Town Creek, like so many other small streams, is cut deeply into Sand Mountain, a large table mountain with steeply sloping edges. Downriver the small stream is extremely widened by the dammed Tennessee River into which it flows. Its banks harbor many interesting plants, including R. canescens and R. arborescens. A larger population of R. catawbiense f. insularis thrives on an island in the river. It can only be reached by balancing or crawling over the trunk of a fortunately fallen tree, that can even be seen clearly on satellite pictures. However, this species is not only found near the river, but also high up on the steep slopes leading down from the plateau of Sand Mountain.
