Yup, soon after the Alleghanian Orogeny formed them, the Appalachians rivaled today's Himalayas in terms of elevation and prominence. Fast forward a couple hundred million years, and they're but a shadow of their former selves. But their rocks now form the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain clastic wedges as well as the offshore Continental Shelf!
Our original goal was Hanging Rock Peak, immediately adjacent to Grandfather Mountain. But with the trail including a couple of miles of exposed ridgeline roller-coastering over bedrock outcrops covered with 3-5" of fresh overnight powder, and the aforementioned daytime high and winds, we decided to to keep it local. We hiked into the northern section of Cone Park from our vacation home which abuts that +3,000 acre portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway NP. All of us had recently summited Calloway Peak on Grandfather so were not tempted to see how close to zero the high would be at 6,000' that day, nor what the bottom portion of the jet stream would provide in terms of windspeed.
And now, back to the young and vigorous mountains of eastern California, still within their orogenic processes, and the Ski3Pin's search for something or another!
Foy
