Pilot Mountain (North Carolina)
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Pilot Mountain, a quartzite monadnock rising to a peak of 2,421 feet (738 meters) above sea level, is one of the most distinctive natural features in the state of North Carolina. It is a remnant of the ancient chain of Saura Mountains. Its original Native American name is Jomeokee, for "great guide" or "pilot".
The town of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina is situated near the mountain. The city of Mt. Airy, North Carolina, known for its rock quarries and for being the birthplace of actor Andy Griffith, is just a few miles north.
Pilot Mountain has two distinctive pinnacles, named Big and Little Pinnacle. Big Pinnacle has 200 foot high bare rock walls, and a rounded top covered in vegetation, reaching a height of approximately 1400 feet above the surrounding terrain. Trails on the mountain (as well as a paved road) allow access to Little Pinnacle, and the Jomeokee Trail leads around the base of Big Pinnacle; Big Pinnacle itself is closed to climbing. The Ledge Spring Trail is named for the ledge whose base it follows, with a series of springs, and is a popular location for rock climbing. Other trails include the Sassafras trail.
The rise to the Little Pinnacle, followed by the down-and-up slope to the Big Pinnacle, make the entire mountain look vaguely like a saddle from a distance.
Pilot Mountain is part of the Pilot Mountain State Park, which also extends to the Yadkin River and is closely associated with the nearby Horne Creek Farm historical site. Other interesting rock formations lie a few miles east, at Hanging Rock State Park.
The mountain was also once called Pilot Knob. Oddly enough, US 52 passes by this mountain, and also passes nearby another Pilot Knob, near the northern extremity of this highway, in the vicinity of Mendota Heights, Minnesota.
In the television series The Andy Griffith Show, Sheriff Andy Taylor lived in the fictional "Mayberry" (a name suggestive of "Mt. Airy") and occasionally talked about driving to the nearby fictional town of "Mt. Pilot".
