Little White Oak Mountain

Little White Oak Mountain
Polk County, NC
Regional Director: Rita Zollinger

There is a nice variety of flora and fauna to the discovered on Little White Oak Mountain, an easement of Conserving Carolina (formerly the Pacolet Area Conservancy & Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy).

Little White Oak Mountain sits in the “foothills” of Polk Country in NC. Polk County is divided into two regions, Blue Ridge Mountains and the Piedmont. Our SCANing location is 1,106’ above sea level. We will use old logging roads to reach the creeks and pond. There are no trails. The main roads leading into the property are slight hills leading towards Little White Oak Mtn.

What we will find:
Ash, hickories, pines, oaks, ……
Amphibians
Beetles
Birds
Butterflies
Flowers – There are pockets of the endangered white irisettes labeled on the property map
Insects
Mammals
Mushrooms
Reptiles
Spiders

The property is not maintained, so be prepared to blaze through overgrowth covering old roads and trails. Some sections are hard packed clay so easy walking here. There are plenty of streams throughout the easement. The water is clean and supports a lot of fauna.

We will meet at the west entrance for easier access. Later in the day, those that want to drive to the east entrance (note limited parking here) can follow the overgrown path parallel to the power lines to reach a nice pond which sits 100’ from road on the left. The power lines make a left after the pond location, as a reference. To reach the east entrance by car, there will be silver gate 50-feet before the intersection of 108 and Houston Rd.

East access: https://goo.gl/maps/fD7i7JLtTH92
West access: https://goo.gl/maps/f6GzJitBHvs We will meet here.
Location: 2563 Houston Rd. Columbus, NC
We will use the west entrance. There is more parking here and the road / trail is more defined.

Directions:
Take I-26 W into NC (There are nice restrooms at the NC Visitor Center . There are no restrooms at the property).
Take Exit 67 Right onto Mills St.
Go to traffic light. Turn left onto Houston Rd. (the right side is Walker Rd.)
In 0.5 miles Houston road splits off to the right.
Go another 2.0 miles. On the left is a silver gate. Park here. Adjacent to property on left are mobile homes and on the right, is private drive 2601.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/35%C2%B016’36.9%22N+82%C2%B011’16.3%22W/@35.285324,-82.1892485,2922m/am=t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m17!1m10!4m9!1m4!2m2!1d82.4290618!2d35.2931283!4e1!1m3!2m2!1d82.188883!2d35.273816!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d35.2769219!4d-82.1878569

There is another entrance we will visit next.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/35%C2%B017’06.0%22N+82%C2%B010’40.5%22W/@35.28702,-82.1800073,220m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d35.2849999!4d82.1779256

Dinner:
Larkin’s Carolina Grill
155 W. Mills Street
Columbus, NC 28722
828-894-8800

Menu: http://www.larkinscarolinagrill.com/menu

What to bring: Hat, bug repellent, water, machete if you plan to blaze overgrowth on the road path on back side of property.

A description of the white irisette, Sisyrinchium dichotomum from the US Fish and Wildlife Department:
https://www.fws.gov/asheville/pdfs/WhiteIrisette_factsheet.pdf