Spruce Mountain (West Virginia)


Spruce Mountain, in eastern West Virginia, USA, is the highest ridge of the Allegheny Mountains. The "whale-backed" ridge extends for only about, from northeast to southwest, but several of its peaks exceed in elevation. The summit, Spruce Knob, is celebrated as the highest point in the state as well as the range, which covers parts of four states.

Geography

Spruce Mountain lies mostly within the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area, a U.S. National Recreation Area located within the Monongahela National Forest in Pendleton County. It extends from the vicinity of Onego in the north to near Cherry Grove in the south. Brushy Run separates Timber Ridge — a spur of the main mountain — to the east. The ridgelines of Spruce Mountain and Timber Ridge continue to the north of US Route 33 as Hoffman Ridge and Smith Mountain, respectively. To the south the line continues as Big Mountain.
Prominent peaks of Spruce Mountain, north to south, are: Horse Rock, Spruce Mountain Peak, Picea Benchmark, and Spruce Knob itself. Spruce Knob is the highest point in the eastern United States between the Adirondacks of New York and Mount Rogers in southern Virginia.

Ecology

Flora

As with almost the entirety of the MNF, most of the original Spruce Mountain upland forest was completely denuded by logging around the turn of the 20th century and now consists of second- or third-growth forest. The present second-growth forest of Spruce Mountain is characterized by a dominance of sugar maple, American beech, and yellow birch. Other characteristic species of the mixed mesophytic forest region are also present: tuliptree, basswood, chestnut, yellow buckeye, red oak, white oak, and eastern hemlock. The upper reaches of Spruce Mountain also include areas termed northern hardwood and northern evergreen forest types. The former is typified by red oak, white ash, basswood, red maple, and cherry. The latter is dominated by the Mountain's eponymous red spruce. While not extending above the timberline, the stunted tree growth high on this windy mountaintop is relatively open.

Fauna

The important presence of ruffed grouse on the Mountain has been acknowledged by the establishment of the Spruce Mountain Grouse Management Area by the MNF

Recreation

Hiking trails — Huckleberry Trail, Lumberjack Trail, Spruce Mountain Trail — extend the length of the ridge. There are over 75 miles of trails around the Mountain and a small 25 acre lake well stocked with trout on the west side. There are also two campgrounds on the Mountain; the larger is nearest the lake.

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