Volunteer with us on the trails in Panthertown Valley this season.
Click on any date below for more info or to invite friends via Facebook.
Tuesday, November 19 (Salt Rock Gap Trailhead, 9am-2pm)
Contact us – Contact us for more info, to RSVP, or for directions.
Whence These Special Places? The Geology of Cashiers, Highlands & Panthertown Valley
Author and amateur geologist Bill Jacobs offers an enlightening FREE program about the geology of Highlands, Cashiers and Panthertown Valley. How did Whiteside Mountain come to be? Why is our plateau here? Mr. Jacobs will explain this and much more in this fascinating talk about the geology of our local area. His newly-published book will be available for purchase and signing at this free program hosted by Friends of Panthertown at the Albert Carlton – Cashiers Community Library.
This book presents the geology of the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau of Western North Carolina. Using everyday language and over 100 photographs and graphics, it explores how the region’s mountains, waterfalls and other special features formed, and how geology has created both their similarities and their differences.
Panthertown Valley is home to more than a dozen featured Special Places listed in the book.
Reflecting Bill’s interest in Earth Sciences in the local schools, special pricing will be available for Blue Ridge and Summit students and staff.
The book will be available at the event (with $5 of each sale going to Friends of Panthertown). It can also be purchased at City Lights Bookstore, Cornucopia, Highland Hiker, and Zoller’s Hardware, as well as at www.GreatRockPress.com.
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About Whence These Special Places?
Cashiers, Highlands and Panthertown Valley are part of a high-elevation area known as the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau. Located in southwestern North Carolina, the Plateau is unique not just for its elevation, but also for its soaring walls of bare rock, numerous waterfalls, and grand vistas. Whence These Special Places? explores the geology that has produced this special area at this particular point in the Earth’s 4.6 billion-year history.
While solidly grounded in science, the book is written for the non-scientist, using everyday language and concepts. Its large format was chosen to better display over 100 photographs, each selected both for its beauty and its power in explaining the geology.
It is difficult to live on or visit the Plateau without wondering about its physical features — Why are its valleys so high (and the roads up to them so steep and curvy)? Why do Dry, Bridal Veil and Schoolhouse Falls have sheer drops, while Granny Burrell Falls and Warden’s Falls are smoothly rounded? How did those great rock walls come to be? Why does Whiteside Mountain have a different shape than Bald Rock, and why is Rock Mountain rounded while its close neighbor Chimneytop has a pointy summit?
To explore these questions, Whence These Special Places? opens by discussing 500 million years of geologic processes that have produced the broader area we call the Blue Ridge. As the narrative comes forward, it focuses on processes that make the Plateau unique, including its numerous plutonic intrusions and the erosion patterns that have shaped the modern landscape.
The second half of the book is devoted to applying the principles thus developed to more than 60 individual Special Places — the mountains, waterfalls and other features that have been known and loved by generations of the Plateau’s settlers, residents and visitors. In each case, the author identifies the underlying geology that makes a particular feature similar to or different from its neighbors. The discussion is informed not just by more than a century of academic work by dedicated geologists, but also by the author’s personal field trips to each feature. In a number of cases, his field work identified previously unmapped geologic relationships that he believes are important in understanding the nature and shape of particular Special Places.
Whence These Special Places? will serve in different ways for different readers at different times. It is a highly readable treatise on the geology of the Blue Ridge and the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau. It is also a field guide that will enrich visits to the Plateau’s waterfalls and mountain trails. And when at rest between such uses, it will serve as a photographic compendium of the region’s spectacular natural features, suitable for the coffee table of any mountain home.
