[1] Their highest peak, with an elevation of 4,223 feet (1,287 m) above mean sea level, is High Knob, which is located near Norton, Virginia.

The crest of the range forms the Kentucky and Virginia boundary from the Tennessee border to the Russell Fork River.

[4] Pine Mountain is a long, narrow ridge starting in northern Tennessee and extending northeastward into southeastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia.

Its southwestern terminus is near Pioneer, Tennessee, and it extends approximately 122 miles (196 km) to the northeast to near the Breaks Interstate Park in Kentucky and Virginia.

The southeastern side of Cumberland Mountain is a cliff-lined wall that was a barrier to exploration and settlement in Kentucky during the westward expansion in the late eighteenth century.

Cumberland Mountain is a long ridge running from near Caryville, Tennessee, northeastward to near Norton, Virginia, a distance of approximately 97 miles (156 km).

The ridge exists because hard Lee-type sandstones of Early Pennsylvanian Age crop out along this line.

The northwestern terminus is located near Norton, Virginia, where the hard sandstones dip below the surface as the axis of the Powell Valley anticline plunges to the northeast.

The various gaps in Cumberland Mountain are caused by rock weaknesses at cross-cutting faults or joints.