Tag: 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 4,842 feet (1,476 m) above sea level, Bald Knob is the third-highest point in West Virginia and also the third highest point in the Allegheny Mountains.
The mountaintop can be reached by hiking but is more commonly reached by riding the Cass Scenic Railroad, which transports visitors via old logging railroads to a 4,770 feet (1,450 m) sub-peak approximately 1/4 mile north of Bald Knob. Its lofty elevation (only 21 feet (6.4 m) lower than the highest point in the Alleghenies, Spruce Knob), gives Bald Knob a unique hemiboreal ecosystem. While the lower and middle elevations of the mountain are populated by oak, hickory, birch, beech and maple, the summit dome is dominated by red spruce. Rowan, eastern hemlock, and balsam fir also occur above 4,000 feet (1,200 m), though they are not as common as the spruce. The region was…