Linville Gorge: Hike to Daffodil Flats – 3/7/22 – 6 Miles
Research and navigation skills are essential when exploring Linville Gorge. This post is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to hiking to Daffodil Flats. Hike at your own risk!
Daffodil Flats, heard about it but had never been. Linville Gorge has kicked my butt enough times that I will only go with knowledgeable and trusted leaders. Fortunately, my hiking buddy Cathy volunteers with someone who knows it intimately as a trail and campsite maintainer.
The story goes that there’s an old homesite at the bottom of Linville Gorge (where the Linville River flows). Someone planted daffodils there and they have spread in joyful abundance. In early spring this patch of the Gorge is carpeted in yellow blooms.
On a promising spring morning, I rode with Cathy and her friend Julie along Kistler Memorial Highway on the western side of the Gorge. From the back seat, I can’t say how we got there, but we ended up at a connector trail to the Mountains-To-Sea Trail.
About a half-mile westbound, where the MST takes a sharp left, another trail continued straight – no signage, but experienced Linville Gorge hikers know it as the Lead Mine Trail. Well, on this day it was marked with pink flagging tape, extensively rehabbed within the last few weeks, a wondrous thing to behold.
We rolled along this new Lead Mine Trail as it undulated in and out of coves on a fairly flat bench with moderate downhills – no more crazy up-and-down drainages. Its one steep section took us down to river level by an old home site, now an extensive camping area. At this point, Lead Mine Trail blends into Linville River Trail.
Although it doesn’t have the extensive steep ups and downs, Linville River Trail is not tame. The path is extremely rugged with roots and large rocks that will trip a hiker who takes her eyes off her feet.
A mile upstream we reached the unmarked left turn to Daffodil Flats, its flashes of yellow visible through the tree trunks. The juxtaposition of simple domesticity in the rugged, raw Gorge is breathtaking.
Remains of a stacked stone fireplace, I think
Only four other hikers were at the Flats when we arrived. We walked around quietly as if in a museum, talking softly and pointing and taking photos. Then…groups of people began streaming in so took our leave.
We walked a little further up Linville River Trail to check on some fire rings that Cathy and Julie had cleaned out and/or dismantled in the past couple of weeks.
On our return hike, those moderate downhills had turned into uphills, manageable at the right pace. Overall, our hike was just under 6 miles. A safe hike in great company and back home by 3pm.
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