Paris Mountain   Jess   Oct 25, 2002 19:11 PDT  Paris mountain is a monadnock of alternating layers of gneiss and mica schist located in northwestern South Carolina. The mountain, which is within site of the furman campus, rises a 1000 feet above the surrounding Piedmont. The narrow coves on the provide habitat for species that are normally restricted to the Blue Ridge province such as rhododendron and fraser magnolia, but most of the soils on the mountain are poor. A forest of chestnut oak and scattered shortleaf pines, at least a few dozen acres of which have never been logged, covers most of the slopes and ridges on the mountain. Nearly pure stands of virginia pine or table mountain pine cover other ridges. The portion of the north end of the mountain I wandered around on a few weeks ago appears much richer than the surrounding areas. The second growth forest contains well formed white oaks and hickories are common along the upper portion of the stream I followed down. Northern Red oak and tuliptree are more prominent in the coves at the top of the drainage. One large ridge at the edge of the drainage supports a forest of tulipree, northern red oak, and sweetgum with a ground cover of trumpet creeper. A friend pointed out to me that the trumpet creeper may have escaped from cultivation, which is reasonable given the residential areas on the mountain adjacent to the state park, but I was still surprised to see species that thrive in floodplains growing on top of a large ridge. The stats from the afternoon's wanderings follow: Species cbh height Chestnut, American 12.5" NA Hickory, Pignut? 7'3.5" ~119' Maple, Red 5'4" 102.3' Oak, Black 9'10" ~107' Oak, Northern Red 8'4" 105.6' Oak, Northern Red 15'3" ~112' Oak, Northern Red 9'7" 112.3' Oak, Northern Red NA ~114' Oak, Northern Red NA ~120' Oak, White 9'4" 113.5' Pine, Table Mountain 5'2" ~86' Pine, Table Mountain 5'11" 93.8' Pine, Table Mountain 5'5.5" 98.3' Sweetgum NA ~114' Tuliptree NA ~126' Tupelo, Black 8'10" ~113' The red maple grows on a filled-in pond. I think the big northern red oak is the current SC state champion. The tree is listed as 14'7" and 140' tall. The try I measured has a broad crown, and beside a road. I only shot vertically with a rangefinder, but I can't imagine the tree topping 120'. The table mountain pines grow on small ridges in a dry area near the creek. The black grows in an area with several large northern red oaks, and has no peers on the mountain among others of its species. The Rucker Index isn't exactly off the charts, but I was pleased with the area given the poor growing I've seen on the rest of the mountain. Also, the chances of finding a 100' table mountain pine are descent. Jess Riddle   Home