Discover this Secret Valley

Surprising beauty awaits on Panthertown, high in the North Carolina mountains.

Except for the rare bobcat, no creature resembling a wild feline prowls through Panthertown these days. Yet the area retains an almost primeval charm in its towering stone mountains and deep-forested valley.

Nestled in western North Carolina, Panthertown is a natural area of 6,700 acres, part of the Nantahala National Forest near Cullowhec. One hidden jewel after another awaits the thousands of visitors who hike here yearly. Sometimes what awaits turns out to be a pleasant surprise-a sandbar where you never expected to find one; a path across a rail bed, the last vestige of the logging that went on here in the 1930s and 1940s; a glimpse of sunlight slipping through the deep green of the trees. Other times, visitors to Panthertown find themselves bewitched by its beauty and lose their way.

Burt Kornegay has helped Panthertown's lost get out a few times, although he's more accustomed to getting people into Panthertown. A seasoned wilderness guide who literally created the trail map that brings adventurous hikers into-and hopefully out of-this forest, Burt knows the area like few others. he takes groups on treks 25 times a year with his company, Slickrock Expeditions. Onethird of his yearly trips go into Panthertown.

It's easy to see why. Several hours here reveal wondrous sights, which invite contemplation on the value of keeping unspoiled land unspoiled. Depending on which of the two main entrances you use and on how long you stay, Panthertown offers enough variety for multiple trips, day hikes, or overnight stays.

From the trailhead at Salt Rock Gap, you quickly arrive at Blackrock Mountain. Along the way, you encounter a spectacular view of the massive granitic face that Burt calls "The Great Wall of Panthertown." On the hike, you pass root sprouts of American chestnut trees. Chestnuts once composed as much as half of our forests in the Blue Ridge until a blight on imported Chinese chestnut trees spread like wildfire and wiped out all the mature natives in the Appalachian Mountains. To this day, saplings still arise from the forest floor only to succumb to the waiting blight by the time they're no more than about 3 inches in diameter.

Farther along, you see patches of indigenous lichens or moss, sassafras trees, and birches. And the woods are sweet with blackberries, blaeberries, and buckberries.

Down on the valley floor, you can see sand, even sandbars in small ponds. And a short distance away, Granny Burrell Falls invites thrill-seekers to ride down its slippery slope into a cool pool that seems made for wading.

From the Cold Mountain Gap Trailhcad, you can wonder at the even more impressive Greenland Creek Falls or actually walk behind the cascade at Schoolhouse Falls.

When I started into Panthertown with Burt, I spotted a walking stick leaning by the sign at the trailhead and borrowed it. It was a boon companion, but I left it behind along the way. Soon enough the woods provided me another, this one a dead limb that only needed to be broken to size to make a decent replacement. It came in handy while I struggled to move my middle-aged frame up hills and over challenging terrain.

The afternoon sunlight filtering through the trees here is so pure and golden, it seems almost magical. Watching the sun go down from above the valley at the end of a hike, you can see the shadows stretching from Big Green Mountain to meet those cast by Little Green Mountain as the valley bids you good night.

If, like me, you are fortunate enough to find a walking stick there, why not do what I did-leave it behind at the trailhead for the next visitor eager to experience the hidden places of this town of panthers.

For more information about Panthertown or to order a map, contact Burt Kornegay of Slickrock Expeditions at P.O. Box 1214, Cullowhee, NC 28723. Call (828) 2933999, or visit www.slickrockexpcditions.com.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation May 2004
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