North Fork Mountain

Last updated

North Fork Mountain
NorthForkMountain.wmg.jpg
North Fork Mountain facing the Tuscarora quartzite cliff to its west
Highest point
PeakKile Knob, Pendleton County, West Virginia, U.S.
Elevation 4,588 ft (1,398 m) [1]
Coordinates 38°36′58″N79°28′55″W / 38.61611°N 79.48194°W / 38.61611; -79.48194
Dimensions
Length34 mi (55 km)
Geography
USA West Virginia relief location map.svg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Location of Pike Knob in West Virginia
CountryUnited States
StateWest Virginia
Counties Grant and Pendleton
Range coordinates 38°40′03″N79°26′16″W / 38.66750°N 79.43778°W / 38.66750; -79.43778
Parent range Allegheny Mountains
Topo map USGS 
  • Upper Tract
  • Moatstown
  • Circleville
  • Franklin
  • Hopeville

North Fork Mountain is a quartzite-capped mountain ridge in the Ridge and Valley physiographic province of the Allegheny Mountains, also known as the High Alleghenies or Potomac Highlands, of eastern West Virginia. [2] Kile Knob, at 4,588 feet (1,398 m), is the mountain's highest point, [1] and Panther Knob and Pike Knob are nearly as high.

Contents

North Fork Mountain is the driest high mountain in the Appalachians, [3] and has vegetation and flora different from nearby, wetter high mountain areas immediately to the west such as Spruce Knob and Dolly Sods, with pines (Pinus) abundant on the mountain's ridgecrest, in contrast with the spruces (Picea) so characteristic of these comparably high summits across the North Fork Valley. [3] [4]

North Fork Mountain is structurally an anticline mountain and a major component of the Wills Mountain Anticline system. The mountain's strata (rock layers) are nearly flat, but the Tuscarora quartzite that forms the mountain's caprock is bent downwards (and now mostly eroded away) east and west of the ridge, becoming nearly vertical along the mountain's slopes, where the same quartzite stratum forms such dramatic outcrops as Seneca Rocks.

Much of the mountain is within the Monongahela National Forest, and a large portion of the mountain has been proposed for federal wilderness designation [5] or inclusion within a new unit of U.S. National Park System. [6] The Nature Conservancy's Panther Knob and Pike Knob preserves are also located on North Fork Mountain. [3]

The scenic North Fork Mountain Trail follows much of the ridge crest, [7] and U.S. Route 33 is the only road that crosses the steep, rugged ridge.

Geography

North Fork Mountain runs roughly northeast to southwest for 34 miles (55 km) throughout Grant and Pendleton Counties in West Virginia. It separates the South Branch of the Potomac River watershed from that of the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River. It also forms the western edge of Smoke Hole Canyon, a portion of the South Branch popular with boaters.

The north end of the mountain arises abruptly along the south side of North Fork Gap, a water gap along the North Fork river and West Virginia Route 28 near Cabins, west of Petersburg. The mountain continues southwest from there to Dry Run Gap in southern Pendleton County. [8]

North Fork Mountain reaches its highest elevation (4,588 feet, or 1,398 m) at Kile Knob. [1] Other notable points along the mountain include Panther Knob at 4,498 feet (1,371 m) [9] and Pike Knob, both having nature preserves owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy.

Today there are no settlements on the mountain itself – except, arguably, Monkeytown on the western slopes. There are however numerous scattered homes and vacation rental cabins on the mountain. Future Generations Graduate School's main campus is located at the top of the ridgeline near U.S. Route 33, the only major road that crosses the mountain.

Climate

Kile Knob (West Virginia), the highest point of North Fork Mountain, has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb). There is no weather station, but this climate table contains interpolated data.

