Location of Ball Creek Road

A gravel extension of Coweeta Lab Rd. Proceed south of Franklin, NC, on US441, turn west on Coweeta Lab Rd. (3.7 miles north of GA/NC state line; or .7 mile south of Otto, NC, Post office). Continue 3.3 miles until encountering FR 83 which is also called Ball Creek Rd. It proceeds 5.4 miles ( 2200 feet to 5000 feet) up mountain to the Pickin's Nose Trail parking lot, and continues past that for an additional 1.3 miles to the FR 67, Albert Mountain, and Ball Creek Rd. intersection.   4WD and high clearance vehicles are not normally required, but are always desired.

XU441/Cowetta Road    35°02’.793N, 83°23’07W

Approximately 10 miles south of 441/64, road heads west

.7 miles south of Otto Post Office, 3.7 miles north of GA/NC state line.

Driving on this road requires a very high degree of attention and care!

3.2 - pavement ends - reset odometer to zero 35°03’32”N, 83°25’52”W, 2,500 ‘

.Begin Upslope    

.9     View of pump station on left of road

1.2     Red Gum - Oct

1.25     sign for 83F

1.4    blue asters

1.8    winding turn - 3000’

2    hemlocks

2.3     Begin Lower Turns

mountain side

ravine - view is to the East - Good autumn view of hillside to east.

2.5   

AUG-fawns breath, NJTea, Joe Pye, Goldenrod      aster, beSuisan, JPWeed, gum is red

2.55 -    

AUG -spotted jewel weed, Dutchman’s pipe vine on right.

2.7     

AUG-Blueberries to left

MAY - hellbore, violets p&y.  fawn’s breath

2.75    trail steps

2.8     Rhododendren

2.85    Virginia creeper, rhododendren

3.0 Middle turns - small waterfall,

MAY - Jack-in-pulpit, white violets, wviolets gone,

foam flower, trillium fading, fawn’s breath

3.05      FSRoad 83D

3.3    red maple

APR  first flower

3.4    MAY - mountain phlox

Cliffs

3.45    cliff on right - steep

3.5    cliff - view of mountain side

120° mountain top view

3.55    grassy cliff

view of Franklin

√t090°

needs clear day

AUG-goldenrod, blue aster

3.7    moist cliff

APR - mayapple - roundleaved hepatica

MAY - mayapple in bloom

AUG- beardtongue, grass of Parnasus  moist environment

3.8    Flower Field

MAY - trilliums, wake robins, robin plantain, wyviolets, mtphlox.

JUN fawn’s breath, goat beard

AUG - Dutchman’s pipe vine, white violets, New Jersey Tea, grod

4.0     FR 421 - 4000’

EXCURSION TURN TO LEFT ON FR 421:

.3 X 421 A

.6 Platform Spring

1.5 Guardrail Cliffs - outside

2.25 X 421B Outside

3.0 Ravine cove

4.0 End of trail, parking area, view of spring/creek

Interesting place.  It always seems haunted to me.  I am always anxious to leave!

Return to Ball Creek Road

Upper turns

4.1    AUG - Big Dutchman’s pipe vine on left,  foxglove

4.2     AUG- Yellow also Green Coneflowers on left, large Blue Asters

4.3    AUG - spotted jewel weed

4.35    good view, looking down 140°,  4,000 feet elevation - AUG - Jewelweed

4.4    steep turns

AUG - coropsis, sunflowers, doll’s eye, brown & gray coneflowers.

4.7    right turn,  Great autumn view

AUG - Fawns Breath, green coneflower,

JUN Dutchman’s pipe vine

5.0    “Needles Eye” - also stairs

5.2    rock slab

Micheaux saxafridge

MAY Micheaux saxifridge has small white “dots”

5.4     Picken’s Nose parking lot.

4900’  35°01’38”N 83°27’42”W

Sampling of Trip Logs

2001.0612

Lower road: butterflies, mt. laurel (blue), flea band, cinnimon fern, smilex, Carolina rose (hips only, blooms5/0), daisies, viburnum bloom 1/5, number of red pines

.9 mile buttercups, firepink, hillside of buttercups, rhododencren bloom 3/5, fawn breath, BE Susan, milkweed

1.5 mile glex, goatbeard, mt. laurel,

top near Picken's Nose Park lot. M. Saxifridge.

