THIS LAND 



Short Horse Mountain, part oi Massanutten Mountain, looking south from Storybook Trail 



Virginia Is for Hikers 



Massanutten Mountain has forest trails, streams, 

 shale barrens, a muskeg, and spectacular views. 



By Robert H. Mohlenbrock 



The Appalachian Mountains, 

 which extend 1 ,600 miles 

 from Quebec's Gaspe 

 Peninsula to the coastal plain of 

 Alabama, embrace several ranges 

 that roughly parallel the Atlantic 

 coast of North America. In Virginia 

 three main swaths of mountains are 

 distinguished: the Allegheny Moun- 

 tains in the west, the Blue Ridge 

 Mountains to their east, and a com- 

 bination of mountains and major 

 river valleys in between. 



One of the "in between" moun- 

 tains is Massanutten, comprising two 

 parallel ridges that extend fifty miles, 

 from near Harrisonburg in the 

 southwest to near Strasburg in the 

 northeast. Rising to nearly 3,000 

 feet, the mountain is heavily forest- 

 ed: dry forest covers the crests, and 

 moist forest is found in the riparian, 



Mountain laurel blooms on Massanutten 

 Mountain in early May. 



or streamside, zones. Most of Massa- 

 nutten Mountain lies within George 

 Washington National Forest, which 

 maintains forest roads and trails. A 

 visitor center along U.S. Highway 

 211, where it crosses the mountain 



east of New Market, is open from 

 mid-April through October. 



Massanutten Mountain is formed 

 from layers of sedimentary rock — 

 shale, sandstone, limestone, and 

 more shale — that was deposited by 

 shallow coastal seas. When the Ap- 

 palachian Mountains arose, between 

 480 million and 300 million years 

 ago, those layers were folded into a 

 U-shape, creating the two parallel 

 ridges visible today. The Storybook 

 Trail, a short hiking trail off Forest 

 Development Road 274 (Crisman 

 Hollow Road), about two miles 

 north of the visitor center, offers 

 several displays depicting the moun- 

 tain geology. The trail ends at a 

 spectacular overlook. 



Among the trails that originate at 

 the visitor center are Discovery Way 

 and Wildflower Trail, both short, 

 and Bird Knob Loop Trail and Wa- 

 terfall Mountain Loop Trail, each 

 more than eight miles long. For the 

 ambitious backpacker, the seventy- 

 one-mile-long Massanutten Nation- 

 al Recreation Trail is accessible from 

 many points along its way. The trail 



56 



NATURAL HISTORY May 2006 



