EPIC 100: The Bucket List
Welcome to the Shenandoah Valley's ultimate travel bucket list. See the categories, meet the winners, and get ready for adventure!
Compton Peak Columnar Jointing
Along the Appalachian Trail through Shenandoah National Park is Compton Peak. The hike is a little more than two miles long round trip from the Compton Gap Parking Area at mile 10.4. Moderate in difficulty, the hike is well worth the effort to see the geologic feature called columnar jointing.
Columnar jointing looks like stone polygon pillars welded together. The formations tend to be found near volcanic activity, though there has been no such activity in the Shenandoah Valley since, well, millions and millions of years ago. According to the Virginia Department of Energy, “… the most recent eruptions were 47 million years ago (Middle Eocene) and the nearest active volcano is over a thousand miles away.” That being said, the department does acknowledge “… Virginia hosts the youngest known volcanic rocks in the eastern U.S., and both ancient and active geothermal springs occur in Highland, Bath, Augusta, and Rockingham counties,” all of which are part of the Shenandoah Valley.
The United States Geological Survey guides, “when lava contracts and cools in certain conditions, it can form polygonal cracks, which look like honeycomb from above,” and suggests the Appalachian Trail is certainly a central place to find such a geologic feature.
Location
Shenandoah National Park
Skyline Drive
Compton Gap Parking Area, Mile 10.4
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