WILDCAT WILD AREA
Updated 1/6/02
The eastern half of this area has been severly impacted by timber sales since it was identified as a RARE II Roadless Area in 1979.
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| Taken from a 1993 Forest Service map of bear habitat,
which would be shown in green if there were considered to be any.
Actually it is thought that the NC/TN border region may be
an important bear migration corridor connecting west to the Great Smokys.
The orange line is the area once comprising the Roadless Area # 08197 identified in the RARE II process in 1979. Gray shows non-NC National Forest land. Major trails are shown as dashed lines. |
Location: Haywood County. N side of I-40 and the Pigeon R. as it enters TN.Return to Roadless Areas PageAccess: AT from crossing of I-40 at Waterville Exit. Also from parking lot on N-side of I-40 just 2 miles W of Harmon Den Exit, can take a blue-blazed hiking trail in the Groundhog Creek area N to the AT .
USGS Topographic Quadrangles: Waterville, Lemon Gap, Cove Creek Gap
Features/Description/Potential:
Steep slopes SE to Pigeon River from NC/TN line. AT follows N boundary along NC/TN line. TN side is Cherokee National Forest, but not roadless or a TN Mtn. Treasures area. N and E portions of old 1979 RARE II area (08197) in the less steep higher areas along Harmon Den Mt. and from there W along a new FS system road to the Runyon Ridge area have seen some 14 clearcuts. W of Runyon Ridge to the state line is still undisturbed, perhaps some 2500 acres out of the original 8300. Some 100+ yr stands in SE along I-40 and on Harmon Den Mt. The whole area is a bear sanctuary.
Several trails climb some 2000 ft to the main ridgeline on the NC/TN line: FS316 goes up Harmon Den Mt., beginning at FS Road 148 (Harmon Den Exit) about 1000 ft N of I-40. Rube Rock Trail, FS314, also climbs Harmon Den Mt from the FS Road 3522 parking area at I-40 2 miles W of Harmon Den Exit. This trail begins from the end of FS3522 about 2000 ft N of I-40. Groundhog Creek Trail, FS315, splits from FS314 just 1000 ft uphill from the end of FS 3522 and climbs up Groundhog Creek drainage to the Deep Gap (or Groundhog) Shelter just 1000 ft below the AT. Lots of water in the Groundhog Creek drainage results not only in wet-foot crossings, but also in rich coves and lush vegetation and wildflowers, including pink and yellow ladyslippers and showy orchids. From I-40 about .75 mile E of the state line, there is an unnumbered trail (formerly the AT route) that climbs N to the AT up the Painter Branch drainage.