Random to see this here, but I like it! I grew up in Western NC on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so I'm a big fan.<p>Max Patch is always a nice day trip, and Black balsam knob is one of my favorite spots period. Fantastic panoramic views, and go in August if you want to take home a bag full of blueberries. The most seasoned hikers will want to follow the Art Loeb trail out to Cold Mountain, and climb the summit. But it's not for the faint of heart! ;)
These are found in the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas, too.<p>For a related bit of obscure US history you can read about the post-civil war vigilante group named after these: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Knobbers" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Knobbers</a>
They are fascinating. I live in Western NC and I've seen many of them. You're climbing up the mountain, nearing the summit, going through the trees and then, pop, the trees are gone leaving only a mystery.
Randomly saw a youtube video on Devil's Gardens in Rainforests, where ants use formic acid to destroy non-symbiotic/competing plants in given areas. Makes me wonder if this could be something similar.
I grew up in the Appalachians of South Carolina and I've visited all over them. I've seen the one mentioned in the article and always wondered why it was like that
Balds are some of America's hidden treasures.<p>Jane Bald through Hump Mountain was my favorite section on the Appalachian Trail, except maybe for a few sections in Maine.
I sought one of these out for the 2017 solar eclipse in North Carolina, but was sorely disappointed when it turned out that while there were no trees, it was covered quite thoroughly in shrubs and you could not see the sky.
Hypothesis: For thousands of years, people burned them periodically, to provide habitat for desired prey, and make it easier to see them. Since then, until recently, people burned them periodically for livestock pasture.<p>Problem: Forest is expected cover, but now you have endangered plant species which have migrated uphill, with global climate change, until there's no uphill left. So restoring forest cover would cause extinctions.
In a similar vein, does anyone in the Bay Area know why the Santa Cruz mountains on the west side of the valley have a bunch of trees, but the mountains on the east side (near Fremont) have no trees and are mostly just grass? I would think the climate and elevation are similar.