Linville Gorge Wilderness, covering more than 12,000 acres, is laced with trails that wind through thickets of mountain laurel and descend to the depths of Linville Gorge—one of eastern America's most rugged and scenic gorges, frequently referred to as the "Grand Canyon of the East." From the gorge's rim, you can get an awesome view of the Linville River 2,000 feet below. For primitive recreation in the wild, the isolated terrain includes primitive camping, strenuous hiking, backpacking, rock-climbing, and fishing for native trout and smallmouth bass. Stretches of virgin forest in this section of the Pisgah National Forest are full of rare and endangered plant species, and an assortment of wild game and non-game species. Rock formations such as Sitting Bear, Hawsbill, Table Rock, The Chimneys, and Shortoff dot the Blue Ridge landscape. At the top of the gorge, and just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, is Linville Falls, a spectacular three-tiered waterfall plunging into the wilderness area.

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