UNICOI WILD AREA
Updated 10/25/07
Unicoi is part of the larger South Tennessee Wild Areas Cluster.
It is adjacent to an equally large roadless area in the
Cherokee National Forest
on the Tennessee side of the state border.
This did not qualify in 1995 as an Inventoried Roadless
Area,
probably because the TN area was inadequately considered,
but the Forest Service did decide to make it an Old Growth
Recovery Area.
|
| Taken from a 1993 Forest Service map of bear habitat,
shown in green.
The orange lines are the areas proposed for protection in The Wilderness Society's TN and NC Mountain Treasures booklets. Gray and dark green show private land. Major trails are shown as dashed lines. |
To See Pictures
Location: Cherokee Co., North of Hiwassee Lake along the TN line adjacent to
the Cherokee National Forest. Nearest town - Unaka, NCAccess: From Murphy, N on Tennessee St., which becomes Cty 1326 (Joe Brown Highway) to Unaka to Cty 1331 to Cty 1333 to FS Road 80 to Groundhog Branch. Climb unnumbered, unmarked trail (now obscured by a clearcut) NW to Round Top and intersection with FS Trail 82 along the NC/Tn line. Better, continue on Cty 1326 to Cty 1325 to Cty 1327 to FS 50 and follow to its crossing of FS Trail 82 just W of the wild area.
USGS Topographic Quadrangles: Unaka, McDaniel Bald, (and for access from Tn., Bald River Falls)
Features/Description/Potential:
S-facing slopes of the 2900 to 4000 ft. elevation E-W running ridge forming the NC/TN border, Long Ridge on the west, past Pine Stand Ridge to Sled Runner Ridge on the east. Borders wild lands (Upper Bald River Primitive Area) on the TN side, greatly enlarging wild area size. There is a lot of pine at the lower elevations. The valley of Shuler Creek, which FS road 50 follows to the TN. border at Sandy Gap and the terminus of the Kirkland Creek Trail into TN, is a beautiful valley of hemlock and rhododendron. There is a very scenic ridgeline trail (not blazed and hard to follow at points, though there are occasional NC Wildlife Management Area boundary signs made of metal, about 4" square, that mark the state line and the general path of the trail) running along the TN/NC border (FS #82). It passes, starting at the end of FS Road 50, over Hazelnut Knob, Round Top, Rocky Top to Sled Runner Gap where the Brookshire Creek Trail comes in from TN. Timber, mostly hardwood on the ridge, is relatively young, and from Hazelnut Knob E there is considerable brush and blackberry, making walking difficult.
Timber seems better on the TN side, including 18" to 24" black cherry. Bear scat seen on this trail. Long Ridge, which splits S from Hazelnut Knob, is a beautiful broad topped ridge. (Note: The main NC/TN ridgeline trail makes a sharp turn here and it is very easy to get shunted S onto Long Ridge.) The other trails in the wild area are unnumbered, which means that they are either badly overgrown or even nonexistent now. One leads from near the end of FS Road 80 some 1200 ft up a ridge to Round Top on the main ridgeline in the narrowest portion of the wild area. The start of this trail is hidden in a clearcut now covered by small saplings. Not scouted were a road up Grounhog Branch, and a lesser road on the W side of the little creek meeting Groundhog Branch at FS 80. The other trail (not scouted) shown on the FS topo leads from Cty 1396 up Bryson Creek, through Bryson Gap (on the S border of the wild area) into the Shoal Creek drainage and then contours W and stops short of the NC/TN line by 1/3 of a mile, for an elevation gain of about 1500 ft. New closed roads in the Bryson Gap/Shoal Creek area indicate that recent logging has probably occurred. Groundhog Ridge and other nearby ridges have been extensively logged fairly recently, and some have been burned as well.
From the main ridge, this wild area is very attractive because of its views and the big ridges running off to the S. It has a real feeling of remoteness, especially coupled with the Upper Bald River Primitive Area, which is S of Bald River Gorge Wilderness in Cherokee NF in Tn. to the N.Note: FS Road 420, (4 WD road) which runs N just W of the Deaden Creek wild area, goes past State Line Campground to Big Oak Cove Campground in Tn. FS Trail 82 appears to begin at the latter, running W along the NC/Tn line to FS Road 50 W of the Unicoi wild area, and then NE down Kirkland Creek to Holly Flats Campground in Tn. This would make a hike of approx. 25 miles.