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United States United States national forest

Pisgah National Forest

Ken Thomas · Public domain

100% trees around it and 452 species recorded.

89Forestyas Score

ForestNational forestDense canopyWildMountain forestFungiBirds

  • trees within 3 km100%
  • wild within 10 km100%
  • species recorded452
  • Altitude1,366 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%Trees 99%Grassland 1%Trees 98%Grassland 2%100%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km100%
  • 1–3 km100%
  • 3–6 km99%
  • 6–10 km98%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees100%
  • Grassland0%

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

452 species recorded.

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

Painted trillium
Painted trilliumTrillium undulatum25 recordsD. Gordon E. Robertson · CC BY-SA 3.0
Beetleweed
BeetleweedGalax urceolata25 recordsTed Bodner, Southern Weed Science Society, Bugwood.org · CC BY 3.0
Mountain-laurel
Mountain-laurelKalmia latifolia22 recordsQwert1234 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Smooth carrionflower
Smooth carrionflowerSmilax herbacea15 recordsUSDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the · Public domain
American cancer-root
American cancer-rootConopholis americana14 recordsThis image was created by user Dan Molter (shroomydan) at Mushroom Observer , a source for · CC BY-SA 3.0
Vasevine
VasevineClematis viorna12 recordsJason Hollinger · CC BY 2.0
Rattlesnake plantain
Rattlesnake plantainGoodyera pubescens11 recordsJ. Curtis del., Weddell sc. · Public domain
Flame azalea
Flame azaleaRhododendron calendulaceum10 recordsW. Bulach · CC BY-SA 4.0
Great laurel
Great laurelRhododendron maximum10 recordsArx Fortis · CC BY-SA 3.0
Pinkshell azalea
Pinkshell azaleaRhododendron vaseyi9 recordsStickpen · Public domain
Heal-all
Heal-allPrunella vulgaris9 recordsIvar Leidus · CC BY-SA 3.0
Orange balsam
Orange balsamImpatiens capensis8 recordsFritz Geller-Grimm · CC BY-SA 2.5

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

In numbers

The forest, measured.

89out 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
  • 452Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 1,366 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. Jan6°-4°99 mm
  2. Feb8°-2°98 mm
  3. Mar13°2°105 mm
  4. Apr19°6°113 mm
  5. May23°11°120 mm
  6. Jun27°16°117 mm
  7. Jul29°17°135 mm
  8. Aug28°17°119 mm
  9. Sep25°13°117 mm
  10. Oct19°7°98 mm
  11. Nov13°1°102 mm
  12. Dec8°-2°124 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Pisgah National Forest.

National forest in North Carolina

Pisgah National Forest is a national forest in United States, 1,366 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.

452 species have been recorded around it: 116 plants, 179 fungi, 155 birds and 2 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Painted trillium, Beetleweed and Mountain-laurel.

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

Upper Creek-27527-4
Ken Thomas · Public domain

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at AVL airport (Asheville)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.

Pisgah 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

  • 10marked trails within 5 km618 Bennet Branch, Old Butt Knob Trail, Shining Creek Path and 7 more
  • 12viewpoints within 5 kmView Funnel Top (MP 409.3), View Pink Beds (MP 410.3), The Cradle of Forestry Overlook (MP 411.0) and 9 more
  • 6car parks within 3 km
  • 51campsites within 10 kmThompson Creek Camp Site, WF-3, Shining Rock Campground and 48 more
  • 4places to stay within 10 kmPisgah Inn, Springdale Country Club, Hampton and 1 more
  • named and notable trees within 6 km
  • picnic sites within 4 km
  • shelters and huts within 6 km
  • visitor centres within 6 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 Pisgah 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.

Peakyas232 mountains within 25 km
Shining Rock1,841 m · 6.3 kmCold Mountain1,838 m · 7.9 kmMount Pisgah1,744 m · 8.0 kmBlack Balsam Knob1,894 m · 8.2 kmDevil's Courthouse1,744 m · 11 kmTanasee Bald1,695 m · 14 kmRichland Balsam1,954 m · 18 kmChestnut Mountain918 m · 23 km
Lakeyas1 lakes within 15 km
Lake Logan0.3 km² · 14 km
Darkskyas1 dark-sky places within 30 km
Pisgah Astronomical Research InstituteBortle 4 · 19 km
Viewyas1 viewpoints within 15 kmComing soon
Looking Glass Rock Overlook5.3 km
Cascadyas7 waterfalls within 15 km
Log Hollow Falls4.3 kmSliding Rock5.5 kmMoore Cove Falls5.6 kmLooking Glass Falls18 m · 7.4 kmSlick Rock Falls7.4 kmCedar Rock Falls9.1 kmCourthouse Falls13 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.

Pisgah National Forest (creek running across Farlow Gap Trail)
LithiumFlash · CC BY-SA 4.0
Pisgah National Forest (icicles)
LithiumFlash · CC BY-SA 4.0
170729-fs-pisgah-lsc-0021 23641763968 o (26802371548)
USDAgov · Public domain

Other forests nearby.

Pisgah National Forest

United States

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

Nantahala National Forest

United States · 71 km

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

See the guide

Cherokee National Forest

United States · 61 km

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

See the guide

Chattahoochee–Oconee National Forest

United States · 137 km

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

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q1817477) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species49,581 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, Darkskyas, Viewyas, 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