If you’ve been to this 13,000-acre chunk of the Wilson Creek area at the foot of Grandfather Mountain, you’ve perhaps noticed the signs indicating it’s a Wilderness Study Area. If you’ve been going there for a while, you’ve likely noticed the signs have been up for a while — since 1984, when Congress approved the U.S. Forest Service’s WSA recommendation.

Why, 32 years later, are Lost Cove and Harper Creek still being studied? Find the answer to that question and insight into the prospects for new wilderness areas in the mountains, in today’s post, “Lost Cove and Harper Creek: a 32-year Wilderness Struggle,” on the Great Outdoor blog.

If you haven’t been to the area, here’s a 90 Second Escape from last summer that captures the rugged beauty of the area.

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Today’s 90-Second Escape: GetHiking! North Carolina’s Classic Hikes

North Carolina’s got some of the best hiking around: in 2015, our GetHiking! North Carolina’s Classic Hikes program is going to hike 12 of the best. One hike a month for 12 months on some of the state’s most rewarding trails.

You can learn more about the program here. For now, take a 90 Second Escape on some of the trails we will hike.

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Today’s 90-Second Escape: Harper Creek/North Harper Creek WSA

Content from Harper Creek / North Harper Creek

Even folks who have only heard of the Harper Creek and Lost Cove areas of the Wilson Creek drainage generally think the areas are official wilderness areas. They aren’t: they’re actually Wilderness Study Areas, which means they are under consideration for official Wilderness designation.

But they may not even be under consideration, if development interests have their say in the current review of the Pisgah National Forest/Nantahala National Forest Land Management Plan. The good news: public comment is being accepted through Jan. 5, a week from today.

You can read more about the Land Management Plan and the controversy surrounding the possible elimination of WSA status for the 13,000-acre Harper Creek/Lost Cove area here. In the meantime, let us inspire you to act with scenes from a GetHiking! journey this summer down North Harper Creek and Harper Creek, in the area in question.

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Come summer, with its 90/90 days (heat/humidity) the last thing on most of our minds is a long hike in the woods. Oceans of sweat, acres of trail-clogging cobwebs, no hydration pack big enough to sate your insatiable thirst. Very understandable, this hike aversion — if you don’t know where to go. For if you do, there are plenty of trails — from North Carolina’s steamy coast, to the stuffy Piedmont to the sun-drenched high country — ideal for summer exploring.

At the coast, you’re wise to incorporate a really large body of saline water in your hike plan. Water is likewise a key ingredient in the Piedmont, though the occasional alpine anomaly also offers relief. In the Appalachians, refreshing waterfalls and elevation combine to offer escape.

We’ve compiled a list of 25 hikes that are especially well-suited to a North Carolina summer, five at the coast, 10 each in the Piedmont and the high country. You can find additional information on each at the links provided and in the references mentioned, “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina” and “Backpacking North Carolina.”

Let your summer hiking adventure begin here.

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