Frederick County Highpoint Trip Report
Date: May 25, 2004
Author: Don Desrosiers
A week earlier I glanced at the map (maybe glanced is too strong a word) and figured I knew a different way
to get to this one. So the dogs and I head out on the Tuscarora Trail, climb up to the ridge and head south
along the dirt road. Finally got to a lovely viewpoint at the 2605 spot elevation northwest of the goal.
Horns of a dilemma. Bushwhack along the ridge for a mile or so each way or come back later.
Start to bushwhack, get about 50 yards into the scrub and brush and rethink the decision.
Now I am back, having looked more closely at the maps and planned my attack. Come in from the WV side.
Mileage numbers are as follows: From US 50 and SR 751 in Gore, turn south onto 751. At 0.4 mile,
turn left onto Back Creek Road (there is a large sign for a Boy Scout Camp). At 5.0 miles, the gravel begins.
At 8.4 miles, the pavement begins again. At 8.9 miles, stop at the stop sign and go straight (to the
right takes you to 259). At 11.5 miles, pass under the power line and park so as to not block anyone's driveway.
You are at about 1350 feet at this point. If you want to save 100 vertical feet or so, you could
figure out a way to get up toward the houses higher up but I didn't see this as worth the effort. I stopped at
the first house in going up the power line and asked permission from the gentleman there to cross his land to
get to the high point. He gave it and told me I was welcome any time. He allowed how he had never been
to the top, although his brother had. He warned me to be on the lookout for snakes. Didn't see any of them
but found a boatload of ticks.
Follow the obvious trail up. At about 1600 feet (I did not have my altimeter), come to the fence for the
Capon Springs Hunt Club across the right-of-way. I climbed over but you can as easily go around since the
fence only goes to the first tree into the woods. I admit that I used the "plausible deniability" of the
permission received at the bottom somewhat liberally.
Trail up is easy enough, particularly if it isn't hot (91 degrees for me). What you are really following is the
smaller power line to the left, although you are using the larger high tension line area to do it. When you get
to about 2600 feet, there will be a very obvious dirt road passing under the power lines. Take this uphill into
the woods and to the tower which I believe to be somewhere in the vicinity of the
"o" or "n" in "Capon" on the topo.
The area on top is relatively flat, so I wandered around until satisfaction was accomplished.
It may be possible to come up from the south along the 2600-foot road. I presume this would be through
the Capon Springs Hunt Club property. From the looks of the road on top, it might be a nice mountain bike trip.
The tower has a sign with, "WVEP 89.3 Martinsburg WV Licensed to WV Educational B/C Authority,
Charleston WV 304-348-3239".
Slightly longer than an hour up, but 10-15 minutes of that was the heat. Maybe a half hour of wandering
around on top. Came down along the edge of the woods because it was cooler.
About 2-1/2 hours round-trip.