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REVIEWER COMMENTS
“The Highlands and Cashiers region is not only stunning but the geology is fascinating. The localities featured in this book are noteworthy, and I think the book’s accessible geologic perspective will make them even more interesting and enjoyable to visit.” – Dr. Jackie Langille, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, Department of Environmental Studies, UNC Asheville
“I agree with Bill that “whence” is indeed a concise word for the myriad of questions surrounding the striking geologic features of the Plateau. He describes the geologic history of the Southern Appalachians in easy-to-digest language with little sacrifice of detail or higher-level scientific reasoning. His admiration of these places, along with their sources and causes, highlights just how special they are to individuals as well as to cultural and geologic history.” – Dr. Brittani D. McNamee, Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences, Department of Environmental Studies, UNC Asheville
“I thought I understood the geology of the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau, but Bill Jacobs’ readable and entertaining geologic tour of the Plateau and many of its unique sites has given me a much deeper and better understanding of the processes that shaped our wonderful places here in the mountains of North Carolina.” – Dr. Gary Wein, Executive Director, Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust
The Southern Environmental Law Center reports that the U.S. Forest Service is proposing sweeping policy changes that would eliminate public involvement and environmental review for most national forest decisions, including logging projects, road construction, and even pipelines. Please take a moment to tell the Forest Service that your voice is important to public land decisions.
If you haven’t already made your voice heard on the proposed rule changes, now is your chance! The U.S. Forest Service has extended its comment deadline to August 26th. Many of the changes in the proposed rule are based on adding or expanding existing categorical exclusions. If you love our forests, we ask that you speak out against these changes, which would effectively remove the public from public lands management.
US Forest Service proposal to speed up logging, cut environmental analysis, public input
Asheville Citizen-Times
August 9, 2019
The rule would allow the Forest Service to cut 4,200 acres in national forests throughout the country, with no advance notice and no public comment. This would stop alternatives from being suggested, would stop transparency, would stop our public voices as citizens.
– US Forest Service proposal to speed up logging, cut environmental analysis, public input Asheville Citizen-Times (August 9, 2019)
Don’t Let Them Silence You
Blue Ridge Outdoors
August 1, 2019
National forests in Southern Appalachia are among the most popular in the country. The Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina is the nation’s second-most visited national forest, with nearly 7 million visitors last year. According to the U.S. Forest Service’s own 2014 Visitor Use Survey for the Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest, over 90 percent of forest users are hikers, mountain bikers, paddlers, trail runners, and other nature-seeking outdoor enthusiasts. Without their input into future decisions, our forests will become less hospitable to the activities they enjoy.
– Don’t Let Them Silence You Blue Ridge Outdoors (August 1, 2019)
The public still has an opportunity to comment on the proposed rule changes. The comment period for the proposed rule was extended. Comments must be received in writing by August 26, 2019 at www.fs.fed.us/emc/nepa/revisions/index.shtml or visit Southern Environmental Law Center’s action page for the Forest Service rule change at OurForestsOurVoice.org
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/nfsnc/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD637319
Asheville, NC – June 6, 2019 – Visitors to Panthertown on the Nantahala National Forest are asked to take precautions to avoid bears after recent reports of increased encounters.
No injuries have been reported. Encounters include bears stealing packs and riffling through camping supplies and gear. The bears will often stay in the area of the incident for multiple hours.
This time of the year black bears are opportunistically looking for food that campers and trail users bring on their trips.
According to District Ranger Mike Wilkins, “Bears become used to people due to the close proximity of residential neighborhoods and the regular use of the same camping spots. Once there is more natural food available across the forest the bears should be less aggressive.”
While black bear attacks on people are rare, such attacks have resulted in human fatalities.
To avoid bear attacks, experts recommend the following:
If you are attacked by a black bear, try to fight back using any object available. Act aggressively and intimidate the bear by yelling and waving your arms. Playing dead is not appropriate.
Visitors are encouraged to prevent bear interactions by practicing these additional safety tips:
A reminder to forest visitors that bear canisters are required in the Shining Rock Wilderness in the Pisgah National Forest. Since this requirement has been in place the number of successful black bear attempts to getting campers food has significantly decreased. Remember to be bear aware.
For more tips, visit http://go.usa.gov/czWbW or go to www.fs.usda.gov/nfsnc and click on “Learn about Bear Safety”
For more information about black bears in Panthertown visit panthertown.org/bears/
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