Winding Stair Trail    Jess Riddle
   Dec 08, 2003 06:08 PST 

The winding stair trail follows an old road bed and ascends the
escarpment that parallels the Brevard Fault Zone in northwestern South
Carolina. The trail switch-backs across the steep slope between a small,
well defined ridge and the cascading West Fork of Crane Creek, which is
east of Crane Creek. Shortleaf pine and chestnut oak dominate the
exposed, east facing slope and hemlock is probably common near the creek.
Mountain laurel is the most prolific understory species on the slope, but
rosebay rhododendron follows small drainages down the slope and dwarf
rhododendron grows intermixed. Most of the exposed boulders on the slope
are mich schist.
A narrow band of substantially richer forest grows at the intersection of
the small ridge and the main slope. Over a few acres at the upper end of
this area, spicebush grows abundantly under a tuliptree and black walnut
canopy. Most of the black walnuts have irregular crowns and bend under
tuliptrees, but several are well formed, including one which probably
reaches 120' tall. Proceeding down the slope walnut becomes much less
common and northern red oak becomes a prominent component of the forest.
In this area and the upslope areas tuliptrees commonly reach 8' cbh, some
reach at least 140' tall. Below that area the ridge largely fades into
the slope, and the forest appears substantially drier. Tuliptree,
shortleaf pine, white ash, black oak, northern red oak, pignut hickory,
and mockernut hickory mix over an open under story. Most of the trees in
this area appear well under 100 years old while the trees in the other
areas resemble trees close to or slightly over 100 years old. A 6'10"
shortleaf pine is 128.7' tall while others with circumference as small as
4'0" also reach 120'. Black oaks reach at least 9'3.5" cbh and 110' tall
and probably 120', but they are still smaller than some of the nearby
northern red oaks. The largest of the latter species is 11'11" cbh and
over 130', but supports mistletoe in the crown and, like most large
individuals of the species in the area, has bracket fungus at the base.
That tree dwarfs a 4'2" cbh, 113.7' black gum that may be the tallest
known of it's species in the state outside of the Congaree. The
neighboring tuliptree of similar dimensions may help the black gum
maintain a central leader all the way to the top and achieve a height to
diameter ratio of 86:1, exceptional for the species. Below the black gum,
a small narrow drainage forms, which may support white ash over 130'. To
me, the most impressive tree at the site grows in the area. Growing right
on the drainage, the 7'1" cbh, well-formed mockernut hickory soars to
140.0'. That height is the second tallest I know of in the state or
anywhere. Sheltering, crown structure, and competition may all allow the
tree to gain a few more feet in height in the future. Below that
exceptional tree, a few white oaks approach 120', but the area appears
more acidic.
The shadow on the forest is the presence of hemlock woolly adelgid. Most
of the small hemlocks along the trail are infested, but only on a minority
of twigs. The insect has probably been reported in SC outside of the
Chattooga Watershed before, but I have not heard that information for
certain.
In addition to the one extremely tall mockernut, several other
individuals of the species are around 120' tall. This site is the first
that I've visited with a collection of tall mockernuts. The site also
confirms that at least isolated pockets of superb growing conditions occur
in the Brevard Belt well north of Tamassee Knob. I'll have to return to
the site in the future to sample for the Rucker Index, which should exceed
127' over less than 100 acres, and next time I'll remember to bring a
pencil so I won't have to remember all of the measurement in my head.

Jess Riddle