Heading South To Go North

I have been through many mountains across North America, including the grand Rockies of Colorado, the Sierra Nevadas of California, even the great mountains around Mexico City which tower above tropical landscapes in glorious displays of snow throughout the year.  Try as I might, however, I find myself still more so in awe of the subtle majesty of the Appalachians.  I think this is because the forests of all these mountains are what holds the true attraction for me, and the Appalachians are amazing southern continuations of the grand Boreal forests of northern North America.  Boreal species can be found as far south as West Virginia, where the right combination of altitude and cold, boggy conditions let a forest survive as it would have during the last ice age in the same place.  At the same time, multitudes of species extending from the Atlantic, Southern, and Midwestern worlds converge in what is one of the most under-appreciated ecologically diverse areas on the continent.  Maybe I just like rooting for the underdog!

Pictured below is a scene off of NY 165 just south of Roseboom, NY.

Only a couple of hours out of New York City one can experience scenery that looks like what one could encounter hundreds of miles to the north in Quebec and Ontario.  There are some "southern" trees and shrubs even in the photo, of course, along with rhododendrons and azaleas among the pines on the mountain slopes or cottonwoods and willows lining a stream, things that one would not find in the northern Boreal world.  Then again, one would not be so close to some of the largest cities in the world, either.  One of the catchiest slogans of the Upper Peninsula tourism billboards along I-75 in Michigan is "Up North: Closer Than You Think".  In the case of the Appalachians, up north can even be to the south!  While most residents of the east coast pride themselves on the marks of civilization they have all around them, they should also know that they still have a little bit of the wilderness that not only the second born American colonists and immigrants had in their backyard, but that has been here for tens of thousands of years.