Trout Pond — formerly called Old Pond — located near
Wardensville in
Hardy County,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
, USA, is the state's only natural lake. The small "lake" is situated in the Trout Pond Recreation Area (TPRA) of the
George Washington National Forest
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests is an administrative entity combining two U.S. United States National Forest, National Forests into one of the largest areas of public land in the Eastern United States. The forests cover o ...
. Formerly, the pond had fluctuated in surface area between , but recently it has appeared to be disappearing due to underground structural changes.
History
Trout Pond was created by a
sinkhole
A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...
that filled with water from a series of mountain streams running off Long Mountain (). Much of the region surrounding Trout Pond lies on layers of
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
that have been slowly eroded away by rainfall, causing conical holes to open up within the ground. Many of these sinkholes grow quite large with significant depths like Trout Pond, but because of its unique location, it had, until recently, been able to maintain a permanent status as a pond. In July 2002, Forest Service officials suspected that a shift in the limestone cavern underneath the sinkhole had caused the water level to drop. Within a month, it had drained almost dry. It has regenerated several times since then, during long spells of wet weather, but as soon as the rains stop it empties again.
Geology
Trout Pond and its sinkhole are
karst
Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...
features. They are underlain by strata of
Tonoloway Limestone and the
Helderberg Group.
TPRA
The facilities of the Trout Pond Recreation Area were constructed in the late 1970s. This National Forest campground has a designated swimming area, easy lakeside trails, and 50 campsites. The normal operating season is early May through the last Monday in October.
Trout Pond has long been stocked with trout, hence its current name. This was discontinued for a time, however, due to erosion of the banks caused by fishermen.
The Trout Pond Recreation Area Camping and Hiking Guide, the Great North Mountain Trail Guide, the Rockcliff Lake Stocking Schedule, and the Rockcliff Lake Sport Fish Identification can be found o
Trout Pond WV - All of the Info on My Favorite Place
See also
*
List of sinkholes of the United States
References
External links
WVDNR webpage for Trout Pond
Sinkholes of the United States
Bodies of water of Hardy County, West Virginia
Lakes of West Virginia
Potomac River watershed
Chesapeake Bay watershed
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