Linville Gorge River Crossing

Anyone know the best method/location to get across the river to the boulders if coming from the Spence Ridge Trail? Thanks!

Just roll up your pants (or be wearing shorts), and wade across a little upstream or downstream of the rapids. It's not that deep.

Maybe take off your shoes first if you're wearing a pair that won't dry out in a reasonable amount of time.

If you go in winter, neoprene socks will keep your feet reasonably warm even while wet.

The bottom of the Spence Ridge Trail is the crossing. I did a dry foot rockhop, with a back pack, July 2017, on the downstream side of the trail intersection. The water level was low, at between 50-60 cubic feet per second. Much higher than that it will be various degrees of wet crossing, but people regularly cross. There is typically a cord running across the river, and people swim it, pulling packs across the cord. At some water gauge the river is unsafe to cross, but it rises and falls quickly with recent rains. If you google trip reports and hikes you will get a range of gauges safe for a crossing, with an idea of what to expect. Mid summer/fall is the dry low water season.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?02138500

James Lee wrote: The bottom of the Spence Ridge Trail is the crossing. I did a dry foot rockhop, with a back pack, July 2017, on the downstream side of the trail intersection. The water level was low, at between 50-60 cubic feet per second. Much higher than that it will be various degrees of wet crossing, but people regularly cross. There is typically a cord running across the river, and people swim it, pulling packs across the cord. At some water gauge the river is unsafe to cross, but it rises and falls quickly with recent rains. If you google trip reports and hikes you will get a range of gauges safe for a crossing, with an idea of what to expect. Mid summer/fall is the dry low water season.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?02138500

 This ^^

 The water data website is invaluable for making across the river... Whenever the flows get up around 150CFS+ at Spence Ridge, things can start to get a little hairy. It can spike well into the 1000's after a good rain.

Thanks! Last time I was there a few years ago it was definitely a dangerous current. I went up and downstream quite a bit and couldn't find any shallow depth or distance that didn't require relatively long jumps on slick rocks. Didn't know about that water data site though, so may have been a bad day. Was not worth the risk alone.