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Uwharrie National Forest
North Carolina
Some 500 million years ago, the Uwharrie Mountains emerged from the soils of North Carolina's central piedmont, making them the oldest mountain range in North America. While the dinosaurs that roamed those 20,000-foot summits are long since extinct, the Uwharries yet remain, though somewhat diminished in stature. The same forces of erosion that wore the Appalachians down from their former Rocky-Mountain-like heights also took their toll on the Uwharries, which now top out at around 1,000 feet.
The entire Uwharrie, prior to becoming a national forest, was cleared for timber and farming. Today you'll find young second- and third-growth mixed forests have grown up to provide new habitat for wildlife eradicated by earlier development. The Uwharrie also boasts more archaeological sites per acre than any other forest in the southeast. The Birkhead Mountains Wilderness in the north is an exception: Still blanketed by old-growth hardwoods, this area was less affected by development and looks to stay that way.
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[from Outside magazine]
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