Elk Mountain ("Elk Hill" on the Clifford Quadrangle map)
is the highest elevation in the watershed and in northeastern
Pennsylvania. It has two summit "knobs," with North Knob towering
at 2680 feet. It is capped by sandstone of the Catskill Formation,
in some places only about 10 feet thick, overlaying red mudstone and
shale. A till shadow, sometimes greater than 200 feet, covers the
southwest flank of the mountain. The northeast slope (location of
the ski slopes) is thinly covered ice-scoured bedrock.
Even as high as it is, Elk Mountain would have been under
several hundred feet of ice (if the estimates of a 3000 foot glacier are
correct) at the height of the advance during the Late Wisconsinan. Such a
peak can form somewhat of an obstacle, however, to iceflow. Striations in
the bedrock at the base of the mountain indicate that flow was deflected about
30° as compared to striations at the summit, which are in the normally expected
orientation for this area.
