It’s called the “Grand Canyon of the East.” Linville Gorge, located in the North Carolina mountains just an hour or so from Banner Elk, is indeed a sight to behold. Getting to Wiseman’s View to behold this sight, though, proved to be quite an adventure for us.

One day during our recent high country vacation, my husband and I left Beech Mountain, drove through Banner Elk, and hit Highway 181 south, heading to Linville Gorge.

The one-hour paved drive of this trip was the usual scenic trek through a lush landscape of green summer mountains. We’d heard there was a heat wave back home in eastern North Carolina with daily temperatures in the nineties. Not so for us as we looked forward to an outdoor adventure with mild mountain temperatures.

Our destination at the Gorge was Wiseman’s View, the overlook that would provide stunning vistas…once we traveled four miles down a very bumpy dirt road.

I cannot emphasize enough how difficult this part of the journey was. Two miles in, my husband stopped at a particularly rutted section and declared it impassable, even with a four-wheel drive SUV.

We decided to walk the last two miles to get to Wiseman’s View. We turned around and drove to a spot where we could leave the SUV. Mind you, this would be two miles to get to the viewing platform at the Gorge, and then two miles back to get to the car. Four miles of walking total. Mountain miles, that is, which are often uphill.

We started our trek, got as far as the “impassable” rut again, and noticed there were tire tracks there. Exactly two vehicles, one a truck and another an SUV smaller than ours, had passed us while we were walking. We started to re-think our four-mile round-trip hike idea. If others had driven through this treacherous part of the dirt road, maybe we could too. We walked back to get our vehicle, and again approached what had seemed an impassable section of the road. This time, I got out and directed my husband, pointing to the tire tracks of those who had gone before us.

It was a harrowing experience, with the SUV on only three wheels at one point, but my husband plowed through. Fortunately, this one stretch turned out to be the worst spot.

A couple of miles later, the Wiseman’s View sign was a welcome sight although we still had to navigate even more dirt road to find the parking lot.

There was one other car there when we arrived, the smaller SUV that had passed us while we were walking. By the time we left, though, we were the only folks in town. Given what we’d gone through to get down that four-mile dirt road, I wasn’t surprised. The trip is not for the faint of heart–or those without a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

The short walk from the parking lot to Wiseman’s View was also deserted. After that long dirt road, a paved walkway was a nice surprise.

I was glad my husband and I had come without rambunctious grandchildren when I saw this sign.

After that sign, I was somewhat relieved to see the sturdy stone fences surrounding portions of the cliffs.

And, oh, the views. These sights were why we’d endured that four-mile stretch of the highway from hell. In the picture below, Hawksbill Mountain is to the left and Table Rock is the peak to the right.

The depth of the Gorge does remind me of the Grand Canyon. Far, far below is the Linville River, which created this chasm, carving into bedrock since time immemorial. I can only imagine how beautiful this view must be at the peak of the fall foliage season.

The granite cliffs are impressive, too.

We found civilization again when we stopped at the popular and far easier to access Linville Falls on our way back to the paved highway.

While pretty, Linville Falls seemed tame to us after the magnificence of the Gorge. But then, it’s hard to beat the splendid views provided by the “Grand Canyon of the East.” Once you get there, that is.