 

2001.0521

Lower part, Carolina Rose bloom 5/5, sweet shrub, daisy, MIDDLE coreopsis, galex, fawns breath umbrella plants bloom 5/5, white violets 5/5, CLIFFS trillium, foam flower, wake robbin, viburnim.

 

2001.0324

First run up the road this year. Unable to complete run due to heavy snow. I used 4WD in low gear and still could not control the truck on the slick mountain roads in about 8 to 10 inches of snow. Unable to negotiate first of the upper turns so I backed down about 1/4 mile, turned around and departed. No sign of flowers.

 

2000.0324

Quick run up to the parking lot. Road is OK. Not a lot of flower activity. Temperature at top was 70°. Still 9 bullet holes in the sign at the top - amazing there are no new

holes this year.

 

1999.0901

The wildflowers along this road and FR 67 have been devestated by the sidebar mowers hired by the Forest Service. Vast stands of coneflowers, oswego tea, black eye Susans, basil balm, & even umbrella plants have all been cut down and left lying as a black-brown mess on top of the wildflower fields. Not only were they cut about peak bloom, but also before seeds were fully set. Hopefully the asters can recover.

 

1999.0809

Not a particularly good wild flower display, but there was Joe Pye, coreopsis, harebell, black-eyed Susan, sunflower, sundrops, foxglove, some oswego tea, a few Turk's cap lilies, two kind of yellow coneflowers, fawn's breath, rhododendren, Micheaux saxifradge, Daisy flea bane, Queen Anne lace, dodder, Carolina phlox, basil balm, mountain mint, and quie a few UFOs (unidentified flowering objects).

 

1999.0719Mo

2500-3500ft: Rhododendren #2, Black Eyed Susan, coreopsis, blackberries, yarrow, mt. mint, mt. phlox, woodland sunflower, Daisy flea bane, smilex, Joe Pye weed (all in bloom)

3500-4500ft:Rhododendren #3 C3, Mt. phlox #4, basil balm #2, Joe Pye weed, hypernium, Dutchman's pipe vine, dodder, black eyed Susan.

>4500ft: Rhododendren, Micheaux saxafridge, black eyed Susan, Mt. phlox.

Picken's Nose Parking Lot to Albert Mtn extension: blackeyed Susan #4, mt. phlox#4, oswego tea, Daisy flea bane, basil balm, buttercups.

1999.0612Sa

Flame Azalea and Mountain Laurel: #5, C5, V5. Especially prominent on Albert Mtn. Extension. Also Micheaux Saxifrage #4, galax, goatbeard, sundrops, spiderwort, white violets, jack-in pulipts, dodder, snakeroot

1999.0421

Micheaux saxifradg, mayflower(trailing arbutus), violets (mtn., birdfoot, yellow, purple, white), windflowers, chickweed, foamflower, bluettes, bettany, hepatica (actuiloba and americana) toothwort, c incfoil, Robin's plantain, pipsisiwa, toad trillium, everlasting, trou lily, buttercups, mayapple, umbrella plant, beardstongue, mtn mint, wake robin, sweetshrub, golden Alexander.

   A ride up ball Creek Road is a trip to another world.  If the road were a little wetter, it might be on the Wild and Scenic Rivers list, but since it’s too dry to paddle and too steep to walk, you will have to enjoy its spectacular scenery from the comfort of your car.  Ball Creek Road is only six and a half miles long, but it rises through extravagant wildflower displays, winds back through dark hardwood coves, passes under small rocky cliffs, and offers outstanding fall foliage with both faraway views and up-close brilliance.  One of the most dramatic sights you will experience though, will be the road itself.  It is a throwback to rugged mountain passageways that once were common in these forests and joined mountain communities together.  In several places the roadbed is basically a hiking trail that has been slightly widened and topped with some gravel.  Ball Creek Road really IS a trip, in more ways than one!