North Fork Mountain:
Little Creek, Pike Knob, and Panther Knob Preserves
A beautiful high elevation landscape of cliffs and forests

© Steve Shaluta

Learn more about the Smoke Hole/North Fork Mountain project with the Online Field Guide.

Why You Should Visit
Atop what is the driest high mountain in the Appalachians, one encounters natural communities and species seldom seen elsewhere, amid scenery Backpacker magazine has described as among the Best in the East.  Storm systems arriving from the Midwest have dropped most of their precipitation on the mountains immediately to the west, leaving North Fork Mountain's crest susceptible to drought and fire.  Pine barrens, formed by frequent fires, clothe several peaks, and the southernmost native red pine forests clothe others.  Trails lead to the 4300-foot summit of Pike Knob where red pines live with both Appalachian-restricted species and with boreal species such as the southernmost colony of bristly rose.  A mountaintop meadow, Nelson Sods, offers spectacular vistas of Shenandoah Mountain, Spruce Mountain, Roaring Plains, and the North Fork Valley.  No trails lead to the cliff-lined 4500-foot summit of Panther Knob, where the largest pine barren in the Central Appalachians occurs, supporting the largest population left on Earth for variable sedge, a globally vulnerable plant dependent upon fire.  Beach heather, typically found on coastal dunes, occurs here, along with the pink-edged sulfur, a boreal butterfly whose larvae feed on the blueberries that thrive after fires.  Along Little Creek occur groves of paper birch, a northern tree that is quite rare this far South.

Location:  West of Franklin, WV

How to Prepare for Your Visit

• Be alert. Venomous snakes are occasionally seen at our preserves.  Watch where you step, sit, or place hands. Remember, they are fully protected on Nature Conservancy Preserves. 
• Rocky slopes and cliffs are dangerous. Rock climbing and hang gliding are prohibited.
• Weather changes can occur quickly at high elevations.  Always be prepared for cold and wet weather.
• Bring plenty of drinking water, sun protection (sunscreen, hat, sunglasses), rain gear, and bug protection. Binoculars, field guides, and a camera may be useful. 
• Pets are not allowed on Conservancy preserves or field trips. 
• Smoking is not permitted. 
• Please do not remove any plants, animals, or rocks. 
• Wear socks and closed-toe shoes. Wearing light colors will help you spot and remove ticks.

Please help us maintain this unique natural environment by taking home everything that you bring, including biodegradable materials.

For more information, please contact the West Virginia Chapter office at (304) 637-0160.

Tick and Mosquito Alert
Ticks are relatively rare above 3500 feet, but caution is still prudent.  When you get home, plan to drop your clothing directly in the laundry and do a tick check before you shower. Deer ticks, the type that carry lyme disease, are about the size of a pinhead and tend to attach in hair, under ears, underarms, trunk of the body, groin, and backs of the knees. Remove them by gently pulling with tweezers and wipe the skin near the bite with a mild disinfectant. If, within 7-10 days after exposure, you experience a rash (especially an expanding "bull's eye" rash), chills, fever, headache, stiff neck, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes and/or aching joints and muscles, contact your doctor.  You can find more information on lyme disease at www.lyme.org or www.aldf.com, or by calling the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at (404) 332-4555.

Hours
Only the Pike Knob Preserve is currently open to the public.  The preserve is open year-round during daylight hours.  Little Creek and Panther Knob are open for scientific research and guided tours only.

Directions
From Franklin:

• Take US 33 west for 4.5 miles. 
• After Friends Run Church of the Brethren, take first road to left
• At 0.2 mile, take first road to  right.  (This is the old Franklin-Circleville Pike.)  The road conditions slowly deteriorate as you climb the mountain; after about two miles it becomes too rough for a passenger car.  We recommend pulling off (without blocking the road or a private side road) and hike on up the road.  A high clearance vehicle can go about another half mile; we recommend against driving beyond that distance.  At this point, the preserve boundary is on the right.  As you hike uphill, the old road goes onto national forest land.  
• Hiking the road, you will reach the top of the mountain in a gap.  Take the old Jeep trail to the right, which continues to climb uphill, leading to the summit of Pike Knob, where there is a small clearing  in which a firetower once stood.  The ruins of the watchman's cabin remain. 
• To reach Nelson Sods, walk north from the knob along a path that will first lead into a small mountain top meadow with red pines and nice views to the northeast.  Follow the path through the meadow and to the Sods, a much larger meadow with nearly 360-degree views.

What to See: Plants and Animals
At Pike Knob, the southernmost stands of native red pine are easily seen at the summit at the Preserve and on adjacent US Forest Service property.  Also on the summit, rocky outcrops are home to the Appalachian-restricted Appalachian oak fern, Allegheny onion, and white alumroot, and the northern three-toothed cinquefoil.  Appalachian cottontails live in scrub oak and mountain laurel thickets.  Deer, bobcat, and black bear also live here. Ravens and high elevation nesting birds are often seen. From mid-October through April golden eagles are often seen soaring along the mountain.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
North Fork Mountain is part of the Smoke Hole/North Fork Mountain Landscape, identified by The Nature Conservancy and its partners as one of the most ecologically and biologically significant areas in the Central Appalachian Forest Ecoregion.  The mountain supports the largest fire-maintained dwarf pine Woodland in the Central Appalachians, the southernmost native red pine forests, the ecoregion's highest quality yellow birch-mountain-ash-mountain holly elfin woodland, highest quality natural grass bald remaining in West Virginia, a large relatively unfragmented block of acidic oak forest, and a diversity of other natural communities including virgin red spruce forests.  The mountain is especially rich in its mixture of Eastern, Appalachian, and boreal plants and animals.  It supports the largest global population of the fire-dependent variable sedge (Carex polymorpha), a large population of the globally rare white alumroot (Heuchera alba), which is known only from a few counties in West Virginia and Virginia, multiple populations of the globally uncommon Appalachian oak fern (Gymnocarpium appalachianum) and Allegheny onion (Allium allegheniense), several boreal species at the southern limit of their ranges, and many other state rare species of plants and invertebrates.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing

• The Conservancy owns or manages 1600 acres at Pike Knob and has acquired for the Monongahela National Forest an adjoining 2000 acres.  The Conservancy owns or manages 2500 acres at Panther Knob and 420 acres at Little Creek. (Lands the Conservancy manages, but does not own, are privately owned properties which the Conservancy permanently has protected with conservation easements.)
• The Conservancy is providing conservation and ecological management expertise to private land owners and public land managers.
• The Conservancy is controlling non-native, invasive weeds at Pike Knob and undertaking or supporting ecological research at all preserves. 
• The Conservancy is studying the historic and ecological roles of fire at Panther and Pike Knobs.