I am now in the very midst of that great congregation of hills, comprising all the spurs, branches, knobs and peaks of the great chain which has been called, with a happy attitude, the backbone of America.
James Kirke Paulding wrote this during his Virginia travels in 1816. Any person might think as much when venturing into the Allegheny Mountains today. Bringing order to this landscape is hopeless. The hills are long, straight ridges tending northeast-southwest, divided by deep, narrow valleys, like waves and troughs of the earth’s crust folded and faulted by gigantic continental collisions millions of centuries ago.
Little is consistent about the Valley & Ridge region. Shoulder spurs shoot off in all sorts of directions, appearing as broad buttresses for the many rocky balds and tree-covered knobs. An otherwise straight ridge will warp with S turns, alluding to the powerful, earth-shaping forces that create mountains. Streams cut deep grooves in the mountain slopes, and a trove of plants and trees soak up life from these veins of moisture, giving rise to the Appalachian cove forest, one of Earth’s most diverse ecosystems. Rock slides inhibit forward progress in one direction, while in the other, a sharp-rising ridge presents a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
The Appalachian Mountains, which include the Allegheny chain of Virginia and West Virginia, are among the oldest mountains on the planet. The Southern Appalachians as a whole are considered a biological wonderland. Virginia’s Valley & Ridge region supports that claim with vigor. In Laurel Fork, elements of northern boreal forest inhabit the high-altitude knobs and stream valleys, while miles away, dry forests on lower ridges display the classic oak-hickory forest type. So it is that the hiker passes from dank, moist streambeds to high, exposed cliff-lines to laurel-shrouded mountain slopes in a single day.
Anyone who travels the mountains of Virginia with any regularity is bound, sooner or later, to come upon a spot so special, so utterly beautiful at that moment in time, it brings them to pause. It could be a soaring view, a mist-shrouded wilderness pond or a mountain stream, a swath of pink and white-blooming mountain laurel or a sun-dappled cove cooled by the shade of old-growth hemlock. Wherever, whenever, this spot remains an abiding image long after the hike ends. That is the gift of Virginia’s mountains.
THE HIKES
22. Big Schloss
23. Stephens Trail
24. Fridley Gap
25. Laurel Fork Area
26. Roaring Run/Hoop Hole
HONORABLE MENTIONS
U. Shawl Gap–Massanutten East Trail
V. Massanutten Mountain West/Signal Knob
W. Massanutten Mountain East/Duncan Hollow
X. Wild Oak National Recreation Trail
Y. Shenandoah Mountain Trail/South