BRASSTOWN BALD

View of observation tower of Brasstown Bald from parking area

BRASSTOWN BALD & OBSERVATION TOWER

CHATTAHOOCHEE NATIONAL FOREST

Brasstown Bald; Chattahoochee National Forest:  GEORGIA: Towns Co. & Union Co. Two interesting web sites on Brasstown Bald are: http://georgiamagazine.com/outdoors/mountain/brasstown/index.htm and http://ngeorgia.com/travel/brasstown.html

Person to contact regarding insect collecting permits: Cindy Wentworth; Ecologist/Botanist; Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests; USDA-FS; P.O. Box 9; Blairsville, GA  30514; (706) 745-6928 [current as of May 2000]

Elevation: 4784 feet (highest point in Georgia).  Location of summit: 34°54'82"N; 83°47'14"W

Collection date & weather conditions: This site was visited on May 24, 2000.  Collections were undertaken from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.  The weather was very overcast and periods of sunlight generally lasted less than 5 minutes at a time.  It was also very windy on the observation tower and cool.

Description of summit:  The observation tower, and associated building complex, covers the summit. This complex was not present when Dodge collected here in 1952.  The summit and the observation tower are handicap accessible.   Apparently, a bus is available during the summer to take people from the parking area up to the summit observation tower.  When we were there, the park had not yet opened for the summer season and we took a paved trail up to the top.  It was about 1/2 mile long and quite steep.  The hike to the summit took about 1/2 hour.  It was difficult to find flies, but I think that was mainly because of how cloudy it was.  When the sun came out, flies were collected along the walls of the general observation area, on the side and front of the sub-building that housed the elevator, and on the split-rail fence at the handicapped parking area.

Observation tower & associated complex at summit of Brasstown Bald

Dodge's description of the site in 1952:  Mount Enotah, or Brasstown Bald as it is more commonly known, is the highest point in Georgia with an elevation of 4,782 feet.  It is located on the Towns and Union Countly line.  Its slopes, too, are forested, but the grassy and bushy summit is somewhat larger than that of Rabun Bald.

Specimens collected: Here is a listing of the species that I collected and that Dodge notes as being collected at Brasstown Bald.  Unfortunately, he does not list the species by site in his paper on "Sarcophagidae and other Diptera taken by trap and net on Georgia mountain summits in 1952", but he does note locality information in his paper on "A new sarcophagid genus with descriptions of fifteen new species (Diptera)".  

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