Top O' the Falls!

Since the part of the Parkway where I wanted to hike was closed to me, I hopped off an the village of Linville Falls and drove over to the Kistler Highway to dally at the edges of the Gorge. First I stopped at the first overlook and took the .4-mile hike down to see the top of the falls.

At this point I had gotten an upset stomach and didn't feel like hanging around too much and ended up just taking some photos and strolling back to my car as the clouds gathered again and it started snowing. Back on the Kistler Highway, I saw a few wild turkeys and decided that my next, and last stop of the day would be the always fun Wiseman's View farther down the gorge.

I'll cover that tomorrow...

There were once a lot of grand old hemlocks in the gorge. Now they're all dead, except for a very few that the National Park Service has treated against the hwa infestation. Here is one fairly large one that is recovering after being treated.

This is the first set of cascades before the big main section of Linville Falls.

And this is the river as it goes over the precipice into the plunge pool far below.

The top section of Linville Falls.