Down By The River...

Today I got down to the river to watch the running of the rapids. (wait for the video to load)




My descent began on the east side of the gorge, where the old road to the old bridge joins the new road crossing the new bridge.



Once down at the river's edge, I had a great view of the rafters, the kayakers... and the swimmers.




Yep - there are two guys SWIMMING that run!




The roads up out of the gorge follow streams as they cut their way through the rock. There are usually small waterfalls on the way, some of which are located where one can stop and photograph them.




Tomorrow - weather permitting - Sandstone Falls.

New River Gorge, West Virginia

The New River Gorge area is formed by the New River and the Gauley River. They have cut a gorge that is over 1000 feet deep and are two of the foremost eastern White Water rivers. The map I have names the rapids on the Gauley, but notes that "only rapids of Class V or above are named". There are quite a few names. Unfortunately, I could not figure a way to get to any of the rapids on the Gauley. The best I could do was finding a waterfall at the edge of Gauley Bridge.


On the New River, I hope the story will be very different. I think it will. I have already found a good access to photograph and video one rapid.


The New River, while known for its white water, is also known to engineers because it is spanned by the one of the longest steel arch bridges. The bridge is 876 feet above the river. It doesn't just span the river, it also crosses ABOVE a small mountain on the southeast part of the bridge, terminating at the second mountain. According to Wikipedia, it is 3030 feet long, 1700 feet of which is the arch.
That is a four lane divided highway up there, and I am only 1/3 of the way down into the gorge!


On the west side of the gorge, I found an appealing trail.

I'm not up to any hiking today but I will be here for 5 more days...

Blue Ridge Parkway

The weather finally cleared, and I continued north along the Blue Ridge Parkway through North Carolina into Virginia. Each turn brings a new view, and there are a LOT of turns.









Taking side roads and short walks will result is much closer looks at the scenery that makes up the big vistas.

Spring is here!

This was the view from my recliner at North Mills River Campground, south of Asheville.


To the south of this site, a pluton formed deep beneath the surface. When it made its way to the surface (or the surface wore down to it) it left this formation known as Looking Glass Rock. Other similar formations are Stone Mountain in Georgia and Stone Mountain in North Carolina.


The geology yields a lot of flat, smooth rock in the area. At one site, a stream flows over this rock, creating a natural sliding board known as Sliding Rock. At the end of the slide you drop into a pool 8 feet deep. Katie would have LOVED this!



About a mile downstream, the water drops over Looking Glass Falls.

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

Today's posts are all about photos.

Linville Falls and Linville Gorge
First, an experiment in black and white...

Then in color...



The Linville Gorge is reportedly the most rugged, inaccessible land east of the Rockies. I believe it.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Area

Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

There are only a few roads through this park. Most of the Park is best accessed by horseback or on foot. I have no way of knowing what I missed, so I will focus on what I saw.



This small waterfall was a 0.3 mile hike from the parking lot. Along the trail were frequent wildflowers.



The road through the park has many vistas, particularly on the side road to Clingman’s Dome.



My second campsite a the Great Smokies was more to the west, near the Tennessee border on the edge of a reservoir.



Tail of the Dragon

Route 129 crosses from North Carolina to Tennessee along the southern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It twists and turns and rises and falls so much that it has become known as the Tail Of The Dragon. It is a motorcycle Mecca and if you drive it in a car, you are sure to find yourself in front of and behind bikers riding the road for the sheer fun of it.


To the southeast, Route 129 parallels the Cheoah River. I came to this area expecting to see exciting white water on the Nantahala River. I found the white water on the Cheoah. These photos at Bear Creek Falls are three out of 142 shots that I trimmed to 90. There are three paths through the falls. The far side has a 10’ vertical drop. The middle path divides the drop into two sections. While once I could have handled the first drop, the second is larger and dumps the bow of your boat into a very strong cross current. I would not have made it in an open canoe. The kayaks completely disappeared in the foam in this area. The near path was the run taken by most of the rafts. That is the run I would have taken. I think I could have made it as recently as 10 years ago. I was told that the drop is rated Class IV. I think that may be true on the right but the other two drops sure look like Class V to me.






To the south of the Park, in the Nantahala National Forest, is the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. This is a delightful old growth forest with some really big trees, a short trail system and chuckling streams dancing their way downhill over the rocks.


















The Joyce Kilmer area and Bear Creek Falls are the images that will stay with me as I continue north. These up-close views were unusual to me, while the broad vistas will be frequent along the Blue Ridge Parkway.