Trip Report
Spruce Knob was the first of three highpoints that we planned to visit this day. Debi and I left Cincinnati at 3:45 am and arrived at the parking area around 11:00 or so. There were a few other cars in the area, but not many. Having grown up in Utah, we did find it a little funny that West Virginia is called ‘The Mountain State’. The drive to the parking area was very scenic, but be aware that the last 7 to 8 miles are on pretty rough dirt roads.
There was a woman getting out of her car when we got to the parking area. She had her dog with her. We walked to the tower with her and found out that she is also a highpointer. Spruce Knob was her second highpoint. She is from Cleveland, a fellow Ohioan. She plans to visit one highpoint per year. She started last year with Pennsylvania’s Mount Davis. She also said she is afraid of heights. She was very nice. I can’t help but think that being afraid of heights may make her goal a bit difficult, but perhaps that is why she is doing it. Well, I wish her the best.
The tower on the summit offers a scenic view of the surrounding area and the view is very nice. We snapped a few pictures and took one for the lady that we met. We spent a few minutes enjoying the view, but that was about it. We still had two highpoints
to visit and had to drive back to Cincinnati that night, so off we went to Maryland’s Backbone Mountain.
Trip Report
This was our third and last highpoint of the day. We left Cincinnati at 3:45 am and had visited two other highpoints already, Spruce Knob, WV and Backbone Mountain, MD. We ended up getting back to Cincinnati at around 11:00 pm.
This highpoint is one that you can drive right up to. Our directions from my computer where a little different than those in the guidebook, so we combined them to save time and got there just fine. It appears that there are several roads that will get you into the parking area. From the parking area, it is about 100 yards to the tower and the natural highpoint is about 50 feet from the base of the tower. The USGS marker is in the tallest rock in a group of rocks (see pictures below). There was one other car in the parking area when we arrived and one more came while we were there, but we never saw any of the people, only heard them a couple of times.
The view from the tower is pretty impressive. There is a small display on the top of the tower that explains why some of the surrounding hills look taller than the highpoint or the point where you are standing. The area is pretty nice. We spent about 30 minutes wandering through the highpoint area and snapping pictures.
We still had about 7 hours of driving to get back to Cincinnati. We listened to two books on CD while we were driving and Debi got a bunch of work done on my laptop. It was an enjoyable highpointing trip.
Panorama
(Note: Not my panorama. Debi and I were preoccupied when we visited this highpoint and I ended up forgetting to shoot a panorama. So, here’s one I found on Youtube.)
Trip Report
This was our second highpoint of the day. We left Cincinnati at 3:45 am, and visited Spruce Knob, WV just earlier. We planned on visiting Pennsylvania’s Mount Davis after this one. The trailhead (which is the beginning of an old logging road) is marked, but it helps to have pretty good directions. What actually helped me see it was an ‘Adopt-A-Highway’ sign on the side of the road that said something like Friends of the Maryland Highpoint – Backbone Mountain. I’m assuming there is a sign to the north on 219 that says the same thing, but the trailhead is right where the sign on the south end of the clean up stretch stands. On the back of the sign (north side) someone has spray painted ‘MD’ and ‘HP’. I snapped some pictures of that (see below). There is also a sign in the trees, but it is pretty small and difficult to make out (see below). So, be sure to have good directions to follow and if you know where to look, you should be able to find it.
Our directions told us to park our car on the berm of the road. We decided to pull about 40 yards up the logging road so our car would be somewhat hidden from view and not right on the side of the road. It was out of the way of any potential traffic on the logging road, but safe from the traffic on 219. Our directions also told us to plan on about 1 to 1 1/2 hours to climb the mountain. The directions were very helpful (see ‘Highpoint Adventures’ by the Wingers). The trail is marked from the bottom with the letters ‘HP’ spray painted on trees every few hundred yards. The spray paint is a little old and difficult to make out at times because it is fading, but you just have to keep your eyes open. The hike is pretty much a constant incline going up at a decent angle. It levels out near the top, but from where it levels out it is only about 200 yards to the summit. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the level portion and another couple to make it to the highpoint marker. There is a view to the northeast of the summit looking toward Maryland. The rest of the summit is surrounded by trees.
We did pass one person on our way up. He was coming down. He was the only other person we saw on the mountain. There are some picnic tables at the top and a mailbox with a notebook/logbook in it. We signed the log and snapped a bunch of pictures. Though the hike isn’t long, it is pretty much a continuous incline, so we stopped for about 10 minutes on the top and enjoyed the view and the sense of accomplishment – another one down and another state conquered and enjoyed.
The descent took about 15 minutes. As I have in other trip reports where the terrain is rocky, I would recommend here that you wear good, sturdy boots. The trail isn’t that bad, but it is pretty rocky at points. Also, be prepared for a good 20 to 30 minutes of hard hiking. The going isn’t difficult, but it is a constant incline from the trailhead to the top. The view at the top isn’t amazing, but it is nice. You can see for a ways, but you can also see two smoke belching towers in the distance. Not that smoke belching towers are a bad thing, but it isn’t like West Virginia where the only signs of humanity you can see are the roads you came in on. Anyway, from there we headed on to Pennsylvania’s Mount Davis. Total trip time was about 50 minutes.
(Side note: A little north of Backbone Mountain’s trailhead on 219 there is what is claimed to be the smallest church in the 48 states. We snapped some pictures of it. Kind of interesting to see if you have the time. It’s a Catholic church and there is a post office next to it as well, also supposed to be the smallest mailing office in the U.S.)
