Carroll County Highpoint Trip Report

Dates: November 2007 to September 2008
Author: Roy Schweiker

I have never felt good about the liner presently recognized as the Carroll County highpoint. This boundary may never have been surveyed and drawing contours in a sloping area is necessarily inaccurate. I therefore decided to visit the 3 other likely contenders, all of which suffer from the same deficiencies with none of them having a marked boundary.

east slope of Mount Willey (44° 18' N, 71° 42' W)

This is a long steep slope and even small errors in the map or the county line could make a big difference in elevation. After climbing Mount Willey by the steep Kedron Flume and Willey Range Trails, I descended to the approximate location of the county line as determined by GPS. Woods were thick spruce-fir with a talus area just above the county line. The line seemed to be at the edge of a sort-of shelf with the terrain dropping off much more steeply below. I got an altitude of about 4040 at the county line as compared to 4339 at the summit of Mount Willey which the map shows as 4285. This is a definite contender for the CoHP.

south slope of Wildcat E (44° 24' N, 71° 23' W)

This is another ridge of spruce-fir but less steep than Willey so errors in mapping make less difference and the adjacent summit is lower. I hiked up Wildcat Valley Trail which is an XC ski trail not maintained for hiking, which was overgrown but pleasant walking. The bushwhack to the county line was occasionally quite thick, sometimes with 0 bars on the GPS where I had just had 6. I got 3920 feet at a knoll just inside the county line as compared to 4057 at Wildcat E which the map shows as 4040+. It would take a substantial up adjustment on this ridge and a moderate down adjustment at Sandwich for this to be higher and then Willey might win.

west slope of Mount Webster (44° 20' N, 71° 39' W)

This point is only a short bushwhack from the Appalachian Trail, on which I had a steep hike up to get there. I got 3865 at a little knoll inside the county line as compared to 3955 at the summit of Mount Webster which the map shows as 3910. This one would require a substantial down adjustment at Sandwich because it is visibly lower than Webster which is much lower than Sandwich, in which case one of the other contenders would probably be higher.