Table Rock NC

10/28/18

Sherri and I

Hiking the Linville Gorge area is always spectacular. This is the first time to Table Rock for either of us. The only bad part is the 6 ish mile dirt road to the trailhead! It’s a pretty rough road in spots. First we passed the Hawksbill trailhead and considered doing this one on the way back. We continued to the Table Rock parking area.

We decided to go up to Table Rock first. This trail was at the north end of the parking lot and was 1 mile to the top.

It was pretty damn cold and windy this morning. I guess at 9:30 am it was a bit early to expect warm! There were lots of people in the parking lot. I saw some car stickers that said Slackliners. These are people who hang a slack lines between two rock outcropping and walk across it! I hope to see some! I have heard they do it a lot in the gorge.

This was a fun trail. Beautiful views on the way up and 360 degree views at the top.

The trail was mostly rock paths. it was pretty steep but the views! Oh wow!

When we got to the top I stood on the top and took a 360 video. The wind was really whipping in my video!

There was a very worn survey marker at the top. Everywhere on this trail has hundred foot drops along the ridge line. It’s really quite amazing! We took a bunch of pictures and started back down.

We were talking about a guy we follow on Instagram who does a lot of hiking in the gorge and Wilson Creek named Thing1. We joked that we would probably see him here. On the way back down a guy that looked like him crossed the trail ahead of us. I said “is that him?” Sherri said “hey! Are you thing1?” He looked stunned! I think we freaked him out for a minute! We are hiking stalkers! 🤣🤣 He takes awesome photos. We took this picture with him.

He showed us another trail that he called Little Table Rock. We said goodbye and headed up that trail. It was like a small mountain island. He was correct. The views were amazing! The pic below is a view from the trail we were on.

The trail did a full circle on the edge and we got some great pictures. Sherri was moving out of her comfort zone standing near the edge. I said “what are you doing near the edge?!” She said “I have to it’s so amazing!” It really is! I was keeping away from the edge because of the wind! It was whipping around us!

The picture below is a view down!

There was a great camp spot at the top! That would be fun! Sunrise and sunset! We headed back to the parking lot and had some lunch. There was a car parked below us that had the windows cracked and 3 dogs in it. We hoped they were just in the bathroom or something.

We went to the other end of the parking lot. This trail goes all the way to Shortoff Mountain – 5.6 miles. We walked up this trail through nice picnic area then a bunch of campsites. This side was much warmer and a whole lot less windy!

This was a crazy trail! It was so cool. We could see what they called the amphitheater, the Chimneys and Angel Butress, at least that’s what a slackliner called it.

There was one area of the trail that was thin and steep. Lots of trail rock climbing on this one. When I’m hiking I’ll talk to anyone and everyone. I will also butt into others conversations. 🤣 That’s how I met this slackline guy. They were there all weekend but had to cut down their lines yesterday because it was so windy and on top of that there was a rescue helicopter nearby. He showed us some videos and explained a little of what they do. Unfortunately they took most of it down already and we didn’t get to watch. This is a picture of him from the day before.

This trail had some cool rock trails, serene flat trail and beautiful views!

This is where the trail got narrow. It had a rock wall on one side and a very big drop on the other.

We walked about a mile or so then turned around. I asked a guy where the Chimneys trail was. He was a wilderness guide and told us how to get there. We started back towards the parking lot and saw some kids heading down a trail to the left. I asked where he was going and he said to Angel Butress. I’m not sure this is what it’s really called though. I asked if that was where the slackliners went and he said it was. We did not follow him down the trail. This is where they were!

We continued down the trail. We looked up at the trail going up to the Chimneys which kinda looked like a dried up waterfall and decided against it this time. It was pretty steep and I was actually beat. I’ve been dog sitting for a friend and haven’t got much sleep so saving that for next time.

What was super cool about this trail is it had views on both sides most of the time. There were more fall colors on the side facing the gorge than the other side.

We got back to the parking lot and those dogs were still in that car! I went and looked in the car. They had bowls of water and 3 windows cracked. I mean why bring your dogs to a trailhead if your not gonna walk them! I left a nice little note on their window! It basically said “You suck!” I’m trying to be way more positive these days but I was positive these people suck!

Aside from that this was a great hike and we both enjoyed the heck out of it! It wasn’t as many miles as we usually do but these trails just had great energy! There is so much more to hike here. We will definitely be back!!