Carroll County Highpoint Trip Report
one area 3,000 feet northwest of Wentz (1,120+ ft)
Date: July 24, 2004
Author: Dan Case
From Hanover, PA, take PA 94 south about five miles to the state line, where it becomes MD 30.
You will be able to see the HP bump in pretty good detail at two o'clock right after you cross into Maryland.
Harvey Yingling Road is your first signed turnoff to the right, about 0.6 mile past the state line.
It is paved for about ten feet and gravel thereafter. After a brief bend, it resumes its northwesterly
course and reaches a crest at 0.3 mile, where it crosses the 1,080-foot contour.
There is, as other reports indicate,
a rough pullout on the left directly opposite a field road leading up between corn on one side and soy
on the other to the copse of trees just below the HP. When the fields are not planted,
this would be a good way to access the HP and would entail the least gain.
However, this day they were, and the road ended at the copse with
no clear way either around the crops or through the trees.
So instead we proceeded 0.2 mile further to the bend, the closest the road gets to the HP, where some new
houses and a cul-de-sac called Smithfield Road were in the process of being built on the opposite side at this time.
At the turn you can see a good ATV trail continuing on uphill in the woods. We parked in the front
of the house, #2210, finished yet unoccupied, at this turn, and walked up the trail as it gradually trended
more to the north, eventually intersecting the power line right-of-way after about 250 feet.
Follow the mowed route uphill under the power lines - you can see the HP from here. The ATV trail will
cross the cut after a short distance to re-enter the woods but a mowed route continues up the other side
(There is also one more ragged path in the center that might provide more direct access, but I chose not to
investigate that and saw no evidence of where it might turn out at the HP). Take that path to the crest,
then go into the center of the right-of-way to test rocks to your hearts content and find the BM.
I think we found the same one as Barney Metz and I am more than satisfied but we did not find the BM
and given the depth of the vegetation and the fact that we were wearing shorts I did not want to
press this too hard.