Newbie checkin in from Johnson City, TN

[JeffV315]

Hi all. Another member on here turned me on to this site. I've never hiked the gorge, but I'm excited to check it out--looks incredible.

I'd like to go this weekend with my son and son-in-law (both in good shape, but not experienced). There is a lot of info on here to sort through. I'd like a good two day hike with one overnight. Head out Saturday morning, spend the night, perhaos near the river, and hike until Sunday afternoon/evening. It can be a loop or a shuttle. Can anyone offer some advice or a route/trail to get started, or direct me to another thread that discusses this? Just as a reference, we did carvers gap to 19E 2 weeks ago travelling 2 mph. I hear the gorge is much slower going though, and probably more stopping to enjoy the scenery.
 
Looking forward to hearing you advice and begin exploring the gorge.

Thanks

Jeff

[JeffV315]

Oh, I forgot to tell you. We are all three hangers,  so keep that in mind when thinking of camp sites. Thx

[L.D. Cakes]

Man If I didn't have things to do this weekend Jeff I'd join you. So you've gotten the rest of the crew into hanging since last year when I hung with you'll! The Gorge offers lots more opportunities for that than tent spots I promise ya. Hopefully Ken or Hawk-Eye or someone will chime in to give you more suggestions than I can. Have a good weekend!
Cakes

[mejones827]

Babel Tower to Conley would be a good intro to the gorge but requires a shuttle back to babel unless you want to hike a lot of road.  Then you could spend sunday afternoon dayhiking rock jock from the conley trail head.  LGT (Linville Gorge Trail that connects Babel to Conley) has the camps marked on our map.  SO you would camp by the river and sunday afternoon hike a cliff ledge.  Just one of many options

[Ken]

What Mike suggested is a good one.  Or you could park at Wiseman's, walk down the road to Conley, do the loop and then walk down the road from Babel back to the car.  That would split the road walk up. 

Pinchin, LGT, Conley, Rockjock could be done, but would be a bit of a rush for one night, for me at least.  It has been done as a dayhike, but that would be flying.   You could leave out Rockjock and hike the road back to Pinchin for an easier second day.

[JeffV315]

Thanks guys. I've been looking at the maps trying to get an idea of the option you gave. So, from what I've gathered BTT is 1.25 miles and Conley is 1.2 mi. and it's better to go in on BTT and out on Conley.

How far is the LGT between BTT and Conley? Is conley marked well down at the intersection of LGT?

It doesn't seem like far to go, it must be tough going.

THanks again for all your help.

[mejones827]

http://www.garmin.com/us/products/onthetrail/basecamp

Thats free garmin software

http://www.linvillegorge.net/smf/index.php?topic=353.0

and that is the message thread with the Garmin gdb link for our master map download.

Once you have installed basecamp just double click the gdb download and it will open in basecamp.  Or it should... I still use mapsource but its no longer free.  I like using that for checking distances when planning trips and whatnot.

But the question was Babel to Conley and it appears its about 3 miles[EDIT: that was using the measure tool... after clicking on the track its 3.6 miles].  This will leave time for lollygagging at the tower and what not on the way down.  Not really too tough coming from that direction we just like to suggest hikes that ease folks into the gorge.  There is a good camp at the old sandy flats intersection and down at the conley LGT intersection.  Conley is marked with a wood sign but its a little uphill from the main LGT so once you pass the spence bridge, about 15 to 20 mins later you will come into a bunch of camps and one even has a little set of stairs that lead from LGT up the hill on your right.  Just past those camps is the Conley intersection. If you go too far there is a huge tree across the trail you will have to crawl over to get to some more camps ... conley is behind you then.  Atleast that tree was there last fall.

The hike Ken suggested is a good hike and we did it last fall but that section of LGT from Pinchin to Conley is up and down and in and out and over and under deadfall and just mentally and physically exhausting to me... more mentally than physically.  But it is a good hike just the least eventful section of LGT for all the work you go through.  Pinchin and Conley I love well i love conley. LOL

Mike

[JeffV315]

Well, I'm having trouble with the downloads.

However, I am printing some maps. If everything works out, my plan is to go down BTT. Now at the point it intersect the LGT we should continue straight to get to Babel tower right? Good views? Then come back and go down the LGT to the river. We will camp somewhere, probably past the Conely train intersection at campsites 18 or 19 (If I understood Cakes correctly, this is a good site). Sunday backtrack to Conely and come back up. Once back up at conely, we can decide if we want to walk out on Rockjock. Which way should we go, North or South? I assume south since it looks like we would run out of trail going North.

Please let me know if you see any flaws or concersn with this plan. I'd like our first trip to the gorge to go well 

[Hawk-Eye]

Should work fine. And yes up Conley you'll come to the Rock Jock intersection near the top. There's a sign to the left. That's South ... there really isn't a Rock Jock North that you could follow easily. Long taken over by the briars and blow downs.

If for some reason you missed the Rock Jock intersection you'll shortly after that hit the Conley Trail head.

[MarkDidier]

As for heading to Babel Tower, this is a pic of the Tower from near the LGT junction. It's a fun little scramble to the "summit" from here. Finding the route can be a little challenging, but welcome to the gorge.


http://www.summitpost.org/babel-tower/632629

As we headed towards the Tower, we eventually veered to the left and found a scramble route to the the cliff leading to the Tower "summit".


http://www.summitpost.org/babel-tower/630710

This is a great little scramble and definitely worth the effort. I'd start early so you have a better chance of having the place all to yourselves.

[Hawk-Eye]

Here's the sign post at the intersection of Conley Cove and Rock Jock ... the little sign isn't there any longer I think.

[JeffV315]

Hey guys, We had a great trip! We loved the gorge in its rugged beauty. We did Babel Tower to LGT to Conley Cove. Nice hike. Not too hard. I'll be going back as soon as I can, so I'm open to any more trail suggestions. 

Thanks,
Jeff