After moving from North Carolina to Virginia a couple of decades ago, Don suffered from
mild confusion. It wasn't a big deal, but at
times he'd experience a nagging wonder about where the Blue Ridge
Mountains began and the Appalachian Mountains ended, or vice versa.
The names seemed to be interchangeable.
Well, duh, there's a good reason: In this part of the world, the names are interchangeable.
After intense research (an hour or so with a computer search engine), he learned that the Appalachian Mountains, which stretch northeastward some 1,500 miles from Birmingham in central Alabama, USA, to the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, Canada, were created about 250 million years ago. This was the result of a violent collision between huge plates that formed the earth's crust. This tremendous impact caused slabs of crust to be piled up like a wrinkled throw rug. This event, thought to have occurred near the end of the Paleozoic Era, was the geological foundation of the Appalachians.
The Blue Ridge Mountains, on the other hand, are only one of several mountain ranges that, collectively, form the Appalachian Mountains. The Blue Ridge runs from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia.
Some interesting facts that surfaced during our search include the following. (Be aware that, as in almost every aspect of science, there may well be conflicting theories and opinions among experts, a segment of the population of which we are definitely not members):
- Most rocks that form the Blue Ridge Mountains are ancient granitic and metamorphosed volcanic formations, some exceeding one billion years in age. By comparison, humans have been associated with this land only about 9,000 years.
- We can brag that the Appalachian Mountains once may have been higher than the Rockies or the Alps, but weather and erosion have worn them down. Nevertheless, Mount Mitchell near Ashville, N.C., rises to 6,684 feet making it the highest peak east of the Mississippi River.
- In Virginia, the Blue Ridge has the state's oldest rock and highest peaks with the highest being Mount Rogers in Grayson County at 5,729 feet.
- The Blue Ridge Parkway winds 469 miles from the Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
- The geological history of the mountains is a determining factor in the flora (plant life) and fauna (animal life) in the park. They can be affected by the direction a ridge may be facing, the elevation, soil type and exposure to the elements.
- The eastern edge of the Blue Ridge is consistently more rugged and steep than the western edge due to the direction of uplift when the mountains were created. As a result, the eastern slopes have more rugged river drainage as seen at Linville Gorge (Mile Post 316) and Rock Castle Gorge (MP 169)
- Shenandoah National Park shares its name with the Shenandoah Valley that lies between the Blue Ridge on the east and the Massanutten Mountains on the west.
- Skyland Drive, a 105-mile road winds along the crest of the mountains through the length of the park, offers more than 500 miles of trails, including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
- The Blue Ridge Parkway lives up to its name between Rockfish Gap (Mile Post 0) to North Carolina's Mount Mitchell State Park (MP 355) where it follows the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At Mount Mitchell, however, the Parkway veers to the west through the Black Mountains and into the Craggies before descending toward Ashville, N.C. The Parkway then climbs to elevations above 6,000 feet in the Balsam Mountains before entering the Great Smoky Mountain National Park near Cherokee, N.C.
- Some geologists believe the Blue Ridge Mountains are still growing. A U.S. Geological Survey geologist, David Powell, maintains that the mountains are rising a little over 100 feet every million years, enough to offset natural erosion. He has been quoted as saying the mountains "should have eroded away 100 million years ago." Stay tuned.
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