NATURE NOTE – Number 53 September 28, 2022
Introduction: Since our council is called the Blue Ridge Mountains Council, and since mountains are part of nature, maybe we should explore …
Our Current Topic: The Blue Ridge Mountains
Before we do this, let’s look at the larger picture. Geologists divide Virginia into five physiographic parts, called provinces. The first, to our east, is the Coastal Plain, characterized by flat, lowland that runs from the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay westward to the “Fall Line”. The Fall Line is the point along the state’s east-flowing rivers where water navigation into the interior had to stop years ago due to low waterfalls. The cities of Alexandria, Richmond, and others grew up at these choke points. The second physiographic province, the Piedmont, starts at the Fall Line, and extends from North Carolina to Maryland and west to the eastern side of the third physiographic province, the Blue Ridge which we will discuss below. Within the Piedmont are the areas of Lynchburg, Danville, Rocky Mount and Martinsville. This is a mostly flat region with some rolling hills. Moving west from the Blue Ridge, we find the fourth province, the Valley and Ridge. This somewhat narrow area is made up of a series of parallel mountains and valleys running southwest to northeast from East Tennessee into West Virginia just west of Maryland. The last physiographic province is the Appalachian Plateau to the west of the Valley and Ridge. It includes most of West Virginia and far Southwest Virginia.
The main feature of the Blue Ridge Province is the Blue Ridge Mountains that run from North Carolina northeast to Pennsylvania. Mount Mitchell and the Great Smokies are part of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the south. At the upper end of the Blue Ridge Mountains, north of Roanoke, there is a rather distinct range of mountains, parallel and east of Interstate 81 that is traversed along its crest by the Blue Ridge Parkway, and further north by the Skyland Drive. The Shenandoah Valley parallels this mountain ridge to the west. In the Roanoke area, things start to get a little more confusing as to mountain direction and uniformity. The Roanoke Valley is wide, but is pinched by the Blue Ridge Mountains at Villamont along U.S. 460 to the east and by Purgatory Mountain (part of the Blue Ridge Mountains) along I-81 north of Buchannan. West of Salem (Elevation 1100’), the valley narrows and starts a rather sharp ascent up what is commonly referred to as Christiansburg Mountain. Have you ever noticed that you don’t go down the other side of the mountain when you pass Christiansburg (Elevation 2130’) on I-81 or US 460? That’s because you are on the large Upland Plateau of the Blue Ridge Province. You go down off of that plateau many miles later if you take I-77 South, and descend steeply down through Fancy Gap into North Carolina. Cutting north across this Plateau is the New River. One of the world’s oldest rivers (the name is a little confusing), it flows into West Virginia and later to the Mississippi River. Many folks are surprised to learn that the New River’s waters flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Our scout reservation (Camp Powhatan’s elevation is 2100’) sets on this plateau, just south of the New River, surrounded by higher sandstone-capped mountains that have resisted millions of years of erosion. Today, those mountains such as High Knoll (Elevation 3260’) and others overlook the streams and valleys below. Another key feature of the Blue Ridge is the escarpment on the east side that separates it from the Piedmont. The best visual of this feature is experienced by going down (south) Fancy gap Mountain on I-77. Be careful – this is not a good place to be looking out the window - but off to your west (right) is a mountain side. To the east (left), about 1700 feet below, is a view into the Piedmont of North Carolina. This escarpment is all along the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains as it drops into the Piedmont, but is much less noticeable in many places. Some pull-offs on the east side of the Blue Ridge Parkway provide good views of this and allow you to see into Virginia’s Piedmont.
Our council covers Craig, Giles, Pulaski and Wythe counties. This is where you can get a good look at the Valley and Ridge Province. Three routes, State Route 311 west out of Roanoke, US 460 west out of Blacksburg, and I-77 north out of Wytheville demonstrate how you cross over one tall mountain followed by a parallel one and then another one. These mountains include Catawba (2370’), Potts (3800’), Sinking Creek (3600’), Big Walker (3400’), and East River Mountains (4360’), all with narrow valleys in between.
Now, a historical note about the Piedmont region and local scouting. At one time, the appropriately named Piedmont Area Council encompassed an area from Bedford to Appomattox and south to Danville. When it merged with the old Blue Ridge Council in 1972, the new name, the Blue Ridge Mountains Council, was a physiographic stretch. Maybe those in the most western side of the Piedmont, such as Bedford (Elevation 1000’), could look west and at least see the Peaks of Otter (4000’), but the old Piedmont council was not really in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Opportunities:
I have avoided how these Blue Ridge Mountains were formed millions of years ago by the collision of tectonic plates, resulting faults and folds, and how sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock are all jumbled up in a complex landscape that still provides mysteries for future geologists. Maybe a later NATURE NOTE will address this. Some of this is probably a bit much for young scouts, but having adults around these scouts that have some idea of how all of this fits together is valuable for explaining a lot of what they may see throughout the council area. It can also tie into map reading by finding some of these geological features on a map and seeing how they match what is described above. An excellent reference that discusses all of this, plus other information on the area is Guide to the Geology and Natural History of the Blue Ridge Mountains, by Edgar W. Spencer. So grab your maps and start looking at what’s around you – the Blue Ridge Mountains. For those in the Piedmont, look far to your west.
Thanks for reading NATURE NOTES. I hope they help connect scouts to nature. Contact me at
Bob Garst