Climate data for Kile Knob 38.6080 N, 79.4863 W, Elevation: 4,314 ft (1,315 m) (1991–2020 normals)
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Average high °F (°C)32.3
(0.2)		34.6
(1.4)		41.8
(5.4)		55.0
(12.8)		63.3
(17.4)		70.1
(21.2)		73.4
(23.0)		72.4
(22.4)		67.7
(19.8)		58.5
(14.7)		45.3
(7.4)		36.6
(2.6)		54.2
(12.4)
Daily mean °F (°C)23.9
(−4.5)		25.9
(−3.4)		32.8
(0.4)		44.5
(6.9)		53.6
(12.0)		61.0
(16.1)		64.7
(18.2)		63.6
(17.6)		58.5
(14.7)		48.3
(9.1)		36.5
(2.5)		28.5
(−1.9)		45.2
(7.3)
Average low °F (°C)15.6
(−9.1)		17.2
(−8.2)		23.7
(−4.6)		34.0
(1.1)		43.9
(6.6)		52.0
(11.1)		55.9
(13.3)		54.8
(12.7)		49.4
(9.7)		38.0
(3.3)		27.8
(−2.3)		20.4
(−6.4)		36.1
(2.3)
Average precipitation inches (mm)3.61
(92)		3.06
(78)		4.05
(103)		3.97
(101)		4.56
(116)		4.70
(119)		4.98
(126)		4.10
(104)		4.00
(102)		3.05
(77)		3.05
(77)		3.62
(92)		46.75
(1,187)
Source: PRISM Climate Group [10]

Geology

North Fork Mountain is part of the Wills Mountain Anticline, [8] a geological structure that extends from Pennsylvania through Maryland and West Virginia into Virginia. The same geologic ridge that forms North Fork Mountain is known as New Creek Mountain north of North Fork Gap. At North Fork's southern end, the ridge fragments into Devils Backbone, Brushy Mountain, and Monterey Mountain, with Snowy Mountain being a minor continuation into Virginia.

Tuscarora quartzite (or sandstone), a layer of erosion-resistant Silurian rock only about 50 feet (15 m) thick, the major ridge-forming stratum in eastern West Virginia, caps most of North Fork Mountain, often as a broad, slightly eastward-tilted slab, forming numerous west-facing cliffs and various larger outcrops such as Chimney Top and Harmon Rocks. Immediately west of the mountain, the same quartzite formation is nearly vertical, along the western limb of the anticline, forming such dramatic outcrops as Seneca Rocks, Champe Rocks, Nelson Rocks, and Judy Rocks. This series of vertical outcrops is part of a formation known as the River Knobs or East Seneca Ridge.

The lower, western slopes of the mountain and the adjacent Germany Valley are underlain by the easily eroded Ordovician-aged New Market Limestone and are penetrated by numerous caves, such as the celebrated Hellhole. Shales occur on some of North Fork Mountain's slopes.

Looking south along North Fork Mountain from Nelson Sods North Fork Mountain - Looking South from Nelson Sods.jpg
Looking south along North Fork Mountain from Nelson Sods

History

Scattered family homesteads existed on the east slope of North Fork Mountain throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. These few early settlers were of English, German or Dutch stock and constituted a community known as "Smoke Hole", named for the gorge to the east of the Mountain. None of these smallholders owned slaves, a fact that determined their Unionist sentiments during the American Civil War and brought them into sometimes violent conflict with surrounding communities during that time. Rohrbaugh Cabin (or Allegheny Cabin), a log cabin built about 1880, still stands on the eastern slope, among various related structures. [11] (It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. [12] ) The steeper western slopes have, with few exceptions, always been uninhabited. Most of the forests on the North Fork Mountain were cut for timber in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[ citation needed ]

Much of North Fork Mountain has been included in the Monongahela National Forest, established in 1911. Panther Knob, near the south end of North Fork Mountain, was first explored botanically by P.A. Rydberg of the New York Botanical Garden in 1926. He was astonished by the similarity of the mountaintop to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, especially the presence of the beach heather (Hudsonia tomentosa). [4] However, his findings were doubted until the mountaintop was revised by a group of botanists in the 1950s. [13] Botanist Paul J. Harmon studied the flora of the entire length of North Fork Mountain's ridgetop, presenting his findings in 1981. [14]

View of the eastward-looking face of the middle section of North Fork Mountain. The valley in the middle distance is Smoke Hole Canyon. Nfm.jpg
View of the eastward-looking face of the middle section of North Fork Mountain. The valley in the middle distance is Smoke Hole Canyon.

