High Knob Recreational Lake

High Knob Recreation Lake
36,888522, -82.614175
Norton, Virginia 24273

Drinking water available
Bath houses have hot showers and flush toilets

$3 per vehicle day use area fee. $10 per camp site per night. Group camp site $25 per night.

High Knob Lake Recreation & Special Biological Area sits amid this truly gorgeous and atypically U-shaped highcountry basin.

Another JEWEL amid the massif.

Endemic Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood and High Elevation Cove Forests cover this area, where northern slopes often hold snow for long periods during the cold season [ more than 80 days ( or 11.4 weeks ) with 12" or more of snow depth during the 2009-10 winter season ].

This broadly U-shaped basin is rich with bryophytes & fungi, resting upon the lower Bluestone and Tallery Sandstone members of the upper Hinton Formation ( Mississippian age ).

While the lower Bluestone possesses siltstones and shales which are more easily weathered, the Tallery Sandstone of the Hinton, from High Knob Lake into the basin head, is more resistant. The upper basin is subsequently broadly U-shaped.

The olive-green shale interbedded within the Bluestone Formation contains, "large ocherous weathering carbonate nodules ( USGS )," to locally enrich the cold, wet soils of this lofty basin.

High Knob Lake has a water elevation of 3490 feet above sea level, and is one of the coldest in Virginia.

High Knob Lake contains 4 acres of water, and a nice wetland above upper reaches of the Lake Trail Bridge ( where American Beavers have more than once been relocated to prevent backwater flooding of the recreation facilities ).

Wondrous High Knob Lake Basin adds to the greatness of the Big Stony Basin multi-gorge complex, so that it truly is a collective wonder to behold ( especially when considering it also contains the Glady Fork Wetland Valley & wildness of the rugged, remote Devil Fork backcountry ).


High Knob Lake Special Biological Area

A few floral species of interest include:

Striped Maple ( Acer pensylvanicum )
Sugar Maple ( Acer saccharum var. saccharum )
Mountain Maple ( Acer spicatum )
Maidenhair Fern ( Adiantum pedatum )
Yellow Buckeye ( Aesculus flava )
Appalachian White Snakeroot ( Ageratina altissima var. roanensis )
Ramp ( Allium tricoccum )
Wild Ginger ( Asarum canadense )
Southern Lady Fern ( Athyrium filix-femina var. asplenioides )
Yellow Birch ( Betula allegheniensis )
Two-leaved Toothwort ( Cardamine diphylla )
Mountain Bugbane ( Cimicifuga americana )
Hay-Scented Fern ( Dennstaedtia punctilobula )
American Beech ( Fagus grandifolia )
White Ash ( Fraxinus americana )
Cow Parsnip ( Heracleum maximum )
Yellow Jewel-Weed ( Impatiens pallida )
Wood Nettle ( Laportea canadensis )
Canada Lily ( Lilium canadense )
Turks-Cap Lily ( Lilium superbum )
Fraser Magnolia ( Magnolia fraseri )
Sensitive Fern ( Onoclea sensibilis )
Cinnamon Fern ( Osmuda cinnamonea var. cinnamonea )
Interrupted Fern ( Osmuda claytoniana )
Mountain Wood-sorrel ( Oxalis acetosella )
Bracken Fern ( Pteridium aquilinum var. latiusculum )
Black Cherry ( Prunus serotina var. serotina )
Northern Red Oak ( Quercus rubra var. borealis )
New York Fern ( Thelypteris noveborancensis )
Canadian Hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis )
Moosewood or Hobblebush ( Viburnum lantanoides )
Sweet White Violet ( Viola blanda var. blanda )
Roundleaf Violet ( Viola rotundifolia )

The High Knob Lake Basin is one of the premier spring & summer birding locations in Virginia, with many northern species ( * ).

*According to Dr. Richard Peake, the High Knob Lake Basin is one of the most productive areas in Virginia for neotropical migrants, "from the second week of May to the second week of July."