Ed Collins, Vivian Abney and Bob Stelloh visited the Curtis Creek area on 7/6/02. This is a botanically diverse area just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, reached via Forest Service Road 482 to the south at BRP milepost 347.6. The area is known for Turkey Beard, Ginger, Trillium, Galax, Trailing Arbutus and Ground Pine, as well as Fraser Magnolia, Carolina Hemlock and many other native plants.

Most importantly, it is the home of the well-known "red max" - a single plant of Rhododendron maximum with deep bluish red flowers and stems, and reddish outlines along the leaf midribs. It has been known for years, and was visited by Joseph Gable and other notables in the mid-1940s. This plant is probably a seedling or shoot of the now-dead original. It is several inches in diameter at the base, about 10' high by 7' wide, growing at an angle. In 1995 the Forest Service cut down a large hemlock shading it, at the request of Ed Collins, and the plant now appears healthy. Seed from the plant has been distributed world-wide for years, and some of the seedlings may have the same characteristics as the parent.

While it is an easy quarter-mile hike to the red max from the trail head, there is no path to it and no easy way to describe its location. The best way to find it is to be part of a hike led by someone who has been there before, such as Bob Stelloh. Expect to go in mid-June to early-July see it in flower (this trip was about a week past peak bloom), and sometime in the fall to collect seed.