In the early 20th century, a local "character" and moonshiner – Cal Nelson – lived on the western slopes of the Mountain. "Nelson Sods" and the "Cal Nelson Trail" (former name of a portion of the North Fork Mountain Trail) are his namesakes. His colorful – sometimes outrageous – story is told in Bardon Shreve's book, A Place Called Smoke Hole. [15]

In March 1930, after an unusually mild and dry winter, an epochal forest fire ravaged North Fork Mountain consuming most of the undergrowth and smaller trees. Fire covered almost the entire Mountain and was only extinguished by rainfall after 11 days. This dramatic event motivated the Forest Service to organize a more effective program of fire suppression on the Mountain: fire wardens were hired, a 90-foot steel fire tower was built on Pike Knob, [16] and surveillance was undertaken 24 hours per day during the fire season. Over the next few years, local men were recruited, even compelled, to form quick-response, fire-fighting teams, but deep resentments were created. Many locals – "Smoke Holers" who lived on the gentler-sloping east side of the Mountain – blamed the Forest Service program for the deterioration in the quality of forage needed by their free-ranging swine and sheep and for the decline in the huckleberry patches. Locals surreptitiously started the next (and last) significant fire on the Mountain in the spring of 1941. Suppression efforts succeeded only after five days of hard work and about ten square miles of woodland were burned. The mostly unemployed local men fighting the fire happily accepted their wages though they all knew the true cause of the conflagration. [17] The foundations of the Pike Knob tower, together with the ruins of the watchman's cabin nearby, can still be seen today. [3]

Beginning in the early 1980s, The Nature Conservancy has become increasingly involved in habitat conservation on North Fork Mountain, working cooperatively with the Forest Service and with various private landowners, as well as establishing preserves on Panther Knob and on Pike Knob. [3]

Ecology

Flora

Nelson Sods North Fork Mountain - Nelson Sods.jpg
Nelson Sods
Pike Knob from the north North Fork Mountain - Pike Knob.jpg
Pike Knob from the north

The forests on North Fork Mountain consists mainly of mixed oaks and other hardwoods, along with mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), flame azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum), and wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens). Pines (Pinus) are frequent along the ridgecrest, especially just back of clifftop openings. Fern beds and various wildflowers are common on the mountain's slopes. The mountain also supports a few high-elevation mountain meadows (sods), such as Nelson Sods near Pike Knob. [3]

The exposed sandstone cliff edges so characteristic of the west side of North Fork Mountain support narrow zones of persistingly open, treeless habitat characterized by several unusual or regionally endemic plant species, including the silvery nailwort (Paronychia argyrocoma) and the white alumroot (Heuchera alba). [4] [14] Chestnut oak (Quercus montana) and Table Mountain pine (Pinus pungens) are often found just back of the cliff edges.

Pine barrens, maintained by frequent fires, cover several peaks; [14] Panther Knob supports the largest pine barren in the Central Appalachians.[ citation needed ] Other rocky summits, including the 4,300-foot (1,300 m) summit of Pike Knob, are blanketed by red pine (Pinus resinosa) forests, [14] here at their southernmost natural occurrences. [4] [18] The Monongahela National Forest has designated 10 acres (40,000 m2) of old growth red pine forest on the mountain as the North Fork Mountain Red Pine Botanical Area. [19]

Another unusual vegetation type on North Fork Mountain is an elfin forest dominated by yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), mountain ash (Sorbus americana), and mountain holly. [3]

