Scrambling around The Chimneys.

We took the Casita trailer in for servicing today. There's a place north of Charlotte where I take it for minor repairs and general upkeep. We're planning a trip in a few weeks to a new area that we've never visited and there are some problems with the trailer--I haven't been able to get the onboard water pump to work, which has led to trouble with the water heater. Plus some other little things had to be fixed.

And it's back to the trip Andy and I took to the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area. Here are some more photos and general thoughts.

One of the more popular areas of the wilderness area is the terrain around The Chimneys. It's popular for a number of reason, including the exposed rock and the easy access from the Table Rock Parking area.

It's easy to find subjects for photos in this part of the Gorge.

Among the most spectacular scenery in the eastern USA. No doubt about it.

The area at the foot of The Chimneys.

If you will look closely, you can see a guy's head just emerging at the edge of the rock on top of this particular summit. This is one spot that I wanted to scramble, but the climbing/scrambling areas were just way too crowded with students and instructors. Next time I go there I'll make sure to go on a weekday.

Hiking to The Chimneys.

One very cool spot in Linville Gorge are the double peaks called "the Chimneys". Now, there are MANY places in the Appalachian mountains named by the locals "the Chimneys". They're all over the place. Anywhere the locals thought something looked like a chimney or more than one chimney, the name stuck. Hell...I don't even feel like counting them all just in North Carolina.

But the Chimneys in Linville Gorge a very beautiful and are a lot of fun to hike and scramble on. But even though I've been to these peaks several times, I've never climbed all the way to the top. There are any number or routes to the summit--ranging from Class III scrambling to difficult technical climbs. I had climbed about 3/4 of the way to the top in the past, but had never gotten all the way up. I wanted to bag these peaks on this trip and was ready to do so.

But...I didn't get my chance. Because several van-loads of climbing students had arrived and got to the peaks just before we did. Basically, the place was just way too crowded for me to comfortably tackle the route I wanted to use to get to the top. So, bagging the Chimneys will have to wait for next time. I plan to do it on a weekday when there is not likely to be more than a few other hiker/climbers around.

The parking lot. My truck is the third one back in the center line.

One of our first stops, looking back at Tablerock Mountain.

Andy. With a crown of Peregrine falcons.

Looking up at one of the peaks of the Chimneys. There were too many other climbers around for me to scramble to the top.

One of the groups of climbing students (this bunch was from Appalachian State in Boone).

This was the moon as it looked when we walked out the door to head to Linville Gorge.

Camping Trip?

I'm seriously thinking of going camping at Linville Gorge soon. Not sure. I do have some days off coming up so I may go there to camp and wander around.

The parking area on the eastern rim.

The famous Tablerock Mountain of Linville Gorge.

Extreme rock formations beneath The Chimneys.

At the Chimneys.

At the base of the Chimneys. I climbed about 3/4 of the way to the summit that day. If I go back, I'll scramble all the way to the top. Class IV, I think.

The Chimneys, Linville Gorge

A neat place that's relatively easy to get to in the Linville Gorge Wilderness is a pair of mountain peaks called "The Chimneys". Viewed from a distance they appear to be easy to climb, but when you get to the base of the twin peaks, you learn that it's not actually as easy as it looks.

The first time I went I wasn't able to climb all the way to the summit of the higher of the pair of peaks. But I hope to return there soon and get to the top.

Photo of the Bob about a half mile from The Chimneys in Linville Gorge.
(Photo by Andy Kunkle.)

Here I was at the base of one of the peaks. You have to climb the rock walls to get to the top. Next time, for sure.

I did manage to climb most of the way to the top, stopping about twenty vertical feet shy of the summit. There I turned and got this photo of Andy and Boone sitting at the bottom.

The Chimneys, Map versus Reality

For years I would head up to Linville Gorge and see a tower of rock standing against the rim of the gorge. Checking my maps, I would try to figure out if this formation had a name. Time after time I would come to the conclusion that it was a spot on the map called "The Chimneys". This made sense to me, as the rock tower did resemble a chimney. The fact that I could really only see one so-called "chimney" didn't preclude there being another one out of sight, so I figured I had it pegged.

In addition, it went on my bag list. These are peaks that I want to hit, just to say that I'd climbed (hiked) them. The whys of such an undertaking are part of the old tale: because it's there. I love hiking to summits, so I'm always looking for new ones to place on my list so that I can mark them off as having been climbed.

My main problem was that it looked like the formation I wanted to bag was quite difficult. It looked, in fact, that it would involve technical climbing, which I don't do. As I've stated before, I admire folk who are into technical rock climbing, and I think I might even enjoy it. But I don't like the idea of plummeting to my death, so I've avoided technical climbs. However, that doesn't mean that I won't at least look into a peak. I can always back down, if it looks too difficult.

Earlier this year I went to climb Babel Tower, also in the Gorge. Initially, it looked too hard for my skill level and I was ready to give up. But, at the last minute I saw a safer route to the top and was able to take it to the summit. It was worth a try for The Chimneys, too.

When my pal Andy Kunkle suggested that we hike to The Amphitheater, I knew that we would be passing directly beside The Chimneys. This would be my chance to bag the peak(s). I was looking forward to at least standing at the base of the towering rock and getting a good look at the geology up close. Then came the surprise.

What I had thought was The Chimneys was, in fact, a secondary formation a good distance below and to the west of the actual summits on the map. If the formation I'd mistakenly targeted has a name (I'm sure it does--rock climbers love to name stuff), I don't know it. But I did quickly realize that the true summits named on the map were quite a bit larger than the one I'd wrongly identified, and perhaps much easier to climb. As Andy and I got to the base of them I thought that I could give it a go.

Andy had warned me that he had seen a number of people climbing The Chimneys, but that they had all had ropes, helmets, and hardware for making a technical climb. My limits are scrambling, with only slight windows of exposure to falls. I just don't want to take any chances--I enjoy seeing the world. So I told Andy I'd just look around, go up on some shelves and see if I could locate a good, safe way to the top. Andy was good enough to wait at the base of the towers while I did just that.

I finally did see what looked to be a relatively safe route to the top of the southernmost of the two summits, but I just wasn't sure. And we had a lot of hiking yet to do, so I called it off for another day. I stopped about forty or fifty vertical feet from the top--I'll go back on another trip and give it a good try.

The tower of rock at the lip of Linville Gorge that I initially thought was part of The Chimneys.

A telephoto shot of the same formation.

The moment that I realized that the actual peaks called "The Chimneys" were, in fact, the pair of rocky peaks to my right in this photo. The tower that I had erroneously identified can be seen lower in the gorge on my left.

This was what I finally figured would have been the safest route to the top. Just follow the notch in the rock and move along the line of vegetation to the summit. But I was making Andy nervous, so I'll try it another day when I have more time.

This was about as close to the actual top as I could get. I took this shot of Andy and Boone at the base of one of The Chimneys.

Map: The red X is the actual location of The Chimneys. The blue X is the rock formation that I initially thought was the peak.