Linville River

From Leland Davis:

Lat / Longitude from TopoZone.

Gradient, mile-by-mile, from Rte. 183 to Rte. 126: 144, 50, 80, 80, 90, 150, 170, 240, 180, 200, 180, 100, 80, 70, 30, 40, 30, and 10 feet in the last 0.55 miles.

That's right, boyzngurls: this baby's got 7 consecutive miles where the 100+ ft/mi gradient doesn't let up! In that stretch of the Linville Gorge, it drops 1220 feet, averaging 174 ft/mile! Ho-lee Fudd! You'd better have your dancin' shoes on!

The above mile-by-mile gradient assumes a putin at Rte. 183. A more realistic putin, as Leland describes below, is below the Falls; that takes 124 feet out of the first mile, leaving 20 feet in the first 0.35 miles. After that, the gradients are pretty much accurate.

Leland Davis' description of the run circa 2001, from his experience:

The putin is at the Falls, although we try to keep a fairly low profile there. The takeout is at the bridge just before the lake. Yes, it is as intense as the (gradient) numbers look. Levels should be 2.0 - 2.5 on the gauge just upstream of the takeout. I did it at 2.0
(Streamkeeper Note: This is the old level, this would be about 2.5 on the new gauge) and that seemed about perfect for me. The first 4 miles is class III with a couple bigger drops, the next 10 miles is class V+ in three gorges. The first reminded me of Vallecito in Colorado. The second gorge was reminiscent of California creeking through granite bedrock, and the third was pure gnarly Linville. After the third gorge there are a couple more miles of class V before the gnar lets up. There were only 1.5 rapids that didn't get run by someone in the group. I did 4 portages. Good fun down there--can't wait to get back!! We had a really strong group of 6 and it took us 7 hours (we did break for lunch). Trip and I are hoping to get it down to 4 hours once we know the lines a little better. Not a good place to get in trouble, though; it's a 2-mile, 2000-foot climb out in the few spots where there are trails instead of cliffs. Scenery is an A+.