The oak-and-pine vegetation of North Fork Mountain contrasts strongly with the more diverse vegetation of the nearby mountains just west of the North Fork River, such as Spruce Mountain and the Allegheny Front, which receive considerably more rainfall. [3] [4] The lower slopes of those mountains are covered by mixed Appalachian hardwood forests dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum), beech (Fagus grandifolia), and yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), with red spruce (Picea rubens) abundant at higher elevations. [4] Fraser magnolia (Magnolia fraseri) occurs on the slopes of the Allegheny Front, becoming abundant westward, but is not known from North Fork Mountain. [4]

The contrast is also great between North Fork Mountain's quartzite-outcrop vegetation and the superficially similar vegetation of the rocky sandstone-conglomerate openings of Spruce Knob, Dolly Sods, and similar sites just west of North Fork Mountain. While North Fork Mountain's lesser rainfall is a substantial factor in this difference, another consideration is the nature of the bedrock itself. North Fork Mountain's fine-grained Tuscarora quartzite erodes into sand, which either quickly disperses or persists in cracks and crevices, sometimes even forming tiny dunelets on wide, nearly flat open outcrops, as on Panther Knob. On the other hand, the various mountains along the Allegheny Front immediately west of North Fork Mountain are capped instead by the coarse Pottsville sandstone conglomerate, which erodes instead primarily into gravel rather than sand. While many widespread Appalachian rock-outcrop species are shared between the two areas, openings on Dolly Sods lack the silvery nailwort, the white alumroot, and table-mountain pine, and instead support a greater species diversity, even including such wetland plants as the small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos).

Bristly rose (Rosa acicularis), has its southernmost known occurrence at Pike Knob on North Fork Mountain Rosa acicularis.jpg
Bristly rose (Rosa acicularis), has its southernmost known occurrence at Pike Knob on North Fork Mountain

Paper birch ( Betula papyrifera ) groves thrive along Little Creek[ citation needed ] and on Pike Knob. [18] This widespread northern tree is quite rare this far south. Other rare plant species on the mountain's slopes include butternut ( Juglans cinerea ) [ citation needed ], Smoke Hole bergamot (Monarda fistulosa var. brevis), Appalachian oak fern ( Gymnocarpium appalachianum ), Allegheny onion ( Allium alleghaniense ), [3] and American chestnut.

Pike Knob supports not only extensive red pine ( Pinus resinosa ) stands but also various Appalachian-endemic species such as rusty woodsia ( Woodsia ilvensis ), [18] as well as boreal species such as the three-toothed cinquefoil ( Sibbaldiopsis tridentata ) [18] and the bristly rose ( Rosa acicularis ), [3] here at its southernmost known stand.

The cliff-skirted 4,508-foot (1,374 m) summit of Panther Knob supports the world's largest population of variable sedge ( Carex polymorpha ),[ citation needed ] a fire-dependent globally vulnerable plant. Beach heather ( Hudsonia tomentosa ), [4] [14] typically found on coastal dunes, and Michaux's saxifrage ( Saxifraga michauxii ), [4] [14] a Southern Appalachian rock-outcrop endemic, also occur there.

Fauna

A "red eft" (juvenile eastern newt) on North Fork Mountain. (Photo taken about 50 m from the Mountain's "Chimney Top" outcropping.) Eastern newt red eft stage Sep 3 2012 North Fork Mountain near Chimney Top.jpg
A "red eft" (juvenile eastern newt) on North Fork Mountain. (Photo taken about 50 m from the Mountain's "Chimney Top" outcropping.)

