| Citico
Creek Wilderness, TN |
James
Smith |
| Aug
15, 2006 19:34 PDT |
On Saturday, August 12, my wife and I and another couple hiked
down into
the Citico Creek Wilderness on Forest Service Trail #87. The
others were
hiking to see the waterfalls on Falls Branch, but I mainly
wanted to
take a look at the old growth forest an ENTS member had told me
I could
find there.
Sure enough, soon into the hike we came upon a wonderful grove
of old
trees. The grove was much larger than I had anticipated, and the
trees
far larger than I had hoped to view. As I was with other hikers
who are
not into bushwhacking, we stayed pretty much on the trail. So I
was not
able to move close to some of the very largest of the trees we
saw.
There are quite a number of huge hemlock trees and poplar trees
that I
would loved to have seen up close. But I had to make do with the
trees
nearest the trail. On the drive along the Cherohala Skyway, we
had seen
massive stands of dead hemlocks all along the Santeetlah Creek
drainage.
A view of what's to come all along the southern Appalachians,
and quite
horrifying. However, as we drove west beyond Citico Creek
Wilderness and
into the Indian Boundary Recreation Area, we encountered groves
of
hemlocks that seem to be only lightly infected, or not affected
by the
adelgid at all. I realize that it's only a matter of time until
they are
all destroyed, but it was good to see such healthy trees. Even
the old
growth grove near Falls Branch looked to be only in the early
stages of
decline. Perhaps this area would be a prime one for treating
with
insecticides.
Photographs of my hike into old growth the forest and Falls
Branch Falls
can be seen here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/553189476uHfxMU |
|