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. Gray shows private land. Major trails are shown as dashed lines.

Location:  Henderson and Transylvania Counties, N of the S. Mills River wild area and SE of the Parkway near Mt. Pisgah Inn.  Just N of the Yellow Gap Road (FS 1206)

Access:  To reach the Big Creek drainage take the Wash Creek Rd. (FS 5000) which splits N. off of FS Road 1206, the Yellow Gap Rd., just before the little loop road at the North Mills River Rec. Area.  N. Mills River Rec. Area is accessed from the N., Mills River Road which goes W from NC 280 N of Mills River.  Go left at all forks on the way in, and park where the Spencer Creek Road (FS #5097) and the Hendersonville Reservoir Roads split to the NNW and NW, resp., from this parking area.  Follow the reservoir road and take Big Creek Trail around N end of reservoir.  From the Parkway the Big Creek Trail begins at the SW end of the Little Pisgah Tunnel.
     Laurel Mt. Trail (FS121) can be reached from the Parkway at Buck Spring Gap Overlook.  It comes out eventually to the E at a signed trailhead at Yellow Gap on the Yellow Gap Road.
     Both the Slate Rock Creek/Pilot Cove Trail (FS 358 and 320) and the Pilot Rock Trail are accessible at signed trailheads on the Yellow Gap Road.  Pilot Rock trail is also accessible from the Pisgah Inn.

USGS Topographic Quadrangles:  Dunsmore Mountain, (Cruso).  See 1995 Pisgah Ranger District Trail Map.  Also see the 1996 Trails Illustrated map of the Pisgah Ranger District..

Features/Description/Potential:
    Consists primarily of two E-W valleys (Slate Rock Creek and Big Creek separated by a long ridge (Laurel Mountain), which drop from the Blue Ridge Parkway at 5000 ft. on the N and NW, abruptly at first, then very gently across the bigger portion of the wild area.  The wide bottomed Big Creek valley with its old railroad grade is the bigger one, running E to the Hendersonville Reservoir at the head of the North Fork of the Mills River.  The SW end of the wild area is formed by the NW/SE-running Pilot Rock Ridge.  The area is part of a much larger bear sanctuary.
     Four trails cross the wild area, the Big Creek Trail (FS 102), The Laurel Mountain Trail (FS #121),the Slate Rock Creek/Pilot Cove Loop (FS #358 and 320), and the Pilot Rock Trail (FS #321) in the extreme W portion.  There is a short connector from the Laurel Mt. trail at Turkey Spring Gap to the Pilot Rock trail.  There is an unnumbered trail, (not shown on the FS version of the USGS topo) which connects the Laurel Mt. trail at Good Enough Gap to the Big Creek trail.  Mountain bikers use it, though it is very steep, dropping 1200 ft in one mile.  Another connector trail, not on the FS map version, but showing on the older USGS edition runs from Rich Gap N down to the Big Creek trail is no longer visible.  The FS reports considerable 100+ yr timber stands in the central portion of the wild area along the Laurel Mountain ridge.  A hike on this trail confirmed this, though the big oaks at the higher elevations,  (up to 4 ft) are not common and are typical of the trees that survive battering and ice storms on ridgetops.  This trail is outstanding for scenic beauty, easy walking, and good views.  There are springs at Turkey Spring Gap where the Laurel Mt. Ridge begins just below the Parkway.  There is are cathedral-like stands of tulip poplar and red oks at Sassaafras and Rich Gaps, with trees to 24" dia.  There are large scrub-tree-like (9" dia. trunks!) laurel and rhododendron stands at the lower elevations.  Laurel Mt. is well named.  Flushed 6 grouse on one trip.
     The Pilot Cove/Slate Rock Creek trail loop starts from the Yellow Gap Road, climbs about 5 miles over Slate Rock/Forked Ridge and ends back at the road 1.3 miles E of the start.  Slate Rock Ridge lies between the Laurel Mt and Pilot Rock Ridges. The Slate Rock Creek cove is the more beautiful portion, as the creek is bigger than Pilot Cove Creek, and runs through a little gorge with cascades and little falls.  There are many good camping areas.  There is a short, steep connector trail (not shown on topos) which connects the Slate Rock Cr. part of the Pilot Cove loop to the Laurel Mt. trail at Sassafras Gap.  The connector begins where the Slate Rock Cr. trail crosses Slate Rock Cr. to go over the ridge to Pilot Cove.
    Forked Ridge, the lower elevation continuation of Slate Rock Ridge, has steep granite gneiss faces on both its N and S sides, (like Looking Glass Rock), which would seem to afford technical rock climbing opportunities.  There is a trail along the top of the ridge which drops down a west-running spur back to the Pilot Cove Trail in Pilot Cove close to the Yellow Gap Road.  This ridge has a fine bald rock overlooking Pilot Cove and Pilot Rock.
     This area may be protected by the new watershed protection rules for the Hendersonville watershed, and possibly by the National Wild and Scenic River study of the North Mills River mandated by Congress in 1989.
The city of Asheville is also using this watershed.
     This wild area is interesting because it contains cove forests, rather than just ridge tops.  Left alone, the Big Creek valley will be the Joyce Kilmer of the next century.  Big Creek was where Gifford Pinchot, founder of the US Forest Service, used the splash dam method to float the harvest of giant, virgin tulip poplars down the N. Fork of the Mills River.  The logs and water flooded farmers' fields and caused considerable destruction.  In spite of this disaster, Pinchot was overjoyed to learn that poplars would regenerate from seed in the cutover area.  Lumbermen in those days cut forests not knowing if the woods would ever come back!  [For historical interest see description of the Big Creek drainage in Carl Albert Schenck's "Birth of Forestry in America", published by the Forest History Society and Applachian Consortium in 1974.]

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