Linville Falls and Gorge EarthCache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(other)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
The Falls are located near the Blue Ridge Parkway milepost
316.4, which is approximately 66 miles north of Asheville, NC.
Please follow the coordinates to the parking area. From there, it
is a moderate hike to each of the viewing areas.
Linville Falls is the beginning of the Linville Gorge,
which is part of the Linville Gorge Wilderness, a part of the
Pisgah National Forest. The Gorge was formed by the Linville River,
which continues to flow past the Falls until emptying into nearby
Lake James. The Falls consist of two distinct waterfalls. Between
the twin Upper Falls to the bottom of the Lower falls, there is a
drop exceeding 90 feet. Half of this 90-foot drop can be found with
the Lower falls. It is thought that the Falls have the highest
volume of any waterfall on the Northern Edge of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. The Falls are part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a unit of
the National Park Service and as in any of our wonderful Parks, it
is important to stay on the trails and overlooks.
The Upper
Falls
We have spent little time describing the beauty of the
Falls and Gorge because you will see them for yourself so
let’s look at the local geology of the Linville Falls and
Gorge. There are so many geological points of interest here; it is
hard to know where to begin. With that in mind let's begin with the
River since the River is the chief architect of the Falls and
Gorge
The Linville River begins as a trickle high on the
southwest slope of nearby Grandfather Mountain and enters the Gorge
at Linville Falls. It terminates by entering Lake James. After
leaving the falls, the Linville River drops nearly 2000 feet for
about 14 miles as it weaves a path around the spiny ridges of the
mountains before finally spilling into Lake James. Many vertical
rock outcroppings, some of which are several hundred feet high,
border the river throughout most of the Gorge. The Cherokees called
the Linville river "Eeseeoh.” Roughly translated this means
“river of many cliffs”.
The Lower
Falls
Approximately 500 million years ago the whole Linville
Gorge was covered by a sea and remained covered for about one
quarter million years. At that time great forces within the Earth
began to build and gradually began to form the Appalachian
Mountains by pushing the rocks above the sea. During the many
million years that took to form the Appalachian Mountains, a lot of
changes took place in the rocks. Rocks were heated and most layers
were bent and reformed at significant angles to their then
horizontal position.
Let's look at some other geological aspects of the Falls
and the Gorge. As we stated earlier, the Linville River, which
began high in the mountains cut its way through the Gorge. At the
top the upper Falls, the River tumbles over biotite granitic gneiss
and continues to flow over metamorphosed quartzite at the base of
the Falls. A wonderful example of folded quartzite can be found at
the Upper Falls overlook. Please note and photograph the layering
effect. You cannot miss the feature.
An interesting fact is that the quartzite is approximately
550 million years old yet it is beneath the much older, 740 million
to 1.2 billion year old gneiss. Folks, that's not normal! Younger
rock is usually found on top of older rock. Finding the younger
rock beneath the older rock is a 'dead giveaway' that thrust
occurred because of major fault. Geologists estimate that the
Linville thrust fault moved sometime between 280 and 310 million
years ago causing the younger rock (quartzite) to sub duct beneath
the much older granite. As you view the Gorge from one of the
higher overlooks, you will see the upper granite walls giving way
to the quartzite lower walls.
Speaking of the two sets of Falls, while it is NOT
REQUIRED, you may want to identify which Falls (Upper and Lower)
fit which of the following classes of waterfalls:
Waterfall
Classification
Note: In order for you to claim a find of this
earthcache you must complete the following: 1. Go to the
Upper Falls Observation Area (see coordinates) and give an estimate
of the width and height of the two Upper Falls. 2. What is
the elevation at the base of the Upper Falls? 3. Post a
photo of your GPSr resting on the “folded quartzite”
formation at the Upper Falls Observation site. Hint: It looks like
small stair steps and you will walk on it! 4. Proceed to the
Gorge View Observation Area (see given coordinates) and estimate
the height and largest width of the Lower Falls. 5. At this
final destination (Gorge View) what is the elevation?
Marge and I want to thank the Blue Ridge Parkway for
permission to 'place' this earthcache. Traditional geocaches are
not allowed and always seek permission before publishing a National
Park earthcache. One last note which deserves repeating, always
remain on the developed trails and never enter off-trail
ecologically sensitive areas.
Have fun and enjoy this wonder of Nature. The Gorge and Falls are
magnificent and we are especially proud to present them as an
earthcache. Not just for the requirement, you will want to take
many, many photographs.
| We have earned GSA's highest level: |
 |
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lbh jvyy snyy sbe gur Snyyf ohg qba'g snyy bire gurz!
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures