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. Dark gray shows private land. Major trails are shown as dashed lines.

Location: Clay County, NW of S. Nantahala Wilderness extending SE to Glade Gap at HWY 64.  Tusquitee wild area is 4 miles to the NW.  Boteler Peak, the name on the USGS topos, is called Shooting Creek Bald on the Forest Service Administrative map of the Nantahala National Forest.

Access: Take US 64 west to the Nantahala River (first landmark, no sign) 6.2 miles, cross river and proceed to the Macon Co./Clay Co. line (second landmark, sign on roadside) 1.3 miles, go another 1.3 miles and look for the first road to the right, this is old US 64, there is not a highway sign here, the pavement is old and partly overgrown. Follow Buck Creek downstream, taking FS road 350 which angles to right and is gravel. After a little over a mile on gravel road, reach fork. Take left fork, staying on FS350. Right fork has dead end sign. Continue through open gate to top of ridge, Perry Gap. Trail #77, Chunky Gal Trail, ascends S from here.  Can also access Trail 77 from Glade Gap by staying on old US 64 until it rejoins new US64 at Glade Gap.  A sign and blue blazes mark the trail.

USGS Topographic Quadrangles:  Shooting Creek, Rainbow Springs.  John Ray, (author of the Bartram Trail Guide in GA and NC), and two of his pals have  writen a guidebook to the Chunky Gal Trail and the Rim Trail, with descriptions also of the side trails that feed into them. (Published in 2002.. Copies may be obtained in some book and outings stores, and also from the author at: 1190, Old Seneca Rd., Central, SC, 29630.  email: jrrarh@mindspring.com) These trails are measured and mapped, and presented in much the same way as the new Bartram Trail Guides.  John Ray says his group will also do maintenance to bring all the described trails into useability.  From the Tusquitee Rim Trail, at County Corner Gap, the Old Road Gap Trail has now been marked by Ray and friends all the way to the NC Bartram Trail in the Piercy Bald Wild Area, from which one can walk to Cheoah Bald Roadless Area.

Features/Description/Potential:
    The wild area consists mostly of the ENE-WSW running ridge with Chunky Gal summit on the E at 4850 ft, then Boteler Peak at 5010 ft, The Pinnacle at 4600 ft., Birch Knob at 4000 ft., and Piney Top at 3640 ft.  Arch Ridge falls steeply from Boteler Peak to the SSE.  Terrain slopes steeply from the ridges.
    FS Trail #77, Chunky Gal Trail, connects the AT at the SE end at Whiteoak Stamp with Chunky Gal summit and then turns N and W to Tusquitee Bald.  Because of this connector trail and its botannical features this is an important area to keep protected.  There are considerable 100+ yr-old stands, mostly rhododendron and a few ancient white oaks, along the main ridge and down Arch Ridge.  There are spectacular views from the high ridges of this wild area.  An unblazed side trail to Boteler Peak and its ridgeline splits off from the Chunky Gal Trail to the west from the broad saddle between Boteler and Chunky Gal Mts.  The view north and west from Boteler Peak into the Tusquitee/Perry Creek basin is reminiscent of the Jumpoff in the Great Smokies.
     While this general area has had some roadbuilding and clearcuts around the peripheral area, the land identified as wild area remains relatively natural.
    Just N of Boteler Peak along the Chunky Gal Trail there are some nice backpacking camping sites with water nearby.  One scouting group sighted black bear, hawks, and noticed many "cavity trees".
     Just E of the wild area is the Buck Creek Barrens/Corundum Knob area, a very unusual natural area consisting of a serpentine-olivine pine/grass barren with rare disjunct prairie plants.  The area is also popular with rockhounds searching for minerals like corundum.
 

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