Spruce Knob
A hike in Monogahanela National Forest
A beautiful meadow in Spruceknob which looked very fascinating after the rains.
The Spruce Knob is the highest peak in West Virigina and it is located inside Monogahanela National Forest. The Spruce Knob peak can be reached in car and one can enjoy the breathtaking view from the top. But what is there to reach a peak without some hard trekking ? So we decided to hike to the Spruce Knob via Huckleberry Trail and then enjoy the view from above. Only because we took that trail, we experienced the real jungle effect in Monogahanela.
We visited the Spruce Knob in rainy season, so we packed all our rain gears for this travel. Less did we know that if you get caught in heavy rain in dense jungle no gear is any useful. We had printed the trail maps but relied on Google Maps to reach the start of the trail. The Verizon connection didn’t work well once we entered West Virginia, so we got lost few times. Finally after some twists and turns we reached the start of the trail and it started drizzling. It was still dark outside, so we chose to wait in the car till some light comes. Soon Sun started coming out and we enthusiastically started our hike.
We loved the smell and feel of these Spruce trees. So we really enjoyed walking amidst these tall trees.
This is a 11.4 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail, so we quickened our pace at the start when we were energetic. Sunlight didn’t creep in through the tall trees , hence birding activities were not yet started. Except for the burble of the stream running along the trail, the forest was still. There was bushwhacking for the first mile and the trail was minimally marked. So if we don’t keep an eye for the marker we could miss it. It started raining again and we were tromping through mud in few places. There were few violas, geraniums and may apples in bloom on the trail edges. We didn’t pause anywhere and continued our walk till we reached the Seneca Creek. There was a small beautiful waterfalls and it looked like some place which we see only in wallpapers. We enjoyed watching the waterfalls while munching the lemon cake we brought.
If this Seneca Creek Waterfalls was in India, people would be standing in queue for taking bath. So in this case I really enjoy the waterfalls which is not disturbed in anyway. One can just sit and enjoy the serenity of this place.
We wanted to reach the first open meadow as soon as possible so that we could witness some birding activity. So we were about to start our hike when one guy ran towards us hurriedly. He started talking in Tamil (Our mother tongue) and told that he started his trek from uphill Spruce Knob to downhill Seneca Creek the previous day. The guy camped out at night but he didn’t set his tent in right location. So the rain water flooded his tent and all his stuffs got wet including the trail map. Now he was not confident on tracing back the way he came with his heavy backpack. We invited him to join with us in hiking and we continued our walk with the new guy. The ground was quite soggy and Vinod was searching for amphibians. Soon he spotted a salamander near a rock crevice. I was searching for frogs in a puddle of water nearby and I saw something blue moving in the water. I was gawking at the creature and called Vinod excitedly to show my spotting of the day. He as usual knew the blue guy as “Electric Blue Cray Fish” which looked so bright in that muddy trail.
This Electric blue crayfish was really very striking on that muddy forest floor. We were very surprised to see a crayfish in this trail.
Our fellow hiker didn’t share our excitement in the spotting of the blue guy. I don’t blame him as he was very tired and just wished to get back to his car. So we told him to continue his walk while we enjoyed watching the crayfish. We stopped frequently to check wildflowers that were bloom on the trail edges. After few miles hike we reached the open meadow. The place was really lovely and we saw few butterflies & birds.
Pearl crescent butterfly is found in all parts of the United States except the west coast. The underside of the hindwing has a dark marginal patch containing a light-colored crescent, hence the name.
We had our lunch in the meadow and the backpack guy also relaxed for a bit. After the meadow, the terrain changed as we started climbing altitude. Slowly pine trees started emerging and the forest floor was covered with mushrooms, mosses and lichens.It started raining again and we rushed to reach the peak. Soon we reached the rugged alpine peak and the place was fully covered in mist. We decided to wait in the Spruce Knob Tower till the mist clears. The backpack guy chose to leave as he had enough of this weather. We bid him farewell and stayed in the observation tower.
Isn’t this view breathtaking? Even after the tiring trek we felt very relaxed on seeing this beautiful view.
It looked like the weather purposely wanted to irritate the first time lone hiker because once he left , the mist cleared and the weather stayed perfect till we left the forest next day. The view from Spruce Knob was spectacular like we expected. The grassy openings , pastures , forested ridges and one-sided red spruce was the scenery as far as the eye can see. The One-sided red spruce was deformed by constant exposure to strong westerly winds.
Megacyllene robiniae-Locust borer is a species of longhorn beetle that is endemic to eastern North America.
Blueberry and huckleberry plants were everywhere. We enjoyed the beautiful view for sometime , then went to search for campground nearby. We found a perfect campsite and setup our tent quickly. We found a vantage point to watch Sunset but it was a cloudy sunset, so no colorful sky. We had some light dinner and slept early as we were dead tired.
Next day early morning we found another vantage point for Sunrise. We enjoyed the sunrise and did the half-mile Whispering Spruce Trail. I really loved walking on the graveled trail while enjoying the panoramic views.
Dicentra eximia-Bleeding heart is an oddly shaped flower native to the Appalachian Mountains. I am very glad to see this flower in Spruceknob.
All the trees and wildflowers looked so beautiful with dewdrops on them. Few warblers started jumping around on the pine trees. Vinod chased behind the birds while I just sat and enjoyed the serenity around me. Slowly tourists started coming and everyone seemed to be enjoying the weather. We packed our stuffs , then went to another beautiful spot.
The place was a grass meadow with huge boulders everywhere. We climbed on those rocks to enjoy the view. In one of the rocks we saw a Carolina chickadee hopping around.
The Carolina Chickadee looks much similar with Black-capped Chickadee. They may interbreed with black-capped chickadees where the ranges overlap, which can make identification difficult.
We had to start our hike downhill but we didn’t have the mind to leave this amazing place. So we spent few more hours watching butterflies and wildflowers in that location. There were plenty of pretty pink fireweeds and the mountain slopes looked more beautiful with those flowers. Finally we bid farewell to this amazing Spruce Knob and started our hike back to the car.
Chamaenerion angustifolium -fireweed, Bears and elks are known to favor the plant as food. So even though they are weeds which colonize an area quickly after fire, they are not very harmful like other weeds.
We didn’t stop much in our downhill hike, so we reached our car sooner than we expected. The previous day we had noted few flower buds adjacent to the car. We eagerly went to check the flowers and few flowers in the inflorescence had opened little. Later we came to know they were Stiff Gentians and they open only little even in full bloom.
Gentiana quinquefolia-Stiff Gentian is really one of the most beautiful flowers we had ever seen in North America.
We had covered only a very small portion of Monagahanela forest in this trip. So we decided to come back next time to visit other areas in Monagahanela National Park and started our long journey back to home.