Wildlife on North Fork Mountain includes whitetail deer, wild turkey, black bear, Coyotes, bobcats, gray foxes, timber rattlesnakes, eastern newts, and a variety of other bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species. [18]

Two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Species of Concern are found on North Fork Mountain, the peregrine falcon and the Allegheny woodrat. Golden eagles are also known there. Various locally abundant but globally rare species of bats that roost in nearby limestone caverns are also often seen foraging over North Fork Mountain's western slopes. The pink-edged sulphur butterfly is known from Panther Knob,[ citation needed ] Its caterpillars feed on the blueberries that thrive atop this knob after fires.[ citation needed ]

Scenery and recreation

Views westward overlooking the North Fork River abound from many of North Fork Mountain's rocky outcrops. Places visible to the west from points on the ridgetop may include the River Knobs (including Seneca Rocks and Champe Rocks), the Germany Valley, the Fore Knobs, Hopeville Gorge, Spruce Mountain and Spruce Knob, and the Allegheny Front.

North Fork Mountain and the River Knobs feature prominently in views from the mountaintops immediately west of the North Fork Valley, including Spruce Knob and Dolly Sods.

Nelson Sods on North Fork Mountain has views of the Roaring Plains, Spruce Mountain, and the North Fork Valley, as well as Shenandoah Mountain to the east. Similar views are also offered by other open summits on the mountain.

State Route 28 follows the North Fork River from North Fork Gap south to Cherry Grove, offering diverse views of the River Knobs and North Fork Mountain to the east and the Fore Knobs, Allegheny Front, and Spruce Mountain to the west.

The Germany Valley Overlook on U.S. 33, on the west side of North Fork Mountain near Judy Gap, offers views of the Germany Valley and North Fork Valley, the River Knobs and the Fore Knobs, Spruce Mountain and Spruce Knob, and the Allegheny Front extending northwards toward Dolly Sods, as well as a view back to the sandstone cliffs along the crest of North Fork Mountain itself.

Panther Knob is easily viewed from the west from Snowy Mountain Road south of Cherry Grove. Other views of Seneca Rocks and North Fork Mountain are offered by U.S. 33 as it descends the Allegheny Front approaching Seneca Rocks, and by SR 28 approaching Cherry Grove from the southwest. North Fork Gap and the eastern sides of North Fork and New Creek mountains may be seen from SR 28 west of Petersburg, with the Dolly Sods portion of the Allegheny Front visible beyond the gap.

The 23.8-mile-long North Fork Mountain Trail (NFMT) follows much of the crest of the northern portion of the mountain. [7] The trail's southern terminus is where U.S. Route 33 crosses the ridge and the northern terminus is on Smoke Hole Road, near the top of the canyon. This trail was called the best trail in West Virginia by Outside magazine. [20] Much of the southern portion of the trail crosses private property. While hiking is generally permitted, hunting and bikes are not. [21]

Variant names

North Fork Mountain is also widely referred to as North Mountain.

River Knobs in West Virginia - Nelson Rocks - 1.jpg
The River Knobs and Nelson Rocks (middle distance) beneath the crest of North Fork Mountain

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allegheny Mountains</span> Mountain range in the northeastern United States

The Allegheny Mountain Range, informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less developed eras. The Allegheny Mountains have a northeast–southwest orientation, running for about 300 miles (480 km) from north-central Pennsylvania, southward through western Maryland and eastern West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monongahela National Forest</span> National forest in West Virginia, United States

The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over 921,000 acres of federally managed land within a 1,700,000 acres proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Region and portions of 10 counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allegheny Front</span> Major escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Front is the major southeast- or east-facing escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains in southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern West Virginia, and western Virginia, USA. The Allegheny Front forms the boundary between the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians to its east and the Appalachian Plateau to its west. The Front is closely associated with the Appalachian Mountains' Eastern Continental Divide, which in this area divides the waters of the Ohio/Mississippi river system, flowing to the Gulf of Mexico, from rivers flowing into Chesapeake Bay and from there into the Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolly Sods Wilderness</span> U.S. wilderness area in West Virginia

The Dolly Sods Wilderness – originally simply Dolly Sods – is a U.S. Wilderness Area in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, US, and is part of the Monongahela National Forest (MNF) of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear Rocks Preserve</span>

