Direct Route

Hunting for a super-direct route to the bottom of Linville Gorge? Try the Pinch In Trail. It's steep and it pretty much goes straight down a ridge line to the Linville River. I don't recall any switchbacks, so if you don't like climbing up a tough slope with no respite in the vertical, I'd suggest another route.


There used to be an even tougher trail into the gorge, but it was blocked and is now off limits. I won't even mention the trail name, because if a ranger catches you on what remains of it, you can be ejected from the forest and fined.


For now, though, this is the most rugged entry into the bottom of the gorge that I've hiked.

Looking across at the Pinch In Trail from the Rock Jock Trail.