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United States United States national forest

Nantahala National Forest

Dougtone · CC BY-SA 2.0

100% trees around it and 143 species recorded.

84Forestyas Score

ForestNational forestDense canopyWildMountain forest

  • trees within 3 km100%
  • wild within 10 km100%
  • species recorded143
  • Altitude1,528 m

The forest around

100% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 100%Grassland 0%Trees 98%Grassland 2%Trees 97%Grassland 2%Water 1%100%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km100%
  • 1–3 km100%
  • 3–6 km98%
  • 6–10 km97%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees100%
  • Grassland0%
  • Water0%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

143 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Purpleflowering raspberry
Purpleflowering raspberryRubus odoratus6 recordsNo machine-readable author provided. Sten assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0
Southern crab apple
Southern crab appleMalus angustifolia5 recordsLounsberry, Alice. · Public domain
Venus' pride
Venus' prideHoustonia purpurea3 recordsUSFWS · Public domain
Ebony spleenwort
Ebony spleenwortAsplenium platyneuron2 recordsJaknouse · CC BY-SA 3.0
Pink lady's slipper
Pink lady's slipperCypripedium acaule2 recordsSasata (edited by Noodle snacks · CC BY-SA 3.0
Rattlesnake plantain
Rattlesnake plantainGoodyera pubescens2 recordsJ. Curtis del., Weddell sc. · Public domain
Mayapple
MayapplePodophyllum peltatum2 recordsVelocicaptor · Public domain
Mitten tree
Mitten treeSassafras albidum2 recordsWowbobwow12 at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Eastern sweetshrub
Eastern sweetshrubCalycanthus floridus2 recordsDidier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0
Whorled yellow loosestrife
Whorled yellow loosestrifeLysimachia quadrifolia2 recordsJomegat · CC BY-SA 3.0
Intermediate woodfern
Intermediate woodfernDryopteris intermedia2 recordsHomer Edward Price · CC BY 2.0
Creeping phloxPhlox stolonifera3 records

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

84out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 100%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 100%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 143Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 1,528 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking in April and in October.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan7°-3°118 mm
  2. Feb9°-1°126 mm
  3. Mar14°2°125 mm
  4. Apr19°7°118 mm
  5. May23°12°119 mm
  6. Jun27°16°124 mm
  7. Jul29°18°138 mm
  8. Aug29°17°118 mm
  9. Sep26°14°118 mm
  10. Oct20°8°103 mm
  11. Nov14°2°113 mm
  12. Dec9°-1°152 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Nantahala National Forest.

National forest in North Carolina, US

Nantahala National Forest is a national forest in United States, 1,528 m above the sea.

Seen from space, 100% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 100% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

143 species have been recorded around it: 20 plants, 37 fungi, 85 birds and 1 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Purpleflowering raspberry, Southern crab apple and Venus' pride.

The best time to walk is in April and in October.

Blue Valley Overlook - Highlands, North Carolina - 14748054936
Dougtone · CC BY-SA 2.0

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at TYS airport (Knoxville/Maryville)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Nantahala National Forest seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 1marked trails within 5 kmAppalachian Trail
  • 4shelters and huts within 6 kmWesser Bald Shelter, Cold Spring Shelter, Wayah Bald Shelter and 1 more
  • 6campsites within 10 kmWine Spring Campsite, Wine Springs Horse Camp, Appletree Group Camp and 3 more
  • named and notable trees within 6 km
  • picnic sites within 4 km
  • viewpoints within 5 km
  • visitor centres within 6 km
  • car parks within 3 km
  • places to stay within 10 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Nantahala National Forest.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas203 mountains within 25 km
Wesser Bald5.1 kmWayah Bald5.9 kmHigh Peak19 kmLittle Bald20 kmMount Albert1,585 m · 22 kmTeyahalee Bald22 kmStanding Indian Mountain1,676 m · 22 kmAllen Mountain24 km
Lakeyas1 lakes within 15 km
Nantahala Lake4.9 km² · 12 km
Cascadyas1 waterfalls within 15 km
Bird Falls12 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

Blue Valley Overlook - Highlands, North Carolina - 14584355530
Dougtone · CC BY-SA 2.0
Fires Creek Recreation Area in the Nantahala National Forest in Clay County, North Carolina
Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0
Scene above Panthertown Valley Wetland
NC Wetlands from Raleigh, NC · CC0

Other forests nearby.

Nantahala National Forest

United States

  • 84Forestyas Score
  • 100%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 143Species

Pisgah National Forest

United States · 71 km

  • 89Forestyas Score
  • 100%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 452Species

See the guide

Chattahoochee–Oconee National Forest

United States · 73 km

  • 85Forestyas Score
  • 97%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 172Species

See the guide

Cherokee National Forest

United States · 83 km

  • 81Forestyas Score
  • 98%Trees
  • 100%Wild
  • 59Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q3079140) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species1,618 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Lakeyas, Cascadyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here