Kimberling Creek Wilderness

Kimberling Creek Wilderness is a protected, notably undeveloped section of Jefferson National Forest in southwestern Virginia, west of Bastian along Hogback Mountain. Managed under the Eastern Wilderness Act, it preserves steep, rugged backcountry with no maintained trails, limited access, and a demanding, self-reliant character. The land rises from Kimberling Creek to the summit of Hogback Mountain, with several streams draining its slopes. Its recovering forest includes cove hardwoods, ridge-top oak and hickory, dense rhododendron, and habitat for black bear and the endangered Indiana bat. Though now remote in appearance, the area was heavily logged and burned in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and remnants of that industrial past still remain.

Rocky Gap, Virginia · United States