| Old
growth sites GSMNP |
Jess
Riddle |
| Apr
01, 2007 07:31 PDT |
Hello Ron,
Sounds like an excellent trip for a hiking group. You'll
probably
want to focus on the slopes of Clingmans Dome, Mount Le Conte,
and
Mount Guyot in the eastern half of the park. The western half
lacks
spruce-fir forest (you're correct, red spruce and fraser fir),
and was
generally more thuroughly logged, although large trackts of
old-growth
remain. The eastern half will still leave you with plenty of
hiking
options, especially if you're willing to set up a vehicle
shuttle.
Fork Ridge Trail and upper end of Deep Creek Trail: passes
through
red spruce, northern hardwood, eastern hemlock, dead beach gap
communities, and a small but good example of rich cove near
trail
intersection. 9.1 miles with a campsite in the middle. Requires
shuttle. Descent 2800', ascent 1700'. Could be extended along
the AT
to top of Clingmans Dome, the highest point in TN and the park
at
6643', to include mostly fraser fir forest, mostly killed by
balsam
woolly adelgid. Could also be extended further down deep creek
to
include more eastern hemlock forest.
Alum Cave Trail: spruce forest, heath bald, and fir forest.
Gains
2600' of elevation over five miles, and the shelter at the end
of the
trail on top of Mount Le Conte may be reserved. The trail ties
in to
several others near the top of Mount Le Conte, but a shuttle
would be
necessary.
Trillium Gap Trail: rich cove forest (without tuliptree),
hemlock
forest, spruce forest, fir forest. The trail gains 3200' over
6.4
miles to end at the shelter on Mount Le Conte. May be extended
along
several trails from the top of Mount Le Conte, including loops
with
Rainbow Falls Trail or Bullhead Trail.
Snake Den Ridge Trail-Maddron Bald Trail-Gabes Mountain Trail
loop:
Rich cove, small area of health bald, spruce forest, hemlock
forest,
old fields. The 17.5 mile loop includes two campsites. The
Albright
Grove Loop Trail is a worthwhile short spur off of Maddron Bald
Trail.
Baxter Creek Trail: rich cove (extremely productive, but second
growth), dry ridge forest, hemlock forest, spruce forest,
spruce-fir
forest. The trail gains 4100' elevation over 6.2 miles, and has
a
campsite where it ends on top of Mount Sterling (5842'). The
Mount
Sterling Ridge Trail, Swallow Fork Trail, and Big Creek Trail
allow a
long loop to be formed, but much of that loop was logged by
railroads.
The route could also be extended 1.8 miles on the Mount Sterling
Trail to include northern hardwood like forests if a shuttle
were
available.
A multitude of other trails in the park have slightly less
variety or
facilitate loops less, but have excellent examples of uncut
forests.
I feel like I'm leaving out so many wonderful trails. Hopefully
the
above trails will at least provide a few starting points to get
ideas.
Please let me know if you would like more information on any of
the
trails, or details on the highlights along them. Some of the
trails I
have only hiked part of.
I'm not sure where to recommend for Carolina hemlocks. At one
time I
would have enthusiastically recommended Linville Gorge, but I
think
the adelgid has already killed most of the hemlocks in that
area. All
of the other good examples of Carolina hemlock forest I've seen
are on
private land or are difficult to access. Looking Glass Rock
might be
worth looking into though. Carolina hemlocks line the top of the
cliff, and the trail to the top features uncut dry oak forests.
Jess
|
| Re:
Recommended old growth sites GSMNP |
Neil
Pederson |
| Apr
01, 2007 09:40 PDT |
Ron,
If this fits into your plans, Hanging Rock State Park in NC,
http://ils.unc.edu/parkproject/visit/haro/home.html
, has a fair amount of
healthy-looking Carolina hemlock on Hanging Rock; I visited in
early
January. The neat thing to me is that on the south side of this
knob there
was a nice population of table-mountain pine. If you visit on a
clear day,
the views into the Piedmont to the south and Blue Ridge Mtns to
the north
from Hanging Rock are wonderful.
hope this helps,
neil
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