Labor Day weekend 2011 in the Linville Gorge

There was a hell of a storm that blew in Friday night about 30 minutes after I got there... I was set up at one of the pull off camp sites on Kistler. The wind was unreal. The trees were bending enough to get me nervous enough to ride out the main part of the storm sitting in my car. Very pleasant night after the storm blew through.


Saturday I started down Pinch In around 10:30 am. The sun was beating down on the exposed Ridge Line and it was very humid. Once I reached the tree line, I took around an hour to cool off and hydrate....

Sunday was much of the same going back up except clouds were starting to push in so I stopped about half way up for around 2 hours to wait for the clouds to block the sun. Along with the clouds, a nice breeze came as well... I went through about 4 liters of water going up. Because of the humidity my Shirt looked like I had just jumped in the river fully clothed when I made it to the Trail Head... I nick named Pinch In Hell with a Trail on my way up

It was absolutely awesome though and I enjoyed every minute of it... even the miserable parts! For me personally, I believe I will be staying away from the Exposed ridge lines during the summer months.

Photos can be found here: http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm104/jmcwatty_2008/Linville%20Gorge%20-%20Pinchin%20trail/