Shavers Fork Mountain Complex is the name given to the mountains on either side of Shavers Fork in the highlands portions of Randolph County, Pocahontas County, and Tucker County in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, USA. Much of the land surrounding the river and its adjacent mountains is protected by Monongahela National Forest including about of designated wilderness.

Mountains

Cheat Mountain

Cheat Mountain follows the western side of Shavers Fork from Thorny Flat in Pocahontas County north to near Parsons in Tucker County. This ridge separates the Shavers Fork valley from the Tygart Valley River valley. Its high point is at Thorny Flat. Another notable point is where the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike (present-day U.S. Route 250) crosses Cheat Mountain at White Top. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, it was home to the highest

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

fortification of the war.

Shavers and Back Allegheny Mountains

Shavers Mountain and Back Allegheny Mountain are part of the same structural

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 ...

that follows the eastern edge of Shavers Fork from Pocahontas County into Tucker County. North of U.S. Route 250, the ridge is known as Shavers Mountain; south, it is Back Allegheny Mountain. This ridge separates the Shavers Fork watershed, which eventually flows to the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-c ...

, from the

Greenbrier River The Greenbrier River is a tributary of the New River, long,McNeel, William P. "Greenbrier River." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. 2006. . in southeastern West Virgin ...

watershed, which eventually enters the

Kanawha River The Kanawha River ( ) is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi (156 km) long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, its valley has been a significant industrial region of the st ...

. One notable high point on Back Allegheny Mountain is

Bald Knob Bald Knob is the highest summit of Back Allegheny Mountain in Pocahontas County, West Virginia and is part of Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. At an altitude of above sea level, Bald Knob is the third-highest point in West Virginia and the All ...

, one of the highest points in the state. Just north of US 250 on Shavers Mountain is

Gaudineer Knob Gaudineer Knob is a mountain summit on the Randolph/ Pocahontas County line in eastern West Virginia, USA. It is the highest elevation (4,449 ft/1,356 m) of Shavers Mountain, a ridge of the Alleghenies, and is located about east of Cheat ...

, which provides scenic overviews of much of the Shavers Fork Mountain Complex. It is also home to the

Gaudineer Scenic Area The Gaudineer Scenic Area (GSA) is a scenic area and National Natural Landmark in the Monongahela National Forest (MNF). It is situated just north of Gaudineer Knob of Shavers Mountain on the border of Randolph and Pocahontas Counties, West Vir ...

, a protected stand of

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfam ...

trees.

Other mountains

Several other neighboring mountains are frequently considered to be part of the Shavers Fork Mountain Complex. * Bickle Knob * McGowan Mountain * Elk Mountain * Middle Mountain

History

Much of the Shavers Fork area was heavily timbered in the early 20th century after the Western Maryland Railway and Durbin subdivision of the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

opened, providing economic transport. By the 1930s, much of the land was completely denuded. This led to devastating floods and fires of the remaining trees. In the 1930s,

reforestation Reforestation (occasionally, reafforestation) is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands ( forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, but also after clearcutting. Management A de ...

of the land began in ernest through

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a ...

projects of the Monongahela National Forest.

Climate

The mountains in this area, particularly the Cheat and Back Allegheny, are notorious for their bad weather, especially in winter. Both record lows and record snowfall for the state of West Virginia have occurred here. Terrible storms and bitter cold are the norm from November to April, although it has been known to snow on the highest summits as early as mid-September and as late as June 7. Freezing temperatures and frost have occurred during every month and rime ice accumulations are common above . As a rule of thumb, "if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes and it will change."

References

{{Mountains of West Virginia Mountains of West Virginia Allegheny Mountains Monongahela National Forest Protected areas of Randolph County, West Virginia Protected areas of Pocahontas County, West Virginia Protected areas of Tucker County, West Virginia Civilian Conservation Corps in West Virginia Mountains of Randolph County, West Virginia Mountains of Pocahontas County, West Virginia Landforms of Tucker County, West Virginia