LINVILLE GORGE WILDERNESS AREA
ADDITIONS
updated 10/25/07
Linville Gorge Wilderness and the proposed additions
to Wilderness are in the southern part
of the Linville Cluster of Wild Areas.
Linville Gorge was one of the first Wilderness Areas
to be designated, one of only three in the Eastern US,
under the original Wilderness Act of 1964.
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The dark shaded boundary indicates current Wilderness.
Orange line shows "NC Mtn Treasures" Wild Area boundary recommended for protection. Green is "SPNM", (SemiPrimitive NonMotorized) National Forest land. Brown is private land, tan is National Forest land. Major trails are shown as dashed lines. |
Location: Burke County, E of Shortoff Mt., joins SE part of Linville Gorge Wilderness. Also, there is a small area to the E of the Dobson Knob wild area that is bordered on the N by Linville Gorge Wilderness and on the SE by FS Road 117. This smaller area is separated from Dobson Knob by the Kistler Memorial Highway.Access: From Marion, go N on US 221 to Linville Falls, then S on Kistler Memorial Highway (County 1238).
USGS Topographic Quadrangles: Ashford, Linville Falls, Chestnut Mountain, Oak Hill(SE tip). The Forest Service has put out a map of the Linville Gorge Wilderness.
Features/Description/Potential: This is a logical addition to Linville Gorge Wilderness. The area E and N of Shortoff Mountain contains the headwaters of Russell and Irish Creeks. It is characterized by rugged ridges and steep mountain slopes and is close to popular climbing cliffs. There is exposure of geologically ancient rocks. The Mountains to the Sea Trail (FS 440) follows the Linville Gorge Wilderness boundary on the W side of the wild area. This area was a RARE II area released back to mulitiple use, leading to relatively recent logging and roading in the NE and S portions of this area.
Interestingly, the FS wants to aquire a private inholding at the extreme S end of Linville Gorge.Notes on the Gorge itself: Linville Gorge has the best exposure of one of the largest thrust faults in the US and is one of the few primeval gorge areas in the Applalachians. The river is one of only two that rise on the Blue Ridge Uplands and descend the scarp to the Piedmont. A unique example of stunted pitch pine/heath community occurs on Hawksbill Mt. The steep E side of the gorge contains the only known example in NC of the Carolina hemlock-white pine cover type. It was one of the first Wilderness Areas in the East, with the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act. The Linville River is a State Natural and Scenic River.