Linville Gorge - Babel Tower

After having checked out most of what the Wilson Creek Area has to offer in the past few years, I was going to have to focus on a new area if I wanted new mountain swimming holes less than a four hour drive from Raleigh. Linville Gorge was an obvious next choice, but I’m not very familiar with it, so I wasn’t sure where to start. I had been to Linville Falls (which I believe marks the beginning of the gorge) several times in my youth, but I have never been terribly impressed with it (I’m sure that statement would make waterfall enthusiasts cry blasphemy). It has a pretty epic plunge pool, but the last time I went, which was admittedly 17 years ago, there was a big, ugly “No Swimming” sign there. My brother had done a backpacking trip through the gorge a few years ago, and he told me I would love it because it’s basically just swimming hole after swimming hole. He said it was only doable as a backpacking trip, but I figured there had to be a few trails that were doable as day hikes. Given the expanse of swimming holes along the river, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to find info on any specific one. The only one I knew of for sure was Cathedral Falls, which is an area where a 50-foot waterfall drops in from a side stream between two large rapids in the Linville River. When I started looking up information on how to get to that one, I came across a picture of another swimming hole with a small waterfall and cliffs to jump from. The caption referred to this area as Babel Tower Falls, which is along the peninsula that forms the Babel Tower rock spire. I consulted the map, and the hike here was less than two miles (albeit with an 1100 foot elevation gain), so I decided this would make an ideal first gorge trip. I had reservations about Cathedral Falls, since the shortest way of getting there requires crossing the river (there used to be a log bridge, but it washed away in a flood a few years ago and was never rebuilt). I wasn’t sure how doable that would be, so I figured Babel Tower would give me a chance to assess the river so I could plan accordingly for Cathedral Falls on a future trip. I was concerned about the water levels, being that the Linville River is a slightly larger waterway than the Wilson Creek Area streams. It looked like the water level had spiked a little earlier in the week but was coming down toward the weekend. There was another small spike yesterday (of only about 0.4 feet), and it didn’t look like the water levels had come down much as of this morning, but I had already made my plans. To my surprise, Ty texted me this morning and said he was up for today’s hike, so we met up at the Linville Falls parking area around 11:40 AM and proceeded down to the trailhead via the gravel road that goes along the west rim of the gorge.

( Click here for the full trip report with pictures and videos )

In conclusion, I wasn’t blown away by the Babel Tower swimming hole, but it didn’t suck either. Based on today’s experience, I would probably give it a 3.5 out of 5. If the water levels were low enough to open up more jumping opportunities, or possibly sliding opportunities down the waterfall, then I probably would have been more impressed. For future reference, the gage height (according to the USGS website) at the time we were there was about 1.07 feet with a flow of 60 cfs. Slightly lower would have been more ideal for swimming. As far as aesthetics go, the gorge walls made for an impressive backdrop, but the water quality wasn’t as clean and clear as the Wilson Creek Area streams (it was a bit sudsy and yucky-looking in places). I did learn that the river was crossable in most areas at today’s flow, as we crossed it several times while exploring, which is good to know for a future Cathedral Falls hike. Until then, you can find me in the flatlands where the swimming holes are boring and the water is disappointingly warm.