Two factors distinguish South Carolina's Southern Appalachian wild areas: their surprisingly rugged beauty and their inadequate protection.
South Carolina's mountain wild lands are all found on the Blue Ridge Escarpment - the dramatic edge of the Appalachian chain along the North Carolina-South Carolina border, where the mountains fall abruptly to the Piedmont. The rushing waters of several small but torrential escarpment rivers - including the Chattooga and Chauga - have been carving through the mountainsides here for eons, falling precipitously through steep gorges and eventually leveling out onto the rich plateaus below.
The 365,000-acre Sumter National Forest includes a little more than half of South Carolina's total National Forest land; but of the Sumter's three ranger districts, only one - the 80,000-acre Andrew Pickens Ranger District - contains Southern Appalachian terrain. It is the only Sumter district with existing Wilderness, though about 75 percent of the district is open to logging. The two other Sumter districts, both on the Piedmont, are heavily roaded and have suffered from years of industrial timber production. Thus, the Sumter has less than one percent of its area protected as Wilderness.
The one existing Wilderness area in the Andrew Pickens, Ellicott Rock, was designated in 1975.This beautiful area spans the junction of South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina and totals 8,300 acres. South Carolina's portion of this Wilderness totals 2,850 acres. At present, there are only 6,100 acres of official roadless area in the Sumter, all located in the northern reaches of the Andrew Pickens. If all of these roadless lands were designated as Wilderness, the total Wilderness in the Sumter would still represent less than three percent of the Forest.
Logical Expansion to Existing Wilderness
Ellicott Rock Wilderness, with the Chattooga at its heart, and containing nearly 20 miles of hiking trails, is a popular recreation spot. Graced by more than 80 inches of rain most years, this area boasts a sensory feast of wildflowers such as bloodroot, jack-in-the-pulpit, sweet white violets, and rare painted trillium. Two endangered plants are found here: rock gnome lichen and small whorled pogonia. The 2,100-acre Ellicott Rock Extension borders the existing Wilderness area on the south and east, and contains critical headwaters for the East Fork of the Chattooga River. Protection of this readily accessible and easily managed area would extend the present Ellicott Rock Wilderness out to the logical boundaries of Highway 107 to the east and Burrell's Ford Road to the south.
Just downstream from the Ellicott Rock Extension lies the 5,000-acre Rock Gorge area, which South Carolina shares in roughly equal halves with Georgia's Chattahoochee National Forest across the river. In this roadless wild land, dubbed "Big Mountain" by the Forest Service, the Chattooga River plunges into the steep and pathless Rock Gorge canyon in the most wild and rugged part of the Chattooga Wild and Scenic River corridor. This area provides important habitat for black bear and native brook trout, and features old-growth hemlock, the rare mountain camellia, and a stunning 80-foot waterfall on King Creek.
The 7,000-acre Persimmon Mountain area in the northeast corner of the Andrew Pickens Ranger District falls in the transition zone between the mountains and the Piedmont. At the heart of this area lies the 3,000-acre Bee Cove roadless area.The dramatic topography results in spectacular cascades on many creeks, including Moody Branch, which falls off the Blue Ridge Escarpment and plunges more than 1,000 feet in less than a mile. Botanists agree that this area is particularly important, with rare plants that include mountain camellia, enchanter's nightshade, and faded trillium. The Pickerel frog can also be found here, and native brook trout flit through several small streams. Highway 107, a designated scenic byway, offers outstanding views into this area. The northern portion of the tract would provide additional watershed protection to the East Fork of the Chattooga, as well as a wild corridor direct to the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina.
Wilderness designation for Persimmon Mountain would protect wild, natural values that are quickly vanishing as surrounding mountain land is developed, and it would also provide a critical link with nearby wild areas to the northeast along the dramatically scenic and richly forested Blue Ridge Escarpment.
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