Cheaha Mountain facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cheaha Mountain |
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Cheaha Mountain, the highest point in Alabama, viewed from Skyway Mountainway, April 2018
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Highest point | |
Elevation | 2,413 ft (735 m) |
Prominence | 1,445 ft (440 m) |
Listing | U.S. state high point 35th |
Geography | |
Parent range | Appalachian Mountains |
Topo map | USGS Cheaha Mountain |
Geology | |
Age of rock | Devonian |
Mountain type | quartzite rock |
Climbing | |
Easiest route | Road |
Cheaha Mountain often called Mount Cheaha, is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is located a few miles northwest of the town of Delta in Cheaha State Park, which offers a lodge, a restaurant, and other amenities.
Description
The highest point is marked with a USGS benchmark in front of Bunker Tower, a stone Civilian Conservation Corps building with an observation deck on top. The CCC also constructed a road to Cheaha, but the road has been closed for years. The old road is known as CC Road and contains interesting ruins.
Near the peak is Bald Rock, which was recently improved with a wheelchair-accessible wooden walkway that provides an impressive overlook of the surrounding region.
The entire area gives an impression of being at a much higher than it actually is because of the area to the west of it is at a lower height.
Cheaha Mountain is part of the Talladega Mountains, a final southern segment of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The mountain is the highest point in the eastern portion of the Sun Belt (east of the Mississippi River, south of Interstate 20, and north of the Gulf of Mexico).
The mountain was opened to the public as part of Cheaha State Park on June 7, 1939.
The mountain is a host to several commercial and public service transmitters. The Calhoun County Amateur Radio Association has a repeater near the peak, and Alabama Public Television has its transmitter for WCIQ TV 7 on a tower 176 metres (577 ft) tall, rebuilt after the January 1982 ice storm brought the previous one crashing to the ground.