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King of the mountain

At Mount Rogers, Virginia's highest point, elevation and climate make for a unique environment

By LAURA MOYER

Date published: 10/26/2009

THE TOP OF VIRGINIA

To get here on foot, you climb four hours through boulder-dotted meadows and hardwood forests until, at last, you enter an environment unfamiliar to lowland dwellers.

The 700-acre cap of this mountain is a blustery place on an overcast fall afternoon. It's the domain of red spruce, Fraser firs, rhododendrons, ferns and moss, jutting boulders and thick black boot-sucking mud.

On this day the rare creatures that dwell at Virginia's highest levels are neither seen nor heard--not the Northern flying squirrels or the Weller's salamanders or the cold-adapted insects or the elusive spruce-fir moss spider.

But visible or not to the casual hiker, these unusual species are here. To understand why, it helps to know how this mountain came to exist.

FIRE AND ICE

Roughly 760 million years ago and several thousand miles away, intense heat bubbled deep under the Earth's surface. It stretched and cracked the Earth's crust, and erupted in profuse lava flows that cooled into chunks of volcanic rock.

As land masses broke apart and drifted, that rock came to rest far from its origin.

Several million years later, glaciers and lakes formed and carried a layer of much smaller rocks to the area where the big rocks lay. Many ice ages after that, all that rock began to take the shapes we know today, in three Southwest Virginia peaks connected by a series of ridges: Mount Rogers, Whitetop Mountain and Pine Mountain.

As the latest ice age ended about 10,000 years ago, cold-loving plant and animal species moved upward to survive.

And today, scientists describe Virginia's highest places as "islands" of survival for plants and animals more typical of the northern United States and Canada.

A LONG CLIMB

The shortest, allegedly easiest hike to the top of Mount Rogers is a nine-mile round trip that begins at Massie Gap in Grayson Highlands State Park.

The trail climbs 1,500 feet over 4 miles, offering a close-up look at several distinctive landscapes.

Until the 20th century, this land was densely forested with American chestnut trees. But after blight killed the last of those chestnuts and loggers hauled away the wood, the area became parkland--a highland gem whose craggy boulders offered spectacular views of 70 miles or more.

WHAT: Mount Rogers summit, Virginia's highest point, elevation 5,729 WHERE: Grayson County, about a 300-mile drive southwest of Fredericksburg. HOW: The mountain itself is in George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, but a popular access point is through Grayson Highlands State Park. Take the park road to the Massie Gap parking area. On foot, follow posted signs to the Appalachian Trail, then follow the AT's white blazes to a spur trail that leads to the summit. Return to the parking area the way you came. It's about a nine-mile round trip. Accommodations: Camping is allowed in the state park and at points near the Appalachian Trail. The nearby towns of Damascus, Troutdale and Independence also have motels or inns. OTHER TIPS: There's a fee to enter the state park, but there's no cost to use the trails. Wild ponies graze throughout Grayson Highlands, and visitors are asked not to feed them. Temperatures can vary widely, so hikers should dress in layers. Sturdy hiking boots are a must. Natural Virginia is an occasional series about the outdoors. Send story ideas to lmoyer@freelance star.com or call 540/ 374-5417.

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Date published: 10/26/2009