
Subject:
[cohp] Digest Number 5143
From:
cohp@yahoogroups.com
Date:
9/4/2015 1:34 AM
To:
cohp@yahoogroups.com

County High Pointing in all 50 states
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Digest #5143
1
PA prominence candidate, MD highest ranked peak and state HP TRs by cuber86

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1
PA prominence candidate, MD highest ranked peak and state HP TRs
Thu Sep 3, 2015 9:51 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
cuber86
Wills Mtn--9/3/15 2780'
PA prominence point candidate

Good news and bad news on this one: the good news is that Cove Rd no longer appears to have any kind of signage against driving up it! The bad news is that the gate to the PA state game lands was lower than I thought it'd be, so this one turned into a 1000' uphill slog. For future reference, the gate is at the right turn just before the switchbacks, and there are no houses around.

The topo is accurate: follow the road up the switchbacks, follow the main track right where it tops out at a junction, follow the main track left and uphill at another junction, then reach the road along the crest at a large meadow. Turn right, follow the road to its end at the clear-cut area, which offers some views. Follow a rough track off to the right here, which passes adjacent to high ground in the woods. Hard to say what the true highpoint is here, so I bashed around and tagged all the highest rocks. Higher ground immediately next to the rough track is obviously manmade. Never found the benchmark or a register, didn't see anyone else. Overall, nothing bad about this one now that it appears to be fully legit, but nothing particularly memorable either. 1:30 or so up, 1:00 or so down.


Wild Turkey Rock--9/3/15 3228'
Highest ranked summit in MD

Access on this one has gotten sketchy since Mike's TR on peakbagger. Check recent satellite imagery to find out why.

I ended up just heading straight to the pullout he mentioned in the end of his TR along MD-135, as this offers the shortest and most direct route to the summit. This is the most obvious-looking dirt pullout on the south side of the road on satellite imagery, at N 39 25.964' W 79 15.782'. While one or two of the more rugged pullouts prior to this further southwest are gated and/or posted, this one is not. While I just pulled up this dirt road far enough to get off the pavement, it turns out you could potentially drive up a grassy track on the L to a small gated cemetery just another 100' or so further. This would get your car out of sight from 135, might be a bit rough unless you have high clearance though. Keep your eye out for this--if coming from the west, if you miss this turnoff, you have a bit of a ways before you can hook a U-turn and try it again!

>From here, I just headed straight up. The bushwhacking here SUCKS. At least a 6/10 on my scale, maybe a 7. Brambles, steep bits, rotting logs, some low visibility underfoot...just miserable. You'll cross several old forest roads (all running horizontally, virtually none that look driveable even by ATV). There were a few old, tattered No Trespassing signs about 2/3 of the way up. Much of the way, I could hear what turned out to be the whine of one of the wind turbine engines in the not-too-great distance. Finally reached the long summit contour, which I walked most of the length of--plenty of rock outcroppings to tag, particularly at the southern end near the benchmark, which I did find here. From the benchmark rock (a whitish flat boulder of different geologic origin than the others), there was a view above the trees to a few of the northernmost wind turbines spinning. I returned the same way, luckily found nobody waiting for me at the car, and took off to scope out the other options for future nutcases, er I mean peakbaggers :P

There are two other potential routes to the summit, following the ridge from the north and from the south, respectively. The north TH would be at the junction of MD-135 and MD-38; at the south side of this triangle intersection is a dirt two-track leading up the ridge that does not appear to be posted at its start. There is a house on the other side of the road where you might be briefly visible. You could park at a pullout on the N side of 135 a few tenths of a mile west of this intersection. The south approach from Eagle Rock Rd, used by Mike, is now gated and heavily posted. However, a good dirt road servicing the wind turbines could be walked ~2 miles to just before the benchmark. While these other two routes are four times as long as my route, I suspect the roundtrip time for any of them would be roughly similar--the bushwhacking is that bad! Took me about an hour roundtrip.

Should someone wish to attempt to get legal access to this one, one of the south approach signs mentioned a contact of:

The Deer Park Sportsman Club, Inc
3890 Maryland Highway; PO Box 3156 (no phone number)


Hoye Crest--9/3/15 3360'
MD state highpoint

Decided to reclimb this one since it was on my way home. Not to mention, the last time I'd done it was 15 years ago in winter by a non-standard route! A lot's changed since then--the crest of Backbone Mountain is adorned with dozens of wind turbines, for miles on end. This time, I found the turnoff for the standard route (which was hilariously signed for Maryland's Highest Point AFTER I'd already passed it!), and drove up the short, rough road to the trailhead. I started hiking the old woods road, which was marked with red spray-painted "HP"s; I kept following them, but never did encounter Harry Potter, I'm afraid. When the road bent right and headed up a long, tiring uphill stretch, I finally stopped and sat a bit, checking my GPS as I had no map. I was overjoyed to see the elevation steadily climb as it locked onto my location, and it turned out I was actually quite close in elevation to the top! Sure enough, the road crested a bit further on, hooked left and passed through some open areas, and soon deposited me at the summit area. Definitely a few changes since the last time I was here! Enjoyed the views a bit, as last time I'd had none due to being clouded in. Headed back down at a jog, running into a young burgeoning highpointer on the way back to the car, who I stopped and chatted with a short while. Still made the roundtrip in under an hour.

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