HARPER CREEK WILDERNESS STUDY AREA
updated 10/25/07
Harper Creek WSA is part of the Linville Cluster of Wild Areas.
The Forest Service has published a very useful map called
"The Wilson Creek Area Trail Map"
which covers the Harper Creek Area.
Red lines show Wilderness Study Area Boundary
Green is "SPNM", irrelevant here, but still National Forest
land.
Brown is private land, tan is National Forest land.
Major trails are shown as dashed lines.
Location: Avery County, just S of Lost Cove WSA and FS Road 464.Access: From Morganton, go NE on Cty 1337 to Wilson Creek Road, and take Cty 1328 NNW to trailheads for FS 260 and FS 278. Or from Blue Ridge Parkway, take FS Road 464 E to parking area and trailhead for FS 266A.
USGS Topographic Quadrangles: Chestnut Mountain, Grandfather Mountain (N tip). Also see USFS Wilson Creek Area Trail Map.
Features/Description/Potential:
This is a very scenic area, currently protected as Wilderness via its designation in 1984 as a Wilderness Study Area (WSA). Outstanding features are Harper Falls, North and South Harper Creek Falls, and Little Lost Cove Cliffs. Elevations vary from 1700 to 3900 feet. Hikes in the area provide beautiful views of Grandfather Mountain. Geologically, as with Lost Cove, Harper Creek is within the Grandfather Mountain Window, an erosional feature exposing old rocks underlying older ones of the Blue Ridge Thrust Sheet. Harper Creek is also a black bear sanctuary, and has excellent trout water. It was logged early in this century, with harvests 20 years ago on about 500 acres. Pockets of old growth forest remain on the steepest slopes. Harper Creek is separated from Lost Cove WSA only by a dirt road, FS 464. Most of the perimeter is bordered by low-standard gravel roads.
There is an extensive trail system with many loop possibilities. FS 260, the Harper Creek Trail, follows the main stem of Harper Creek past Harper Creek Falls from its trailhead on Cty road 1328. FS trail 277 splits off of 260 and goes up Raider Camp Creek to meet 260 again to the W. FS trail 278 also starts at Cty 1328 and goes up Phillips Branch past a waterfall. FS trail 266 splits N from 260 up North Harper Creek. FS trail 270 crosses this trail roughly E/W from FS Road 464 on the N side of the WSA to FS Road 58 on the W side. FS 267 continues W from the junction of 260, 277, and 268, touching the N tip of the Sugar Knob wild area to the W. FS 265 splits N from 260 2/3 mile from the FS 260 trailhead on Cty 1328, and meets FS Road 464 at the FS 270 trailhead. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail makes use of this trail system to cross the WSA from NW to SE down North Harper Creek and then W up Raider Camp Creek, NW up to Harper Creek, then S to the camping area on FS Road 198.
The Forest Service recommended Wilderness designation in its March 1987 Land and Resource Management Plan, and there was a move (January 2002) to seek support for this again. Congressman Ballenger, in whose District these WSA's are located, had sought Wilderness designation for both Harper Creek and Lost Cove in the 102nd Congress, but Congressman Taylor's proposal to also make the Craggy WSA a Wilderness, while insisting on releasing the Snowbird and Overflow WSA's to general multiple use doomed the attempt. Patrick McHenry (R) is the current (2007) congressman in whose district the WSA lies.Pictures