Cedar Rock is part of a much larger an very important
cluster of Wild Areas, The Pisgah Cluster,
comprising Middle Prong and Shining Rock Wildernesses
and their proposed extensions,
Daniel Ridge,
Cedar Rock, South Mills River, and Laurel Mountain.
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Taken from a 1993 Forest Service map of bear habitat,
shown in green.
The orange line is the area proposed for protection in The Wilderness Society's "NC Mountain Treasures. It includes the John Rock Scenic Area. Dark gray shows private land. Major trails are shown as dashed lines. |
Location: Transylvania County, immediately S of Fish Hatchery on FS 475, SW of John Rock and Looking Glass Rock, between Cat Gap and Chestnut Knob on Art Loeb trail. Goes S to include Kagle Mt.
Access: US 276 from Brevard to Fish Hatchery Road (FS 475) in Pisgah Forest, then approx. 1.2 miles to the fish hatchery parking lot. Trailhead for Cat Gap (FS 123) and Butter Gap (FS 120) Trails is on S side of hatchery parking lot across bridge over Davidson River. Another route from the south off of Cathey's Creek Road is possible, but unmaintained.
USGS Topographic Quadrangles: Shining Rock, Rosman. See also FS Mt. Pisgah Area Trail Map and the new 1992 Pisgah District Trail Map.
Features/Description/Potential:
Cedar Rock Mt.is a pyramid-shaped bald rock batholith
similar to Looking Glass Rock with good views N to Parkway and SE to Brevard.
Very popular and well-used hiking area just N of and on Art Loeb Trail*
(FS trail 146) with connections via Cat Gap (FS trail 123) or Butter Gap
(FS 120) to fish hatchery on FS road 475. Also includes John Rock (a
Forest Service Scenic Area), another bare rock face from which there are
excellent views of Looking Glass Rock and the Fish Hatchery. There
is 100+ year growth on Kagle Mt. (Art Loeb Trail used to cross Kagle Mt,
and faint trail may still be found.) The Horse Cove Trail (FS tr.151)
NNE down Horse Cove from Cat Gap goes through a fine stand of big yellow
poplars. There are many excellent camping areas in this wild area.
Pickelsheimer Fields, just S a short way from the hatchery, is a particularly
popular large camping area.
Indian Camp Branch, on the S side of Cedar Rock, is a
feeder stream for the Brevard drinking water supply.
* Art Loeb National Recreation Trail is a memorial to a Carolina Mtn Club activist and former plant manager of the former Olin plant in Brevard. It runs from Cold Mt. at the N end of Shining Rock Wilderness S over the balds, crosses the Parkway and then easterly to Brevard, for a distance of about 30 miles.
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