Smoke Hole Canyon
| Smoke Hole Canyon | |
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View of Smoke Hole Canyon from atop Cave Mountain. Visible are the South Branch Potomac River and the Big Bend (bottom), as well as Castle Rock and North Fork Gap (distance).
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 Smoke Hole Canyon
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| Floor elevation | 1,100 feet (300 m) |
| Long-axis length | 20.7 miles (33.3 km) |
| Geography | |
| Coordinates | 38°51′35″N 79°17′04″W / 38.85965°N 79.28445°WCoordinates: 38°51′35″N 79°17′04″W / 38.85965°N 79.28445°W |
| Watercourses | South Branch Potomac River |
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.
Defined to the east by Cave Mountain and to the west by North Fork Mountain, Smoke Hole has been part of the Monongahela National Forest's Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area since 1965, although some of it is still private land. Formerly, the area was home to a scattered community of family homesteads, storied for their isolation, traditional lifestyles, and skilled production of the illicit liquor known as "moonshine". Today, The Nature Conservancy considers Smoke Hole and the surrounding mountains to be "one of the most biologically rich places in the East", especially as regards its rare plant communities. It included the Canyon as part of the greater Smoke Hole-North Mountain Bioreserve during its "Last Great Places" campaign.
Smoke Hole is situated in southern Grant and northern Pendleton Counties. It is defined by North Fork Mountain to the west and Cave Mountain to the east. At places the Canyon is over 1,000 feet (300 m) deep with nearly vertical walls. (The riverbed is at about 1,100 feet (340 m) above sea level and the summit of Cave Mountain is 2,470 feet (750 m).) Spectacular views of the Canyon can be had along the 24-mile (39 km) long North Fork Mountain Trail to the west where sods and cedar barrens can be visited. Caves are common in the Canyon slopes. Some are home to the endangered Virginia big-eared bat and are therefore closed to visitors during critical nesting or hibernation periods
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