The Nature Conservancy - Grandfather Mountain

Grandfather Mountain

LOCATION:
Mountains
Avery, Caldwell, and Watauga Counties

SIZE IN ACRES:
4,019

INVOLVEMENT IN ACRES:
NA

Grandfather Mountain (© Hugh Morton)

Boone's Fork (© Margaret Jordan)

TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP:
Grandfather Mountain, Valle Crucis

Topographical maps are available by contacting:
NC Geographical Survey.
1612 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1612.
(919) 715.9718
www.geology.enr.state.nc.us/

ACTIVITIES & AMENITIES:
Hiking / Birding / Wildflowers / Camping / Picnicking / Restrooms / Parking / Fee

OWNERSHIP & ACCESS:
Grandfather Mountain, Inc.
P.O. Box 129
Linville, NC 28646
(800) 468-7325
(828) 733-2013

The Grandfather Mountain backcountry is open for hiking and camping, but you must obtain a hiking permit. For permit information, call Grandfather Mountain, Inc. The North Carolina Chapter offers field trips to Grandfather Mountain.

SITE INFORMATION:
Famous for its rocky summits, cliffs, and great views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Piedmont, Grandfather Mountain is one of North Carolina's most biologically diverse mountains. Rock outcrops, spruce-fir forests, heath balds, and hardwood forests provide habitat for over 60 rare plant and animal species including the Carolina northern flying squirrel, Weller's salamander, and four endangered plants: spreading avens, Heller's blazing star, mountain bluet, and Blue Ridge goldenrod. Grandfather is near the southern end of the range of species such as the northern saw-whet owl, hermit thrush, and New England cottontail.

One of the more unique species that the Conservancy is keeping an eye on at Grandfather is the spruce-fir moss spider, a tiny tarantula that grows no larger than the head of a thumbtack. It only lives above 5,000 feet in moss mats under spruce and Fraser fir trees. Grandfather Mountain, Roan Mountain, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park harbor the only known populations of this spider. This species has become increasingly rare as spruce-fir forests have declined because of a combination of air pollution and the balsam woolly adelgid, a non-native insect that takes sap from the fir trees.

The mountain's backcountry is accessible by a network of hiking trails that run through this private preserve owned by Grandfather Mountain, Inc. The trails on Grandfather offer a variety of hiking options, from easy walks through beautiful hardwood forests to rugged hikes to the highest point on the mountain, 5,964-foot Calloway Peak. If you visit Grandfather from mid-April through mid-July, you will be treated to many showy wildflowers. The mountain is also a good place for birding, offering migratory birds in the spring such as Canada and Blackburnian warblers, rose-breasted grosbeak, and scarlet tanager, and migrating broad-winged hawks in the fall.

CONSERVATION HIGHLIGHTS:
In 1991, Grandfather Mountain, Inc., began donating a series of conservation easements to the Conservancy that will eventually protect over 1,700 acres of Grandfather Mountain's rocky summits and rugged backcountry. Through a management agreement, The Nature Conservancy currently assists Grandfather Mountain, Inc., with the management of this acreage. In 1993, thanks to a land donation from the Wilmor Corporation and a gift of $3,070,900 from Fred and Alice Stanback, Brad Stanback, and Lawrence Stanback, the Conservancy acquired over 600 more acres on the mountain. In September 1993, The Nature Conservancy purchased an additional 300 acres for inclusion in the preserve system. In 2003, the Conservancy purchased a conservation easement on 925 acres along Boone Fork Creek at a bargain sale price. The easement, purchased with a grant from the Clean Water Management Trust, will protect the Boone Fork Creek Watershed.

DIRECTIONS:
The entrance to Grandfather Mountain is on the north side of US 221 between the Blue Ridge Parkway and the town of Linville.