My son, his wife, a friend, and I went hiking in the Gorge last Friday. The temperature was perfect, the skies were deep blue, the wildflowers popping and beautiful, the conversation enjoyable, and the hiking strenuous. We went down by way of the Sandy Flats Trail which is on maps but no longer marked or maintained. In places the trail was easy to follow, but in others downed trees and shifting creek obscured any remnant. It was always extremely steep with actual rock scrambles in several places. I am glad that we went in this way instead of coming out this way, because we would have been discouraged when tired. Instead, it was an adventure with many undisturbed spots for wildflowers and jutting rock outcroppings.
Steep descent via Sandy Flats Trail next to Wiseman’s View
Newlyweds on a jaunt in the woods
Crazy Friend
Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra eximia)
Wake-robin Trillium (Trillium erectum)
Showy Orchis (Gelaris spectablis)
expanding tree Shelf Fungus (or Bracket Fungus; Polypore)
Linville River
Sandy Flats?
Next, we turned up gorge toward Babel Tower. My son felt like the Sun would beat us to our destination, so he set out on a fast pace. With taking pictures here and there, I had the hardest time keeping up. The Gorge is so narrow down by the river that at times you are only a few yards horizontal from the river but 1 to 2 hundred feet above it.
Trail on the Edge
Notice the rounded cut outs in the far bank from flood scouring.
Blue-flag Iris (Iris versicolor)
Tower opposing Babel Tower
I am beyond frustrated with the autofocus. In one attempt, I even tried to put a large leaf in the immediate background to force the nearer focus and it still chose 1/5 of the field of view and focussed further away. But I did record a flower that I have not seen often. I saw several of these plants as we went along.
Sessileleaf Bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia) with violets below
Perhaps the most classic and beautiful view of the Gorge is from Babel Tower toward Hawksbill, Table Rock, Little Table Rock, and Chimneys:
From Babel Tower downstream
The river goes around three sides of the rock outcropping called Babel Tower. A wide angle lens could record in 30 degrees of field of view the upstream and downstream river flowing at an angle about 60 degrees downward. This is extreme topography.
radical descent
It is always good to have someone to share the journey and the view with, whether the day be pleasant or strenuous, or both.
CreatorWorship 
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