Loading conditions…
Loading conditions…
800–1,900 ft · TN🚗 Directions
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area straddling the TN-KY line on the northern Cumberland Plateau. Sandstone gorges, natural arches, and mixed mesophytic forest in the deep coves. Tulip poplar, sugar maple, white oak, beech, and basswood with hemlock declining in the cool ravines. Spring morels in cove forests and old farm flats; chanterelles, black trumpets, and chicken in summer; hen-of-the-woods and lion's mane on big oaks and beeches in fall.
Updated May 29, 4:23 AM MT
Big South Fork is firing on all cylinders right now—S-tier conditions with zero limiting factors. Soil temp at 72°F combined with sustained moisture (3.7" in both the 7- and 14-day windows) has triggered a broad fruiting window across both wood-decayers and ground-fruiting species. Wine Caps, Dryad's Saddle, and all your jelly fungi (Witch's Butter, Jelly Ear, Wood Ear) are actively fruiting; the polypores and conks are pushing hard too. There's literally no weather headwind here—this is peak spring-into-early-summer conditions. Watch the next 5–7 days for drying; this tier will hold as long as the moisture stays above that 0.27 VWC threshold, which means any rain event resets the clock favorably. The morels might be fading fast at this elevation and date, but everything woody-substrate is still prime. **Hot tip:** Hit the half-free morels in shaded ravine mouths *today*—you're probably on the tail end of that window at 72°F soil.
Generated by Claude (Anthropic) from the structured weather, soil, and phenology data on this page. The LLM can misread edge cases — treat this as a starting hypothesis, not a guarantee. Always verify conditions on the ground before committing to a long drive.
Precip 7d
Log your find on iNaturalist to help the community and get expert ID assistance. Photos, location, and habitat notes all help with identification.
No campgrounds within 10 mi. Try widening the radius.
⚠ Road Access Notice
Always verify road access is public before following GPS directions to mountain areas. Many forest roads are seasonal, gated, or require 4WD. Dispersed camping follows USFS/BLM rules (typically 14-day limit). Check ranger district offices for current road and campground conditions.
3.70"
PRISM 4km · thru 05-27
Precip 14d
Observed precipitation from PRISM 4km gridded analysis, sampled at the region centroid through 2026-05-27. Used when no SNOTEL/SCAN station is mapped to this region.3.70"
PRISM 4km · thru 05-27
Soil Temp
72°F
SWE
Snow Water Equivalent — how much water is in the snowpack vs. normal. Declining SWE means snowmelt is adding moisture to the soil.0%
Drought
None
Snowmelt
complete
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
All conditions met (soil 72°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.27 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)
Primordia readiness: Cold = mycelium dormant. Activating = soil warming, primordia building. Primed = 5+ sustained warm days at species threshold; fruiting imminent if moisture cooperates. Based on Schmidt 1983 / Mihail 2007.