The road over the dam is now closed, or was in 1989. The first mile and a quarter to Shuckstack is pavement with no appreciable elevation change. Sparse rhododendron blossoms along the road here. The next couple or three miles was moderate hiking at a slow pace. Hardwood dominates the lower elevations. Many pretty wildflowers, of which I am ignorant, adorned the path at middle and upper elevations. As we reached higher elevation, hardwood yielded somewhat to the laurel, flame azaleas and such. We saw a variety of oaks, maples and hickories with dogwood and sassafras also very abundant. Poplar, chestnut, blueberry, elm, birch, sourwood, black locust, ash and redbud were also notable. The last half mile was quite steep, but the hike is not as grueling as most report it to be. The fire tower is a welcome reward. The view is splendid. WATCH YOUR HEAD!!! We were both walloped more than once by the pugnacious steel beams. Bees are abundant and pounce hungrily upon packed lunches. But they will rarely sting the calm hiker. The fauna noted on our trip (aside from the bees) was three lizards, (two grey, one orange and brown) two non-poisonous snakes of unknown species, many swallowtail butterflies and squirrels. The view of the lake is gorgeous.
Our trip up Shuckstack was in the second week of June. White rhododendron was sparse along the paved roadside, azaleas occasional at elevation. We made the nine mile round trip in five hours at a leisurely pace. It was all in all an average hike with a superb firetower view. But I wager that the fall colors would be awesome.