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Blue Ridge Mountain | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 2,388 ft (728 m) [1] |
Geography | |
Location | Virginia, West Virginia |
Parent range | Blue Ridge Mountains |
Climbing | |
Easiest route | Hike |
Blue Ridge Mountain, also known as Blue Mountain, is the colloquial name of the westernmost ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Virginia and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. The Appalachian Trail traverses the entire length of the mountain along its western slope and crest.
The mountain extends from the Potomac River in the north to Linden Gap in the south. Along this section of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountain comprises the sole ridge of the chain in the immediate vicinity and contains few spur ridges or peaks. The notable exceptions are the Bull Run and Catoctin mountains, which lie approximately 20 miles (32 km) to the east across the Loudoun Valley, and Short Hill Mountain, located 4 miles (6 km) to the east, which runs parallel to the Blue Ridge for 12 miles (19 km) near its northern terminus. To the west of the mountain is the lower Shenandoah Valley.
Blue Ridge Mountain is noticeably lower in elevation than other sections of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The southern section of the mountain contains the highest peaks, and the ridge gradually loses elevation as it gets closer to the Potomac. Elevations in the gaps are typically around 1,000 feet (300 m), while peaks range from 1,200 to 2,300 feet (370 to 700 m). Across the Potomac the ridge continues as Elk Ridge in Maryland.
The mountain's ridgecrest forms the border between several counties, with Loudoun County and Fauquier County, both in Virginia, to the east, and Jefferson County, West Virginia, Clarke County, Virginia, and Warren County, Virginia to the west.
Blue Ridge Mountain consists mostly of anticlinal Catoctin Greenstone and is not underlain by Old Rag Granite, as is the Blue Ridge south of Manassas Gap. This is why the mountain is more ridgelike and less rugged than sections to the south. The greenstone was deposited during the Catoctin Formation and uplifted during the Alleghenian Orogeny.
Blue Ridge Mountain contains several national, state, regional and private parks that offer recreational opportunities on the mountain including:
North to south:
North to south:
Hillsboro is a rural town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. The population was 114 at the 2020 census.
Leesburg is a town in and the county seat of Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. It is part of both the Northern Virginia region of the state and the Washington metropolitan area, including Washington, D.C., the nation's capital.
The Southwest Mountains of Virginia are a mountain range centered on Charlottesville, parallel to and geologically associated with the Blue Ridge Mountains, which lie about 30 miles (50 km) to the west. The range is breached by the Rivanna River between Monticello and Pantops Mountain. Some of the more prominent peaks include Carters Mountain, Fan Mountain, Brush Mountain, Peters Mountain, Walton's Mountain, and Hightop Mountain.
Catoctin Mountain, along with the geologically associated Bull Run Mountains, forms the easternmost mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are in turn a part of the Appalachian Mountains range. The ridge runs northeast–southwest for about 50 miles (80 km) departing from South Mountain near Emmitsburg, Maryland, and running south past Leesburg, Virginia, where it disappears into the Piedmont in a series of low-lying hills near New Baltimore, Virginia. The ridge forms the eastern rampart of the Loudoun and Middletown valleys.
The Bull Run Mountains are a mountain range of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia in the United States. Located approximately 20 miles (32 km) east of the main chain, across the Loudoun Valley. The Bull Run Mountains, together with Catoctin Mountain in Virginia and Maryland, make up the easternmost front of the Blue Ridge.
Rockfish Gap is a wind gap located in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlottesville and Waynesboro, Virginia, United States, through Afton Mountain, which is frequently used to refer to the gap.
Catoctin Creek is a 14.1-mile-long (22.7 km) tributary of the Potomac River in Loudoun County, Virginia, with a watershed of 59,000 acres (240 km2). Agricultural lands make up 67 percent and forests 30 percent of Catoctin Creek's watershed. It is the main drainage system for the northern Loudoun Valley, including all of the Catoctin Valley.
The Loudoun Valley is a small, but historically significant valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains located in Loudoun County in Northern Virginia in the United States.
Goose Creek is a 53.9-mile-long (86.7 km) tributary of the Potomac River in Fauquier and Loudoun Counties in Northern Virginia. It comprises the principal drainage system for the Loudoun Valley.
Short Hill Mountain is a mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest Loudoun County, Virginia.
Between the Hills is a small valley in northwest Loudoun County, Virginia, distinct from, but associated with, the greater Loudoun Valley.
North Mountain is a mountain ridge within the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia.
Loudoun County, Virginia, was destined to be an area of significant military activity during the American Civil War. Located on Virginia's northern frontier, the Potomac River, Loudoun County became a borderland after Virginia's secession from the Union in early 1861. Loudoun County's numerous Potomac bridges, ferries and fords made it an ideal location for the Union and Confederate armies to cross into and out of Virginia. Likewise, the county's several gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains that connected the Piedmont to the Shenandoah Valley and Winchester were of considerable strategic importance. The opposing armies would traverse the county several times throughout the war leading to several small battles, most notably the Battle of Ball's Bluff.
South Mountain is the northern extension of the Blue Ridge Mountain range into Maryland and Pennsylvania. From the Potomac River near Knoxville, Maryland in the south to Dillsburg, Pennsylvania in York County, Pennsylvania in the north, the 70-mile-long (110 km) range separates the Hagerstown and Cumberland valleys from the Piedmont regions of the two states.
Virginia State Route 9 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Charles Town Pike, the state highway runs 13.08 miles (21.05 km) from the West Virginia state line near Mechanicsville, where the highway continues west as West Virginia Route 9, east to SR 7 and SR 7 Business in Paeonian Springs. SR 9 is the main east–west highway of northwestern Loudoun County, connecting Leesburg with Hillsboro and the West Virginia cities of Charles Town and Martinsburg. As a result, the state highway and its West Virginia continuation are a major commuter route between the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Furnace Mountain is the tallest peak of Catoctin Mountain in Loudoun County, Virginia. It rises steeply from the southern banks of the Potomac River across from Point of Rocks, Maryland and continues southward for 1 mile (1.6 km), reaching an elevation of 891 feet (272 m) before falling to a gap between it and an unnamed peak of 800 feet (240 m). Its name arises from the iron furnaces located at its base, which operated from the 1790s to the 1870s. The furnaces were used to process iron ore mined from the mountain, much of which was used to build the burgeoning city of Washington D.C.
The Loudoun Branch of the Manassas Gap Railroad was a planned branch extension of the Manassas Gap Railroad that was to connect the Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) to Harpers Ferry and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
The Catoctin Valley is a small valley, geographically and culturally associated with the larger Loudoun Valley in Loudoun County, Virginia.
Humpback Rocks is a massive greenstone outcropping near the peak of Humpback Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Augusta County and Nelson County, Virginia, United States, with a summit elevation of 3,080 feet (940 m). The rock formation is so named for the visual effect of a "hump" it creates on the western face of the mountain.