Rays Hill is a mountain

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

in Pennsylvania's

Ridge and Valley Appalachians The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending ...

region. It is bordered to the east by

Sideling Hill Sideling Hill, also Side Long Hill, is a long, steep, narrow mountain ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley (or Allegheny Mountains) physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains, located in Washington County in western Maryland and adjacent West ...

. About halfway along its run, the west side of Rays Hill ties into

Broad Top Broad Top is a plateau located in south-central Pennsylvania. It extends into Huntingdon County to the north, Fulton County to the southeast, and Bedford County to the southwest. It is bounded to the west by Saxton Mountain and Terrace Mountai ...

Mountain, a large plateau. On its west it is bordered by

Tussey Mountain Tussey Mountain is a stratigraphic ridge in central Pennsylvania, United States, trending east of the Bald Eagle, Brush, Dunning and Evitts Mountain ridges. Its southern foot just crosses the Mason–Dixon line near Flintstone, Maryland, run ...

south of Broad Top Mountain and Rocky Ridge north of Broad Top Mountain. The ridge is known both as "Rays" and "Wrays". To the north of Broad Top Mountain it is most often spelled "Wrays" and to the south most often "Rays." The southern section holds the

Rays Hill Tunnel Rays Hill Tunnel is one of three original Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnels which were abandoned (this one in 1968) after two massive realignment projects. The others included the Sideling Hill Tunnel, and farther west, the Laurel Hill Tunnel. Rays ...

, one of the abandoned tunnels of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The northern section holds Wrays Hill Tunnel, one of two on the

East Broad Top Railroad The East Broad Top Railroad (EBT) is a narrow gauge historic and heritage railroad headquartered in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania. Operating from 1871 to 1956, it is one of the nation's oldest and best-preserved narrow-gauge railroads ...

. This mountain ridge forms the boundary between

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

and

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

counties 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, ...

, and also extends northward into

Huntingdon County Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cr ...

. Part of

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 Frankl ...

lies on Rays Hill.

Geology

Rays Hill is held up by the Mississippian

Pocono Formation The Mississippian Pocono Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, in the United States. It is also known as the Pocono Group in Maryland and West Virginia, and the upper part of the Pocono Formation is somet ...

, which dips to the southeast. The Mississippian-Devonian

Rockwell Formation The Rockwell Formation is a late Devonian and early Mississippian mapped bedrock unit in West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, in the United States. Description The Rockwell Formation was described at its type section at Rockwell Run in We ...

and

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

Catskill Formation The Devonian Catskill Formation or the Catskill Clastic wedge is a unit of mostly terrestrial sedimentary rock found in Pennsylvania and New York. Minor marine layers exist in this thick rock unit (up to ). It is equivalent to the Hampshire Form ...

are exposed on the northwest flank of the mountain below the Pocono.

Town Hill Town Hill is a mountain range located in Allegany County, Maryland and Bedford and Fulton Counties in Pennsylvania. Its southern end is 2.25 miles northwest of Kiefer in Allegany County. It trends northeasterly, and ends about 1.5 miles south o ...

, to the west, and Rays Hill form a

syncline In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimpose ...

. Map 61:Atlas of Preliminary Geologic Quadrangle Maps of Pennsylvania
Amaranth, Breezewood, and Mench Quadrangles

References

External links

* Ridges of Pennsylvania Landforms of Fulton County, Pennsylvania Ridges of Bedford County, Pennsylvania Ridges of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania {{FultonCountyPA-geo-stub