Spruce Mountain (West Virginia)
Spruce Mountain, located in eastern West Virginia, is the highest ridge of the Allegheny Mountains. The whale-backed ridge extends for only 16 miles (26 km) from northeast to southwest, but several of its peaks exceed 4,500 feet (1,400 m) in elevation. The summit, Spruce Knob, is the highest Allegheny Mountain point both in the state and the entire range, which spans four states.
Spruce Mountain (in the distance) beyond the River Knobs (Judy Rocks, foreground) and the Fore Knobs (middle distance)
Boulders on the summit
The lookout tower atop Spruce Knob
Windswept spruce
The Allegheny Mountain Range, informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less developed eras. The Allegheny Mountains have a northeast–southwest orientation, running for about 300 miles (480 km) from north-central Pennsylvania, southward through western Maryland and eastern West Virginia.
View from atop Spruce Mountain in eastern West Virginia, the highest point in the Alleghenies
North Fork Mountain, West Virginia, looking south
Blue Knob, the most northern 3,000 footer in the Allegheny Mountain Range.
The Homestead, Hot Springs, Virginia, has catered to spa enthusiasts since 1766.