Chesapeake City Highpoint Trip Report
Date: November 17, 2004
Author: Chip Clark
This is an update for the point that Mike Schwartz considered to be the highest point in
Chesapeake City, VA, which I verified with my GPSR. Coordinates of the highpoint in the WGS-84 datum are
(36° 47' 20.6" N, 76° 12' 40.1" W).
I parked at the end of Birch Run Road in front of the Intermediate School. Conditions have
changed since Mike was last there in January 2002. The hurricanes which passed through the area knocked
down many large trees in the forested area and the more open canopy spurred the growth of the green briars
and bamboo to make some nearly impenetrable areas. If you're going to attempt this point, make sure
you've got long pants and shirt, a compass and/or GPS, and maybe some pruners to get through the 1/2 mile
of brush. No kidding!
After parking, walk southeast along the edge of the school property until you reach a large green electrical box.
Just after the box there's a trail that leads east into the woods. (I discovered this on the way back.)
Follow this trail past a small broken-down amphitheater until it disappears into the brush. After this,
bushwhack east and a little north, using large fallen trees as highways through the brush. By this time, I was
wishing for a machete but it probably wouldn't be good to be seen on school grounds carrying a long blade.
It's possible someone might think you were doing something other than cohping. Anyway, you'll know
when you reach the city line when you reach a seven-foot-high chain link fence with three-strand barbed
wire on the top. Just beyond a grassy woods road runs between the fence and the landfill. Luckily, at nearly
the exact high point coordinates, a fallen tree had smashed the fence to within two feet of the ground.
I hopped over the fence to check the approaches along the woods road, since the topography was fairly subtle.
The 30-foot contour is mostly gone with creation of the grassy road but remnants of it exist on
either side, most importantly on the Chesapeake City side of the fence. On the line at the high point,
the GPSR read exactly 30 feet. So this appears to be the true Chesapeake City HP.
On the way back I stumbled onto an overgrown woods road that took me nearly 1/3 of the way back with
little brush, so I got out of there before the sun set.