Maintop Mountain is a
mountain in
Nelson County,
Virginia. The mountain is a peak on a spur off the main
Blue Ridge Mountains, about 2 miles (3 km) east of
Elk Pond Mountain, and about 3.5 miles (5.5 km) west of
The Priest. The mountain is located in the
George Washington National Forest.
Maintop Mountain stands within the
watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
of the
Tye River, which drains into the
James River
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...
. The northwest side of Maintop Mountain drains into Mill Creek, thence into the South Fork of the Tye River. The northeast side of the mountain drains into the Maidenhead Branch of the South Fork. The southeast side drains into Shoe Creek, thence into the
Piney River and the Tye River. The southwest side drains into the Louisa Spring Branch of the North Fork of the Piney River.
The
Appalachian Trail, a 2,170-mile (3,500-km)
National Scenic Trail from
Georgia to
Maine, currently runs across the summit of Maintop Mountain. After a trail relocation scheduled to start in May 2009, the AT will follow a less steep route and pass below the summit.
Maintop is a popular local destination because of the view from Spy Rock, a spur located about a quarter mile from the summit. Spy Rock can be reached by a steep mile and a half hike from a state fish hatchery in
Montebello, Virginia[Appalachian Trail Conference,''Appalachian Trail Guide: Central Virginia'', First Edition, revised. Harper's Ferry, WV: 2001]
Notes
External links
*
PeakBagger.com: Maintop Mountain
Mountains of Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains
Mountains of Nelson County, Virginia
Mountains on the Appalachian Trail
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