Hightower Bald, with an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of is the fourth-highest peak in the US state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It is located in

Towns County, Georgia Towns County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,493. Its county seat is Hiawassee. The county was created on March 6, 1856, and named for United States lawyer ...

at the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

state line and is within the boundaries of the

Southern Nantahala Wilderness The Southern Nantahala Wilderness was designated in 1984 and currently consists of . Approximately are located in Georgia in the Chattahoochee National Forest and approximately are located in North Carolina in the Nantahala National Forest. The ...

of the

Chattahoochee National Forest The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the con ...

Geography

30 Mile Post Montgomery's Corner Hightower Bald

Hightower Bald is located on an east-west trending ridge inside the

of the

. The mountain is located about east of Hiawassee and west of Tate City. Nearby geographical features include

Rich Knob Rich Knob, elevation 4,152 feet, is located in Towns County, Georgia. It is part of the Georgia portion of the Southern Nantahala Wilderness and is within the boundaries of the Tallulah Ranger District of the Chattahoochee National Forest. The ...

, Shooting Creek Bald, Loggy Branch

Cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

and Bly Gap.Wharton, Charles
The Natural Environments of Georgia
Georgia Department of Natural Resources. 1978. Retrieved 11 May 2016. There are cliffs on the south face of the mountain.
sherpaguides.com. Retrieved 10 May 2016. On Hightower Bald's northern slopes are two border features: Montgomery's Corner and the 30 Mile Post. Between these two points, the North Carolina-Georgia border runs in a north-south direction for about instead of its usual east-west direction. These border features were the results of two

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

expeditions conducted in the early 19th century. When

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

became a state in 1796, Congress designated Georgia's northern boundaries as the

35th parallel north The 35th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 35 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean. In the United States, the parall ...

.Bluestein, Greg
Drought Has Georgia Revisiting Border Dispute
AP. 10 February 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2016. In 1818, mathematician James Camak incorrectly calculated the 35th parallel north as being located south of

Nickajack Lake Nickajack Lake is the reservoir created by Nickajack Dam as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The lake stretches from Nickajack Dam to Chickamauga Dam, passing through the city of Chattanooga. The Tennessee River Gorge, commonly referred ...

. Camak and his survey team then proceeded to mark Georgia's northern border east, stopping about north of Hightower Bald's summit. In 1819, Camak conducted another survey of Georgia's northern border, this time starting from

Ellicott's Rock Ellicott’s Rock is a survey marker placed in 1811 by Andrew Ellicott as part of his survey to resolve the boundary dispute between the U.S. states of Georgia and North Carolina. The boundary dispute involved a brief armed conflict between the t ...

and surveying westward. After marking for , Camak's group reached Hightower Bald's northern slopes. When they got there, they noticed that they were north of the previous year's mark.Smith, Gary Alden. ''State and National Boundaries of the United States.'' 2011. . pp.69. Instead of redoing the survey, Camak decided to connect the eastward and westward lines.Morton, William J
Boundaries of Georgia
New Georgia Encyclopedia. 03 September 2014. Web. 10 May 2016. The southern mark was named Montgomery's Corner, after a surveyor who accompanied Camak in his two surveying trips. This mistake played a part in a water rights dispute between Georgia and Tennessee; Georgia was unable to withdraw water from the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...

despite the river passing through the 35th parallel.Morton William
How Georgia got its northern boundary – and why we can’t get water from the Tennessee River
Saporta Report. 4 April 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.

Flora and fauna

The summit of Hightower Bald contains a dwarfed red oak forest, with beaked hazel and hawthorn trees in the

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...

. Hightower Bald's cliffs is home to ''

Hypericum ''Hypericum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hypericaceae (formerly considered a subfamily of Clusiaceae). The genus has a nearly worldwide distribution, missing only from tropical lowlands, deserts and polar regions. Many ''Hype ...

'' (Blue Ridge St. John's wort), ''

selaginella rupestris ''Selaginella rupestris'', the northern selaginella sometimes locally known as ledge spike-moss or rock spike-moss, is a species of spike-moss occurring in dry rocky places in eastern North America, including one locality in Greenland Gree ...

'' (rock spikemoss) and ''

viburnum alnifolium ''Viburnum lantanoides'' (commonly known as hobble-bush, witch-hobble, alder-leaved viburnum, American wayfaring tree, and moosewood) is a perennial shrub of the family Adoxaceae (formerly in the Caprifoliaceae), growing 2–4 meters (6–12&nbs ...

'' (wild hydrangea). ''Acer saccharum'' (Sugar Maple), ''cladrastis kentukea'' (yellowwood), ''Liriodendron tulipifera'' (tulip tree) and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

es grow at Loggy Branch Cove, located on the mountain's northern side. The forest on Hightower Bald's northern slope is described as a broadleaf deciduous cove forest.

Southern red-backed vole The southern red-backed vole or Gapper's red-backed vole (''Myodes gapperi'') is a small slender vole found in Canada and the northern United States. It is closely related to the western red-backed vole (''Myodes californius''), which lives to th ...

s are also found on the mountain.

Hiking

No trails pass over Hightower Bald's summit. However, the mountain can be reached by hiking off-trail west from the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tr ...

or Bly Gap.

References

Georgia's Named SummitsGeorgia peaks over 4,000 feet

External links

TopoQuest map of Hightower BaldSummitPost page for Hightower Bald
{{Mountains of Georgia (U.S. State) Mountains of Georgia (U.S. state) Mountains of Towns County, Georgia Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest

Geography

Flora and fauna

Hiking

See also

References

External links