NATURE · WILDERNESS AREA
Sampson Mountain Wilderness
Nature
Sampson Mountain Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness in the Cherokee National Forest of northeastern Tennessee, in the Bald Mountains. Rising from about 1,780 feet to 4,060 feet at Sampson Mountain, it was established by Congress in 1986 and later expanded in 2018. The area protects steep ridges, narrow hollows, rocky streams, waterfalls, and mixed pine-hardwood forest, including some older forest patches. Black bears, trout, and other Appalachian wildlife live here, and native blueberries are common. Recreation emphasizes primitive, non-motorized travel on rugged backcountry trails, with nearby connections to the broader Bald Mountains trail network along the Tennessee–North Carolina line.
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Tusculum, Tennessee
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