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Geological Formations

Hanging Rock (North Carolina)

Inselbergs and Crystalline Monoliths

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Hanging Rock is a quartzite peak in the Sauratown Mountains of Stokes County, North Carolina, about 30 miles north of Winston-Salem, and gives its name to the surrounding 9,011-acre Hanging Rock State Park. The Sauratown Mountains are one of the most easterly mountain ranges in the state, and their rocky summits, including Hanging Rock, Moore's Wall, Cook's Wall and Devil's Chimney, are remnants of what was once a broad, continuous layer of rock covering the region. Over a very long span of time, wind, water and other erosive forces stripped away the surrounding softer material, leaving the erosion-resistant quartzite standing as the isolated peaks and ridges seen today. The park's highest point, Moore's Knob, reaches 2,579 feet, and the park as a whole is threaded by more than 48 miles of hiking trails.

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