This seven-mile section represents an entry into the most remote area of the Bartram Trail, which is relevant for those following Bartram’s route and thoughts in Travels. Bartram’s destination from Cowee was the Cherokee Overhill Towns near modern day Loudon, TN, which Bartram had been cautioned against traveling to by colonial traders. This was the eve of the American Revolution, and the Cherokees were engaged in skirmishes in this area with local settlers. Bartram waited two days in Cowee for a guide to arrive to take him to these towns, but he never showed. He then decided to proceed on alone, though colonial trader Patrick Galahan travelled with him from Cowee until he began his ascent of the Nantahala mountains on an ancient trade path that crossed them at Burningtown Gap. On a 1764 map made by the British cartographer Thomas Mante, this trade path Is labeled bad road, and the rugged Nantahala mountains, known then as the Jore mountains, must have been an intimidating prospect. As noted in the previous section, there is a certain melancholy building in Bartram’s tone as he traverses the Nantahala range, and perhaps fear of the largely unsettled and wild landscape that lay before him.
Wayah Bald (Wayah means wolf in Cherokee), which he describes as the most elevated peak of the range (5,342 ft). Regardless, it’s an important moment in the Travels. Bartram, upon reaching whichever of the two peaks, has never seen anything quite like what lay before him - I beheld with rapture and astonishment a sublimely awful scene of power and magnificence, mountains piled upon mountains. And it remains astonishing that looking west from Wayah Bald today one still sees an unbroken landscape of mountains piled upon mountains, thanks to Federal land acquisitions to make the Nantahala National Forest and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Bartram made an important observation upon reaching the crest of the Nantahala’s – he noted how far behind certain plants were in their blooming, and how it seemed that elevation had made the difference. Bartram had also noted when entering the Blue Ridge that he was finding species in the southern mountains that were common in the north, and though this is common knowledge now, elevation was an unknown factor in plant distribution in 1775. Some fifty years later the young Charles Darwin would draw specifically from Bartram’s Travels when pondering the geographical distribution of species. It is worth noting that Bartram also came upon a species in the Cherokee village of Jore, or the modern-day community of Iotla, that surprised him – Yaupon Holly (Ilex Vomitoria). This species, native to the coastal plain, was being cultivated here in the mountains for its ceremonial of purging.
Here in the rich cove forests of the Nantahala mountains Bartram describes seeing Striped Maple, White Ash, Black Walnut, Northern Red Oak, White Oaks, Butternut, Silverbell, Viburnum, Ginseng, Angelica, and more. He does not mention American Chestnut in the Nantahala, which is a bit of a mystery, though he does observe that the Cherokees used it in the construction of their homes in Cowee. Hikers on this section today will see most of these species before descending the long narrow ridge down to Lake Nantahala.
In the northwestern coves of the trail that are shared with the Appalachian Trail, and after the Bartram leaves the AT and begins to wind around the northern side of Wine Spring Bald, hikers will see high elevation species such as Hobblebush (Viburnum Lantanoides), and Mountain Maple (Acer Spicatum). These two species are found normally above five thousand feet in the southern Appalachians, and rarely here in the Nantahalas. They can also be found around the summit of nearby Standing Indian Mountain. In the spring, one can also find Ramps, an edible and highly desirable high elevation plant. Do not confuse this with the poisonous False Hellebore, which is also found here. As the trail descends to Lake Nantahala and becomes more westerly in direction, the forests become drier, with Mountain Laurel, Pitch Pines, Chestnut Oaks, and dying Hemlocks becoming some of the dominant forest species.