You are now standing more than fifty feet above the Highest Point

You are now standing more than fifty feet above the Highest Point. . You are now standing more than fifty feet above the HIGHEST NATURAL POINT (3213 feet above sea level, asl) in PENNSYLVANIA The rock strewn plateau seen below has seen little habitation. Except for the passing of an occasional frontier hunter or explorer, the boot reads of lumber jacks, geologists and miners, man has passed the mountain by. Inaccessibility, poor soil and foul weather have kept the settler on he slopes and in the valleys. Thus the plateau has remained relatively undeveloped. , To the northwest just beyond the edge of the circular roadway SORTED STONE PATTERNS can be seen. Many years frost upheavals have moved the boulders into these patterns. , It may seem as you look to the north or the southwest, that the hills are higher than the HIGH POINT This is an optical illusion. The point north is 3192 ft asl, 21 below the High Point The point to the southwest is 3160 ft asi, 53 ft lower than the High Point The graph above shows why this illusion takes place. Although you are looking down on the rounded hill tops, there is nothing but space beyond from which your minds eye can relate. Most other times when this lack of a background occurs, you are looking up at mountains, trees or buildings Therefore your senses tell you, that these hills must be higher than you are. This time your senses nave fooled you.