Bear Rocks are a widely recognized symbol of West Virginia wilderness and among the most frequently photographed places in the state. They are a well-known landmark on the eastern edge of the plateau that includes the Dolly Sods Wilderness. They sit in a high-elevation heathland punctuated with wind-carved sandstone outcrops and is home to more than a dozen rare plant and animal species. Situated on the crest of the Allegheny Front, Bear Rocks afford vistas over the South Branch Potomac River. Visibility can extend eastward to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seneca Rocks</span> Rock formation in West Virginia, U.S.

Seneca Rocks is a large crag and local landmark in Pendleton County in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, United States. The south peak is the only peak inaccessible except by technical rock climbing techniques on the East Coast of the United States. One of the best-known scenic attractions in West Virginia, the sheer rock faces are a popular challenge for rock climbers.

The Potomac Highlands of West Virginia centers on five West Virginian counties in the upper Potomac River watershed in the western portion of the state's Eastern Panhandle, bordering Maryland and Virginia. Because of geographical proximity, similar topography and landscapes, and shared culture and history, the Potomac Highlands region also includes Pocahontas, Randolph, and Tucker counties, even though they are in the Monongahela River or New River watersheds and not that of the Potomac River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shavers Fork Mountain Complex</span>

Shavers Fork Mountain Complex is the name given to the mountains on either side of Shavers Fork in the highlands portions of Randolph County, Pocahontas County, and Tucker County in West Virginia, USA. Much of the land surrounding the river and its adjacent mountains is protected by Monongahela National Forest including about 20,000 acres (81 km2) of designated wilderness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests</span> Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the United States

The Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests is an ecoregion of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. It consists of mesophytic plants west of the Appalachian Mountains in the Southeastern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area</span>

Spruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area is a national recreation area in the Monongahela National Forest of eastern West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seneca Creek (North Fork South Branch Potomac River tributary)</span> River in West Virginia, United States

Seneca Creek is a 19.6-mile-long (31.5 km) tributary of the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River located entirely within Pendleton County, West Virginia, USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Appalachian–Blue Ridge forests</span> Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the United States

The Appalachian–Blue Ridge forests are an ecoregion in the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome, in the Eastern United States. The ecoregion is located in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains, including the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It covers an area of about 61,500 square miles (159,000 km2) in: northeast Alabama and Georgia, northwest South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and central West Virginia and Pennsylvania; and small extensions into Kentucky, New Jersey, and New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuscarora Sandstone</span> Bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, US

The Silurian Tuscarora Formation — also known as Tuscarora Sandstone or Tuscarora Quartzite — is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Back Allegheny Mountain</span>

Back Allegheny Mountain is a long mountain ridge in eastern West Virginia. It is part of the Shavers Fork Mountain Complex in the Allegheny Range of the Appalachians.

For other "River Knobs", see River Knobs (disambiguation).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shavers Mountain</span>

Shavers Mountain, is a high and rugged ridge situated in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia. It is about 35 miles (56 km) long, north to south, and several of its peaks exceed 4,000 feet (1,200 m) in elevation. Shavers Mountain is notable for being "bookended", at its northern and southern ends, by two exceptional natural areas: the Otter Creek Wilderness and the Gaudineer Scenic Area, respectively, both of which preserve small stands of old growth forest on the mountain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoke Hole Canyon</span> Gorge in the United States

Smoke Hole Canyon — traditionally called The Smoke Holes and later simply Smoke Hole — is a rugged 20 miles (32 km) long gorge carved by the South Branch Potomac River in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, United States. The area is rather isolated and remote with parts accessible only by boat or on foot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 33 in West Virginia</span>

U.S. Route 33 (US 33) in the U.S. state of West Virginia extends 248 miles (399 km) from the Ohio River at Ravenswood to the Virginia state line atop Shenandoah Mountain west of Harrisonburg, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spruce Mountain (West Virginia)</span> Highest point in the state of West Virginia

