The Blood Mountain Wilderness was designated in 1991 and currently consists of 7,800 acres (32 km2). The Wilderness is located within the borders of the Chattahoochee National Forest in Lumpkin County and Union County, Georgia. The Wilderness is managed by the United States Forest Service and is part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. In November, 1999, three fires burned through parts of the Blood Mountain Wilderness and the Chatahoochee National Forest. Fire crews came from across the nation to help fight the fires.
The highest elevation in the Blood Mountain Wilderness is the 4,458-foot (1,359 m) peak of Blood Mountain. The Wilderness includes 10.75 miles (17.30 km) of the Appalachian Trail, which may be the most heavily used portion of the AT. The Blood Mountain Wilderness is the first wilderness encountered on the AT after its starting point on Springer Mountain.
In connection with its management of the Wilderness, the Forest Service actively promotes adherence to the Leave No Trace principles. The seven Leave No Trace principles are:
-
- Plan Ahead and Prepare
- Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
- Dispose of Waste Properly
- Leave What You Find
- Minimize Campfire Impacts
- Respect Wildlife
- Be Considerate of Other Visitors
Famous quotes containing the words blood, mountain and/or wilderness:
“To-day there is hardly a woman of intelligence in all America ... who is not definitely and actively concerned in some social interest, who does not recognize some duty besides those incident to her own blood relationship.”
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
“Come live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
Or woods or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
And see the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
“It is surprising on stepping ashore anywhere into this unbroken wilderness to see so often, at least within a few rods of the river, the marks of an axe, made by lumberers who have either camped here or driven logs past in previous springs. You will see perchance where, going on the same errand that you do, they have cut large chips from a tall white pine stump for their fire.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)