Montgomery County Highpoint Trip Report
Date: May 31, 2004
Author: Ken Oeser
We didn't get distances from the north, so here they are from the south: From the Montgomery/Powell
county line on KY11, go north on KY11 0.4 mile and turn right onto a paved road signed for Little Bethany Church.
This road is numbered from the north and may be KY3189. Drive 0.3 mile and turn right
(southeast) onto Hog Creek Road. Follow this 1.0 mile and turn left/uphill onto an unnamed road and go
0.4 mile to a white house on the left.
We asked permission here from Ms. Maloney to hike up the mountain behind the house, then went just east
to the first ridge on the left and hiked north 0.5 mile to a grassy bench on the south side of the mountain at
elevation 1260, then hiked east to a major saddle, then up the ridge to the highpoint.
The benchmark was not found on the fairly flat summit area.
I hiked east a little to verify that it dropped downhill in that direction.
We (and 2 dogs from the house) jumped a turkey family at the grassy bench.
The dogs immediately gave chase to the mother, while we were left to watch several babies scatter
in the grass, twigs, and leaves.
The dogs didn't catch anything, although the babies were still peeping on our return.
I also encountered a sharp pain on my calf halfway along this bench. I looked down to see a Bald-Faced
Hornet hanging off my leg by its stinger, so brushed it off, then noticed a small hornets nest at calf level just
a couple of feet away where I had just walked. I warned Annette and Alexandra to go around, then backed
up some more when I saw another start flying my direction. I've never seen a nest that close to the ground.
Also, some broken Paw-Paw limbs along this flat bench/deer trail tell me that someone else was cohping in
the area this weekend.