Spruce Mountain, located in eastern West Virginia, is the highest ridge of the Allegheny Mountains. The whale-backed ridge extends for only 16 miles (26 km) from northeast to southwest, but several of its peaks exceed 4,500 feet (1,400 m) in elevation. The summit, Spruce Knob, is the highest Allegheny Mountain point both in the state and the entire range, which spans four states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Appalachian bogs</span> Ecosystems in the Appalachian Mountains

Appalachian bogs are boreal or hemiboreal ecosystems, which occur in many places in the Appalachian Mountains, particularly the Allegheny and Blue Ridge subranges. Though popularly called bogs, many of them are technically fens.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "West Virginia Summits". PeakList.org. Archived from the original on 24 December 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  2. ↑ "North Fork Mountain". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "North Fork Mountain: Pike Knob and Panther Knob Preserves". Where we work. The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Strausbaugh, P.D. & E.L. Core (1978). Flora of West Virginia (Second ed.). Morgantown,West Virginia: Seneca Books, Inc. pp. xl + 1079.
  5. ↑ "North Fork Mountain Wilderness Area (Proposed)" (PDF). West Virginia Wilderness Coalition. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  6. ↑ Manchin (U.S. Senator), Joe III (26 July 2011). Letter to Jerry Payne, Ripley, West Virginia. Washington, D.C.: Reprinted in the newsletter of the Friends of the Blackwater Canyon (September 2011 issue, page 10).
  7. 1 2 de Hart, Allen and Bruce Sundquist (2006), Monongahela National Forest Hiking Guide, 8th edition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Charleston, West Virginia, pp 127-130.
  8. 1 2 Taylor, John Craft (2006). "North Fork Mountain". West Virginia Encyclopedia, The. Charleston, West Virginia: West Virginia Humanities Council. ISBN   0-9778498-0-5.
  9. ↑ "Panther Knob". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 27 June 1980. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  10. ↑ "PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University". PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University. Retrieved 24 October 2023. To find the table data on the PRISM website, start by clicking Coordinates (under Location); copy Latitude and Longitude figures from top of table; click Zoom to location; click Precipitation, Minimum temp, Mean temp, Maximum temp; click 30-year normals, 1991-2020; click 800m; click Retrieve Time Series button.
  11. ↑ C. Richard Bierce (January 1993). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Rohrbaugh Cabin" (PDF). State of West Virginia, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Historic Preservation. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  12. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. 13 March 2009.
  13. ↑ Core, Earl L. (1952). "Botanizing on Panther Knob, West Virginia". Wild Flower. 28: 35–38.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Harmon, Paul J. (1981). Ridge Top Flora of North Fork Mountain, Grant and Pendleton Counties, West Virginia (MS Thesis). Carbondale: University of Illinois.
  15. ↑ Shreve, D. Bardon, with Estyl C. Shreve (1997), A Place Called Smoke Hole, Fredericksburg, Virginia: Fredericksburg Press, pp 149-173.
  16. ↑ West Virginia Writer's Project (1941), West Virginia: A Guide to the Mountain State, New York: Oxford University Press, pg 347. Sponsored by the Conservation Commission of West Virginia.
  17. ↑ Shreve (1997), Op. cit., pp 189-199.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 The Nature Conservancy (n.d.). Pike Knob Preserve, Central Appalachians. The Nature Conservancy. p. 2.
  19. ↑ Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (September 2006), Monongahela National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan Archived 13 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine ; Chapter III, pp 46 and 62.
  20. ↑ Outside, April 1996 issue.
  21. ↑ Adkins, Leonard M. (3 June 2013). Explorer's Guide 50 Hikes in West Virginia: Walks, Hikes, and Backpacks from the Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio River (Second ed.). The Countryman Press. ISBN   978-1-58157-174-5.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.