Linville Cavern Near Grandfather Mountain
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Linville Cavern is an easy drive from Tuckaleechee Caverns, Cumberland, and Forbidden Caverns. Cavern at Linville, N.C., offers a steady temperature of 52.
For cave enthusiasts, the cavern at Linville, NC, is just a short drive from the numerous Tennessee show caves.
Linville Caverns is the only show cave in the state of North Carolina and is open year-round – on the weekends during the winter, but daily in warmer weather.
No matter what the weather outside, life inside the mountain is a steady temperature of about 52 degrees Fahrenheit – sweater weather for some.
Family Activity in Inclement Weather
Touring a show cave is a wonderful escape into coolness on a hot summer day, and may seem a good choice of an activity when parents are seeking to keep children entertained when the weather outside is nasty.
However, Linville Cavern is wet, according to its website, which advises visitors “there is some dripping water on normal days. During periods of heavy sustained rain, the caverns can be very wet and drippy. For maximum comfort, please consider a jacket or sweater most days and rainproof jackets after heavy rain.”
However, despite the warnings, Linville Caverns receives a 4.5 to 5 rating from just about everyone who has reviewed them on tripadvisor.com and travel.yahoo.com.
Some reviewers are people who have so enjoyed the caverns they’ve made multiple trips. Some visited the caverns as a child, then have been back to take their children, who keep asking to go back.
Easy Walk For Family Tour
Linville Caverns is an easy wide descent into the interior of Humpback Mountain. This is one of the few show caves that is partially wheelchair accessible, according to its website, which offers the following caveat: there are one step and a 30-degree descent before the path levels off.
Guests are led through the various rooms, where the formations are still changing and growing. Visitors are asked not to touch the rocks because the oil from human hands can affect the delicate ecology of this active cavern.
In one section of Linville Caverns is “the Bottomless Pool.” Visitors stand over a grate and look into the depths that divers and other scientists have explored, but no one has ever been able to find the bottom.
White man discovered the caverns in the 1820s when a group of fishermen saw fish swimming into what appeared to be solid rock. There was a small opening, and the men managed to wriggle through into the cavern.
Getting to Linville Cavern
Getting to Linville Cavern may not be easy, according to its website: “Some GPS systems will not recognize a mountain as a physical address. We discourage the use of mapping programs to find Linville Caverns as they may contain inaccurate or out of the way directions. Please use a mapping program to get to one of the locations listed below and then follow our directions to reach the caverns.”
Linville Cavern has a Marion, NC, address, and is about a 45-minute drive from the larger town of Boone, NC.