Geography
Hazel Creek flows southwest from its source near the summit of Silers Bald to its mouth along the Fontana impoundment of the Little Tennessee River, a journey of roughly 18 miles (29 km). The creek drains the area between Welch Ridge to the east and Jenkins Trail Ridge to the west. Both Welch and Jenkins, which run perpendicular to the crest of the Smokies, reach elevations of over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) for considerable stretches. Two smaller ridges— the Pinnacle and Locust Ridge— parallel Hazel's northern banks, dividing the creek's valley from its upper watershed. Hazel Creek is one of three major watersheds in the southwestern Smokies, the others being Eagle Creek (on the other side of Jenkins Trail Ridge to the west) and Forney Creek (on the other side of Welch Ridge to the east). These three watersheds comprise the remote, roadless northern banks of Fontana Lake known locally as the North Shore.
From its source near the Silers Bald Shelter, Hazel Creek drops 1,500 feet (460 m) in just under 1 mile (2 km) before steadying at its confluence with Proctor Creek. 5 miles (8 km) from its source, the creek absorbs Walkers Creek and five smaller streams as it winds its way between two steep knobs known as High Rocks (to the south) and Raven Den (to the north). At the southwestern base of Locust Ridge, the creek absorbs Bone Valley Creek and Sugar Fork before turning sharply to the south and winding its way around the southern base of the Pinnacle. Just before reaching Proctor, the creek turns north and south again at a bend known as "the Horseshoe." At Proctor, Hazel Creek absorbs Shehan Branch before emptying into its Fontana Lake embayment. Northwest of Proctor, Shehan Branch slices a narrow valley known as Possum Hollow.
There are no public roads leading into the Hazel Creek valley. Fontana Village, which provides ferry access to the Hazel Creek Trail, is approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) west of the mouth of Hazel Creek on the other side of Fontana Lake. Along North Carolina State Route 28, Bryson City is just over 30 miles (48 km) east of Fontana. Along U.S. Route 129, Maryville, Tennessee is just over 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Fontana. Fontana is 11 miles (18 km) east of the state line at Deals Gap. Hazel Creek is located entirely within Swain County, North Carolina.
Read more about this topic: Hazel Creek (Great Smoky Mountains)
Famous quotes containing the word geography:
“Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The totality of our so-called knowledge or beliefs, from the most casual matters of geography and history to the profoundest laws of atomic physics or even of pure mathematics and logic, is a man-made fabric which impinges on experience only along the edges. Or, to change the figure, total science is like a field of force whose boundary conditions are experience.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Where the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, Connecticut River, and Boston Bay, you think paltry places, and the ear loves names of foreign and classic topography. But here we are; and, if we tarry a little, we may come to learn that here is best. See to it, only, that thyself is here;—and art and nature, hope and fate, friends, angels, and the Supreme Being, shall not absent from the chamber where thou sittest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)