The contiguous Cohutta Wilderness and Hemp Top Roadless Area are in the western part of the Blue Ridge physiographic province of northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee (fig. 1). All of the study area is in Georgia except an irregular strip of land about 1 mi at its widest on the northern end of the Cohutta Wilderness in Tennessee. The area of the Cohutta Wilderness is 34,650 acres; that of the Hemp Top Roadless Area is 2,800 acres. The areas are in rugged mountainous terrain- a strongly dissected upland ranging in altitude from about 980 to 4,200 ft above sea level. Local altitude differences of 1,450-2,000 ft and slopes steeper than 25° are common. The north end of the Cohutta Wilderness is about 6 mi south of the Ocoee River gorge, 10 mi west-southwest of the major copper-and sulfur-mining district at Ducktown, Tenn., and approximately 22 mi southeast of Cleveland, Tenn., in Bradley County, west of the area shown in figure 1. The eastern, central, and northwestern parts of the wilderness are drained by Jacks River and it tributaries; the southwestern part, by the Conasauga River and its tributaries; and the Hemp Top Roadless Area, by Tumbling Creek and some of its western tributaries. All drainage ultimately goes to the Ocoee River and from these into the Hiwassee River.
