Montgomery County High Point Trip Report
Date: May 1, 1999
Author: Fred Lobdell
I previously did this one in 1996. However, it now seems that I ascended only a secondary peak,
rather than the true summit. Allen deHart's NC hiking guidebook is a bit misleading here:
he reports the Uwharrie Trail as passing "over a rocky summit" of Dark Mtn.
Note that he said A rocky summit, and not THE rocky summit.
Also, I asked several members of the Asheboro hiking club who were resting on the summit if that
were indeed it, and was told that it was the summit. Ron Tagliapietra, however, did a better job
of map reading, and I concluded that he is right.
From the intersection of NC 109 with NC 24 & 27 in Troy, drive on 109 about 7.5 miles to Ophir Rd.
Turn right (north) and go about 4.5 miles to the hamlet of Ophir. Turn right (east) on Flint Hill Rd.
and go about 1.5 miles to a trailhead parking area on the right. The white-blazed Uwharrie Trail
goes south from this parking area.
The easiest way to the true summit is to take the Uwharrie Trail about a quarter mile to its
intersection with a woods road. Go left along the woods road for a few hundred feet to an
intersection with another woods road. Turn right and ascend, moderately steeply at times,
to the summit. An alternative route would be to continue on the Uwharrie Trail to the saddle
between the two peaks, going left at a trail intersection before that point is reached.
Here the trail continues over the rocky peak described in deHart's book, but you'll want to
bushwhack to your left from the saddle to the summit. And always study the map before embarking
on a HPing expedition!