High Knob
| High Knob | |
|---|---|
High Knob Tower
|
|
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 4,223 ft (1,287 m) |
| Prominence | 2,043 ft (623 m) |
| Coordinates | 36°53′33″N 82°37′47″W / 36.8925993°N 82.6296015°WCoordinates: 36°53′33″N 82°37′47″W / 36.8925993°N 82.6296015°W |
| Geography | |
| Location | Wise County, Virginia, U.S. |
| Parent range | Cumberland Mountains |
| Topo map | USGS Norton |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Hike, or drive from Route 619 to near the summit |
High Knob is the peak of Stone Mountain, that forms part of the border between Scott County and Wise County, Virginia near the city of Norton that rises to 4,223 feet ( 1,287 meters ) above mean sea level.
High Knob is found on the western front range of the Appalachian Mountains, along the mountainous southeastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau of Southwest Virginia. It is unique to Virginia in containing both Appalachian Plateau and Ridge and Valley topography; although, it is largely a karstic landform of the Ridge and Valley Province.
High Knob stretches across portions of southern Wise County, northern Scott County, and the northeastern tip of Lee County. It is one of the most significant physical features in Virginia and is among the widest singular mountains in the southern Appalachians, being locally greater than 13 miles ( 21 km ) wide from base to base and more than 26 miles (42 km) long. It represents the "pivot point" of the Cumberland Mountain Overthrust Block. (first described in notable detail during the 1920s and 1930s by geologists Charles Butts and John Rich).
Although some 1,000 to 1,500 feet (300 to 450 m) lower in elevation than the Mount Rogers highcountry to the east (Mount Rogers is the highest peak in Virginia), the terrain surrounding the High Knob of Stone Mountain forms a true highcountry with respect to the western slopes of the Appalachians in Virginia (i.e., the Cumberland Mountains).
The High Knob area of Stone Mountain forms one of the greatest natural areas in the eastern United States. Today its calcareous heart has been breached by massive erosion to expose an ecologically renowned karst landscape which stretches from the Powell Valley area of Wise County, southwest across the Powell River Valley of Lee County to the Norris Lake of Tennessee. Drainage from High Knob has also formed hydrologically complex conduit systems which have directly led to formation of the magnificent Natural Tunnel and Rye Cove Karst Basin of Scott County, where endemic species such as the Rye Cove Isopod are found.
...
Wikipedia