The United States Congress designated the Sampson Mountain Wilderness Area in 1986 and it now has a total of 7,991 acres. For a complete listing of public laws and further information on district offices, click here. The five clear, swift, rocky streams that course through this Wilderness, which drain secluded hollows shadowed by steep and open ridges, plunge over several waterfalls, some of them dramatic cascades. Buckeye Falls drops 475 feet, reputedly more than any other waterfall in the eastern United States. A heavy forest cover of pine and hardwoods includes 536 acres of old growth that has been flourishing for more than a century.
Wildflowers proliferate, and flowering shrubs include laurel, rhododendron, and flame azalea.
Trout fishing may be excellent in the streams, but if your line keeps coming up empty, you can always snack on native blueberries. Problem is, you have to share the sweet fruit with black bears, who live here in greater numbers than anywhere else north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Several trails crawl faintly up creek valleys until they gradually fade away altogether. Confusing old roadbeds appear and disappear just as suddenly, leading nowhere. None of the trails are well maintained.