u GREAT SMOKY LEGEND MTS. NATIONAL PARK TENNESSEE N.CAROLINA Joyce Kilmer 129 JOYCE KILMER CHEROKEE Memorial Trail NATIONAL Paved state road FOREST Tapoco N MEMORIAL FS dirt road Bryson JOYCE KILMER City Fontana Fontana Lake Jenkins Meadow Trail MEMORIAL Village FOREST 28 74 FOREST Naked Ground Trail Santeetlah u Lake 19 Stratton Bald Trail 143 SKY Creeks 143 W N AY Robbinsville 74 HALA Wesser Joyce Kilmer- RO CHE 129 28 Slickrock Wilderness NANTAHALA Topton National Forest land NATIONAL Campground a To Maple Springs Overlook 74 FOREST Group campground 4.5 miles Marble FranklinN b Andrews Nantahala Restrooms Lake 64 g 1127 Point of interest x Parking p DIRECTIONS

J e From Asheville: Take I-40W to Exit 27. Exit nk ins 1134 M Horse Cove right onto U.S. 19/74 toward Waynesville. Go about e e Sant ittl eetl ad Campground L ah o 47 miles, and bear right on NC 28N. Go 5 miles, and w C

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r ek turn left on NC 143 to Robbinsville. a il a FROM ROBBINSVILLE: Take NC 143W. After about 12 miles, turn right on Joyce Kilmer Road (SR1134). Go 2 miles and turn left to memorial forest.

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Little Tra p ntee il 416 HIKING MAPS: Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness a tla S h and Citico Creek Wilderness Map; Santeetlah Creek Cr g eek p c and Tapoco U.S. Geological Survey quad maps. JOYCE KILMER CHEOAH RANGER DISTRICT

MEMORIAL il 1133 Massey Branch Road ra Rattler Ford l T FOREST ia Group Campground r Robbinsville, NC 28771 o em Phone: 828-479-6431 M VE er b ilm 1134 Forest web site: www.fs.usda.gov/nfsnc K ce iscover the towering trees y o J 53A x PARTNERS OF JOYCE KILMER- TR42 317 and carpets of wildflowers SLICKROCK WILDERNESS TR42A TR54 in this remnant of the Web site: www.joycekilmerslickrock.com D TR55 TR43 POPLAR CO Joyce Kilmer original Appalachian forest. TR55A TR44 Memorial The U.S. Department of Agriculture is an equal TR56 il TR45 ra U.S. Department of Agriculture T opportunity provider and employer. TR81G ld tto B a 0.100.05 0.10.2 0.30.4 Forest Service tra n TR400 S Miles Recreation Guide R8-RG 232 Slightly revised 2011 Southern Region Joyce Kilmer−S lick Rock State

North Carolina 0.3000.15 .3 0.60.9 1.2 Kilometers Tennessee 0.200.1 0.20.4 0.60.8 Miles

preserve some of the finest original growth in the call the Cheoah District at 828-479-6431. Journey into Appalachians.” The Forest Service bought 13,055 Hunting and fishing are allowed in the forest and acres in 1936 for the lofty sum of $28 per acre (at surrounding wilderness. This area is popular for bear a time when most land was going for $3 to $4 per and boar hunting from mid-October until January 1. acre). While most of the surrounding land was a magnificent logged, the area around Little Santeetlah Creek was spared—protected by the recognition of its unique- BE ALERT IN FOREST forest . . . ness and the drastic drop of lumber prices after the The huge trees are very old; some are dying, “crash of 1929.” which creates the potential for falling limbs and trees. THE EXPERIENCE Because the forest is in a designated wilderness, dead trees are not removed. Please follow these tips for A walk through Joyce Kilmer Memorial DESIGNATED WILDERNESS your safety and the health of the forest: Forest is a journey back in time through a In 1975, Congress designated this land around l Stay out of the memorial forest on windy days magnificent forest with towering trees as old Little Santeetlah and Slickrock Creeks as the Joyce or after a snowfall or ice storm when branches as 450 years. Some enormous tulip-poplars Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness. The designation and trees are more likely to fall. are more than 20 feet in circumference and included the memorial forest. Presently, the wilder- l Be alert! Glance overhead frequently and stand 100 feet tall. The floor is carpeted with ness totals 17,394 acres. North Carolina contains don’t linger under dead and dying trees. wildflowers, ferns and moss-covered logs 13,562 acres and Tennessee contains 3,832 acres. l Stay on the trail to avoid trampling plants from fallen giants. Like other wildernesses, Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock and preventing damage to tree roots. The only way to see the impressive is managed to protect naturalness and solitude. No l Leave all plants for others to enjoy. No plants, memorial forest is on foot. The figure-eight motorized or mechanical vehicles or equipment, such living or dead, may be cut or removed. Joyce Kilmer National Recreation Trail covers as cars, chainsaws or bicycles, are allowed within two miles and has two loops: the 1.25-mile the wilderness. Trails are maintained to the most lower loop passes the Joyce Kilmer Memorial primitive standards, with few, if any, signs or blazes. plaque, and the upper 0.75-mile loop swings through Poplar Cove—a grove of the forest’s A LIVING MEMORIAL TREES largest trees. The trailhead parking area has a flush toilet and picnic tables. No camping or Veterans of Foreign Wars asked the government I think that I shall never see overnight parking is allowed. to set aside a fitting stand of trees to serve as a living A poem lovely as a tree. memorial to Joyce Kilmer, who was killed in action A tree whose hungry mouth is prest A SPECIAL FOREST during World War I. Against the earth’s sweet Although Kilmer was both a soldier and poet, he flowing breast. The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, part is most remembered for his poetry about common, An old-growth poplar beckons hikers to of the Nantahala National Forest, is a great beautiful things in nature. Kilmer’s best-known A tree that looks at God all day enter the memorial forest. example of a cove hardwood forest—a forest poem is “Trees,” which is printed to the right. And lifts her leafy arms to pray. characterized by rich soils, A tree that may in summer wear abundant moisture, and a A nest of robins in her hair. variety of plants. In 1935, OTHER RECREATION the regional forester wrote Two campgrounds are located about 0.5 mile from Upon whose bosom snow has lain. that the forest was one of the memorial forest. Offering 18 sites, Horse Cove Who intimately lives with rain. the “very few remaining Campground is open from April to October. For Poems are made by fools like me, tracts of virgin hardwood groups, the Rattler Ford Group Campground is open But only God can make a tree. This leaf comes from Forest wildflowers: Above, —Joyce Kilmer the forest’s main giant Vasey’s trillium and right, in the Appalachians…(and) April through October and offers four sites. Each site tree: the tulip-poplar. crested iris. we ought to buy it to accommodates 25. To make required reservations,