Linville Gorge is sometimes called the Grand Canyon of the East. It sprawls over 12,000 rugged acres of U.S. Forest Service land in western North Carolina, but some trails are accessible enough for a quick day hike. Image: Brian Mann/
I set off mid-afternoon into the Linville Gorge Wilderness near Morganton, North Carolina. Right from the trailhead I found dense groves of mountain laurel with bouquets of delicate pink flowers, as if the path were decorated for a wedding.
The sun was hot, the trail dusty and steep in places. Birds cartwheeled around me, flitting from trees to undergrowth, sometimes close enough to touch.
Mountain laurel grows along the trail in the Linville Gorge Wilderness. Image: Brian Mann/
I love escaping like this on a work day. When I travel on assignment, I'm always looking for a bit of wildness that can be reached without a lot of hassle or planning. Sometimes it’s as simple as a city park or a public garden.
One minute I'm at my desk on the job, tense and caffeinated. The next minute I'm breathing a little easier, smelling summer, feeling the touch of spiderwebs on my face as I walk.
In the Linville Gorge, wildness is found in big sweeping vistas and in tiny details, buzzing bees, stands of flowers, and lots of stillness. Image: Brian Mann/
At first blush, places like the Linville Gorge can seem a little intimidating. The area is vast and rugged, sprawling over roughly 12,000 acres of U.S. Forest Preserve land.
On this day I hiked one of the easiest routes, with only a few steep stretches. It took me quickly into a high forest perched at the edge of the gorge that felt completely solitary.
From balconies of rock, I couldn't see any human structures. Horizon to horizon there was only wildness and sky and curtains of cliff that look like old castle walls.
The Linville Gorge is framed by formations of rock that look in places like old castle walls. In season, peregrine falcons next here. The area offers some of the most popular hiking trails in the eastern U.S. Image: Brian Mann/
There were little details too, close enough to touch. A trickle of bright cold water in a mountain stream, a black snake coiled in the sun, a Luna moth peeling itself from a cocoon.
When I stopped to catch my breath, I realized there were bees everywhere, foraging eagerly in the mountain laurel.
A Luna moth emerges from its cocoon on an early summer day in North Carolina. Image: Brian Mann/
It was getting on toward evening when I turned back. The light was golden. As I trekked down, it was silent enough that I could hear the wind in the trees and the cheerful ruckus of Carolina chickadees flocking over the mountain.
Some of the best hikes are the ones that take you to overlooks like this, in Burke County, North Carolina, without lots of effort or time. Image: Brian Mann/
Audio transcript
ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
When NPR correspondent Brian Mann goes on a reporting trip, he's always on the lookout for wild places just to escape for a few hours. He found one in the western corner of North Carolina. Here's his audio postcard from a summer day in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: It's late afternoon, and I'm climbing into the Linville Gorge Wilderness. As I'm starting, it's just decorated with mountain laurel - delicate, pink flowers. It's like the entire trail was decorated for a wedding.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
MANN: The sun is hot, the trail dusty and steep in places. Birds cartwheel around me, close enough to touch.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDSONG)
MANN: I love escaping like this on a workday. Sometimes it's a city park, sometimes a public garden. One minute, you're at your desk, on the job, the next minute, you're in a place like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDSONG)
MANN: I've come around where there's just no human footprint at all. It just - it's wild.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEES BUZZING)
MANN: When I stop to catch my breath, I realize there are bees everywhere foraging in the mountain laurel.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEES BUZZING)
MANN: I hike on, sometimes using my hands as I scramble over rock. The dust smells like summer.
The trail has led me up to balconies of rock that look over the gorge below, and there are vast cliff faces - they look kind of like old castle walls, really.
The Linville Gorge is vast - nearly 12,000 rugged acres on U.S. Forest Service land, halfway between Charlotte and Knoxville. Places like this can seem intimidating, but this trail is relatively quick and fairly easy - just a couple of steep parts. It's the kind of thing you could do on your lunch hour.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
MANN: I do think this kind of dive into wildness is really good - to just move and to smell and feel, you know, spider webs touching my face and the sounds of the birds.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDSONG)
MANN: It's getting on towards evening now, and the light is golden, and it's so still up here.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDSONG)
MANN: Brian Mann, NPR News, in the Linville Gorge Wilderness in North Carolina.
(SOUNDBITE OF DIIV'S "(DRUUN)")
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Hiking North Carolina's Linville Gorge Wilderness area - North Country Public Radio
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