Whitetop Laurel is a protected wildland in southwestern Virginia’s George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, centered on Whitetop Laurel Creek in the Mount Rogers area. The Appalachian Trail and Virginia Creeper Trail follow the creek through a gorge of rich hardwood forest and rhododendron, making it a major recreation corridor with stream access, wildlife viewing, and trout fishing. The area also preserves evidence of a large early twentieth-century logging operation tied to Konnarock’s sawmill and rail grade. Its importance rests equally on conservation: unusual aquatic species, uncommon plants, possible old-growth forest, protected high-quality water, and fertile, geologically rare slopes.