Party
Ryan Cragun, Debi Cragun, Danny Stanley, Christy Stanley
Trip Report
Our wonderful friends, Danny & Christy Stanley, invited us to southwestern Virginia to spend Labor Day weekend with Danny’s parents, Sharon and Frank Stanley in Draper, VA. As part of the weekend that the Stanley’s had planned for us we were scheduled to go to Grayson Highlands State Park for a picnic. Danny, knowing of my highpointing interest, also noted that it might be possible to visit Mt. Rogers while in the State Park. Of course, being that close to the state highpoint, I subtly suggested that I would be excited to do that. It took a little convincing to get our spouses, Debi and Christy, to agree to go with us, but it was finally decided that we would hike Mt. Rogers on Labor Day. Frank and Sharon, incredible hosts that they are and showing intoxicatingly sweet southern hospitality, agreed to set up a picnic and take care of the grandchildren while we hiked the four hours that it would take to get to the top and back down.
So, with everything agreed upon, we headed to the State Park. We arrived at the picnic area around 11:30 pm and set some of the picnicking stuff up then Frank took us to the trailhead. We left Massie Gap at 12:15. I was the youngest of the group at 25, but the oldest only has 3 years on me. Being young, deluded, and full of energy, we made quick work of the first hill and were still going strong when we passed two women coming down the trail; one fully pregnant and the other pushing a stroller. We couldn’t help but ask if they had made it to the top, knowing that this would boost everyone’s confidence. Much to the wives’ chagrin they had only gone about 200 feet further up from where we met them before they had turned around.
However, we were not really worried about the difficulty because of the description in the guide book I was using. We crossed the first stile and followed the trail to the right so as to avoid the first summit. Eventually this trail led us toward a second summit, but was following a path around it when we decided it was likely just going to cut back and make its way up the hill anyway, so we hopped off the trail and made our way up some rocks to the top. When we got up there, we ran into some people, including a man who had been married for 50 years who had to have been in his seventies. He pointed out Mt. Rogers to us and Rhododendron Gap. We also realized that we weren’t at the gap and the trail that we had been on bypassed this summit altogether. We spent a few minutes talking then wound our way down the rocks (snapping a few pictures along the way) and caught the Appalachian Trail again, following it up to Rhododendron Gap this time. On top of the Gap we snapped a few more pictures, knowing this would likely be the best places for views, then dropped off the Gap headed toward Mt. Rogers.
We came upon a crossroads just below Rhododendron Gap. One branch was the horse route down to Massie Gap, continuing straight would lead us along the Crest Trail. There was no obvious turn off toward Mt. Rogers. We did see some of the wild ponies in the area so we went to look at them before continuing on the trail. We didn’t see a way toward Mt. Rogers so we continued straight.
Somehow we missed the turn off toward Mt. Rogers and were headed along the Crest Trail when we saw some people up on the summit that we knew was between us and Mt. Rogers. We knew we had to go that way, but we didn’t see the path that went up there. We did know that we had to cross several fences before we made it to the Thomas Knob Shelter, but we didn’t see the stile up ahead and decided just to work our way toward the summit that we knew was in the direction we were supposed to go. This shortcut turned mistake was the second that that made our hike longer. Just after we found the trail we saw the stile that we knew we were supposed to use to cross the fence and realized we were finally on the right trail.
A few minutes later we came upon the Thomas Knob Shelter and stopped there to grab a quick drink. From the Shelter it was only another 20 minutes to the top. Though there is no notable view from the top, the last 10 minutes or so of hiking before you reach the summit are through very dense and humid forest. I found the forest to be very beautiful. There was no real undergrowth and the trees blocked most of the light. Moss covered everything below the canopy above. So you are aware, the highpoint really does not have a view and there is nothing to mark the highpoint except the USGS marker that is set in a large boulder in a very small clearing. The trail comes to a point (it isn’t a noticeably high point or peak) where it is difficult to determine whether it goes on and if so, where it branches. Stop there and look at the rocks to your left. Up on top of them you should be able to find the USGS marker. We arrived at the summit at 2:30.
We spent a few minutes on the summit snapping pictures and talking with some of the people that had summitted with us. There was another highpointer that arrived just after we did. I didn’t get his name, but he had done 16 highpoints in the previous 4 weeks.
We left the highpoint at 2:40. We still didn’t see where the trail went between Rhododendron Gap and the summit that lies between the Gap and Mt. Rogers. So, we dropped off the trail to the crossroads and took the horse trail down to where it reconnected with the Appalachian Trail. The horse trail smelled like horse dung (should have expected that) and was very muddy and rocky, but I think it saved us some time and definitely saved us some ascending and descending. The rest of the descent was fairly uneventful, though we all began noticing that our ankles were hurting. A word of advice, the trail can be very rocky at points. I would recommend some fairly sturdy hiking boots, ideally with ankle support.
Frank was supposed to meet us at the trailhead at 4:30, allowing us 4 hours for the entire trip. We dropped into Massie Gap at 4:10, making our trip time about 4 hours. Luckily, Frank decided he would come a little early in case we came out early and was already there when we arrived.
Final thoughts… Debi and I, the true city folks of the group, failed once again to put sunscreen on and cooked. Danny and Christy could dance naked in Hawaii for a week and wouldn’t burn. It was overcast most of the day, but we still fried. Take sunscreen because you will be hiking in the sun most of the time. Also, wear sturdy boots. There are trails all over the area headed toward Mt. Rogers. I don’t know that you can really go that wrong if you follow the signs, but just be aware that for every leg of the trip, there is at least one alternate route there (except for the last little leg from the Thomas Knob Shelter to the summit). The view from Rhododendron Gap wasn’t actually as good as the view from the summit just before it on the hike, but the view from there is very nice. The mountain ash (trees with lots of red berries) are all over up there. I had never seen them before, but they are pretty cool. The hike is nice, but long, plan on about 3-5 hours, depending upon your hiking speed and time spent dawdling. And, believe it or not, our wives only wanted us to carry them at the very end (actually they kicked butt)!