Clingman's Dome TN (6,643 ft) is the highest point on the AT yet it is not above treeline? Yet Katadyn and others are above treeline? I am sure there is a simple reason for this I just want to hear it...
_Fa·ce·tious_Question about Elevation in the AT
system
#1
system
#3
Latitude: as you travel north in the northern hemisphere, tree line drops in elevation due to more severe weather. I'm fairly certain that Mt. Moosilauke @ 4,802' in Southern NH is the first time (NOBO) the AT reaches true tree line (the Southern balds are not above tree line - scientists believe they were created by Native Americans perennially burning the summits or by extensive grazing over hundreds of years.)
_freebird_
system
#4
I am told that for every 1000 ft of elevation you gain it is like going 150 miles north. So when you get here to NH, when you get to about 5000 ft it's like being close to the artic circle.
_Nokia_
system
#5
Tree seeds have to have temperatures average above 50 degrees F for seven days to germinate. So it has more to do with temperature than elevation.
_treees_
system
#6
In addition NH rests upon a bedrock of granite with a very thin layer of soil. Combined with the harsher climate and short growing season you have a tree line that you normally do not get at such low altitude. It does make for some great hiking.
_Big B_
system
#7
12 thousand years ago removed all the top soil from the top's of the northern mountains. The layer of ice did not cover the Southern Appalachians. So today the combination of climate and soil in the south make for great tree growing. It is not the same for New England.
_Frank Moulds_
system
#8
Treeline in the southern Appalachians is presumed to occur at around 7000 feet above sea level, but since no mountain east of the Mississippi reaches that height (Mt Mitchell is only slightly higher than Clingman's Dome), there is no true alpine terrain in this region. Hypothetical treeline drops steadily as one heads northbound across the Appalachians, but so do the elevations of the highest peaks, until one reaches New England, where, at Mount Moosilauke in western New Hampshire, AT hikers finally cross the summit of a mountain that extends above true treeline, nearly 2000' feet lower in elevation than Clingman's Dome. By Katahdin, treeline is lower still, with localized climate and poor soil conditions compounding the baseline effects of latitude. If one were to progress north beyond the AT and IAT into Labrador, they would eventually encounter the taiga forest belt, the latitude-controlled equivalent of the spruce-fir forest found atop Clingman's Dome, and then enter arctic tundra with sedges and small flowering plants like those found atop Mt Moosilauke and Katahdin.
_blisterfree_