Big Mountain is the high point on the

Tuscarora Mountain Tuscarora Mountain is a mountain ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in the Ridge and Valley province in central Pennsylvania. It reaches its highest point on Big Mountain (Pennsylvania) at above sea level. The mountain is named after the Tuscaro ...

ridge in south central

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in the United States. The summit is located in the

Buchanan State Forest Buchanan State Forest is a Pennsylvania State Forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #2. The main office is located in McConnellsburg in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The forest also includes tracts in Frankli ...

and offers a viewshed that is one of the more stunning in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

Tuscarora Formation The Silurian Tuscarora Formation — also known as Tuscarora Sandstone or Tuscarora Quartzite — is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, USA. Description The Tuscarora is a thin- to thick-bedded fine-gr ...

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

of the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

Age underlies the summit; it is this weather resistant rock which gives Big Mountain its high

prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

. Big Mountain has the largest vertical rise in the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

, with over an 1800' difference between summit and the creek valley below on the east side of the mountain. Big Mountain and the rest of the Tuscarora Ridge has abundant wildlife.

Black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

, a variety of bird species and its most notorious resident the

timber rattlesnake The timber rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake, or banded rattlesnake (''Crotalus horridus'') Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of ...

can be found while hiking on the ridge. The

Tuscarora Trail The Tuscarora Trail is a hiking trail in the eastern United States, following the Appalachian Mountains through portions of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Its route is roughly parallel to, and to the west of, the Appalachia ...

passes along the ridge and over the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

, the nearby

Cowans Gap State Park Cowans Gap State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Todd Township, Fulton County and Metal Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is largely surrounded by Buchanan State Forest in Allens Valley just off Penn ...

offers a variety of campsites, swimming, boating and hiking trails centered on a lake.

Gallery

Image:Winter view.jpg, View from summit of Big Mountain, looking east towards

Parnell Knob Parnell Knob is a mountain in the Ridge and Valley Appalachians region of south central Pennsylvania. This knob rises above the village of St. Thomas, where Front Mountain and Broad mountain come together. It is a feature sculptured by the hard ...

and the "Great Valley" Image:2img025 edited.jpg, View looking north up the Path Valley Image:2img026 edited.jpg, View looking towards Kittatinny Mountain and

Clarks Knob Clarks Knob is a summit in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It is the highest point on Blue Mountain, the eastern front range of Pennsylvania's Ridge and Valley Appalachians region. Geography Clarks Knob's northeast-southwest running summit ridg ...

Image:Big Mountain1.jpg, Big Mountain Summit as seen from Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania. Image:Big mountain 2.jpg, Looking north from summit. Cove Mountain is to the left and

to the right. Image:Big mountain 3.jpg, Shadow of Big Mountain cast on Kittatinny Mountain to the east. Image:BigMountainSummit.jpg, Summit of Big Mountain as seen from the Path Valley.

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control Mountains of Pennsylvania Landforms of Franklin County, Pennsylvania Landforms of Fulton County, Pennsylvania

Gallery

Further reading

References

External links