was as fast as it could go-
navigating slippery rocks and unstable roots was a chore and slowed us
down considerably. as the day progressed, the sun finally showed it's
face and the valley floor heated up immensely. by the time we reached
Pinchin, it was HOT! later on, my car thermometer would read 93
degrees. i had about 1 1/2 liters of water when we hiked up Pinchin. i
didn't refill and that was probably the biggest mistake of the trip. im
not sure how pinchin trail is compared to all the Gorge trails, but it
was definatly the toughest i'd been on. the grade was so steep, many
times i found myself on all fours crawling up the burned, barren,
dusty, suity trail. i renamed it something i probably shouldn't repeat.
i ran out of water about a 1/3 of the way up. things quickly went from
bad to worse when i started getting extremely dizzy and experienced
symptoms of, what i think, the beginnings of heat stroke. our pace
slowed down so much. every shady spot was few and far between, but we
managed to stop and cool our body temps down before we marched on. the
top of the trail was the happiest moment of my trip. we headed on down
kistler 105 to Pinnacle. not far down, (around Dobson i believe) we
came across some young car campers. they had two BIG dogs which rushed
me and scared me half to death. one of them bit me on the calf rather
badly. the owners felt horrible and took us to their camp where they
gave me water and dressing for my leg. i asked them for a ride to our
car and they were happy to oblidge.

we drove home a little bloody, incredibly tired and sore, yet we had
this sense of accomplishment i cannot fully explain. theres several
things i would do if i had to do it again, but all in all, it was a
great moment in my life. i pushed myself in ways i never thought i
could and am very happy with the trip. thanks to brad for all he's done
for me in the weeks prior to the trip! and to everyone else here who's
had a hand in my great loop and who's advice really made a difference!
i hope this is legible and not too long.

thanks,

david"