Climbing partner Greg Frux agreed to accompany me on my whirlwind weekend road trip to Mt Davis, PA, Backbone Mountain, MD and Spruce Knob, WV. We departed NYC early on the morning of May 10th with the intention of reaching both Mt Davis and Backbone Mountain that day. When we reached the parking area for Mt Davis in Forbes State Forest it was raining. We took a few minutes to boot up and put on our rain gear. I am not the consummate planner, Greg is, so this was the first chance he had to see my tendency to simply "wing it" on an easier high point. Let's just say that I did know roughly where I was going, I had printouts of directions, but no detailed maps. We found the top with a minor degree of backtracking and the rain stopped. The highpoint of Pennsylvania is 3,213 above sea level atop a gentle slope on a simple short loop trail of less than 2 miles round trip. There was a nice fire lookout tower so we climbed it to enjoy the view of the surrounding forest. Mt Davis is the summit of the gentle 30 mile long slope of Negro Mountain in Somerset County near the Maryland border.
I think Greg found my willingness to let things happen and endure the consequence of mistakes baffling? and instructive. It's my believe that the willingness to get a bit lost is part of the adventure as long as it's not dangerous. This allows an element of serendipity. Serendipity makes things more fun. Serendipity was in all it's glory as we resumed our trip blindly trusting my GPS to find Maryland's Backbone Mountain. In doing so we ignored a simple sign late in the day and drove way past the trailhead. We were tired, hungry and frustrated from a days long drive when we realized our mistake. So we decided to eat at the Purple Fiddle and stay overnight in a lovely bed and breakfast near Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis, West Virginia. A good mistake because it led to an interesting side track and some wonderful live bluegrass music
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| Should Have Just Folowed The Sign Guys! |
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| The Purple Fiddle |
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| The Bright Morning Inn Davis, WV |
Refreshed and well fed, we spent the early morning viewing the Blackwater Falls and Greg sketched.
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| Blackwater Falls Davis, WV |
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| Detail of Blackwater Falls' Location |
Now On To Backbone Mountain (May 11)
Armed with a fresh reading of the directions and a determination to find and follow the sign we'd seen but failed to follow the evening before, we left Blackwater State Park. We saw the roadside sign, and parked on the shoulder. Then we identified the blazes along a trail and finally the sign pictured below. This trail was a bit steeper than Mt Davis. In just over a mile we reached the top of my 25th state highpoint. I celebrated with a dance to a Talking Heads song, "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" while Greg wrote in his journal at the picnic table. We highpointers know how to relax!
Fun Fact: The top of Backbone Mountain, also named "Hoye Crest", is very near the Maryland/West Virgina State Line.
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| This Marks The Border of MD/WV |
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| View just below Hoye Crest |
Spruce Knob, WV (May 11)
Spruce Knob is another highpoint that is simply a short walk from a parking lot, but it's in a beautiful area with a stunning views of the surrounding Allegheny Mountains. At 4,863 feet, is also the highpoint of the Allegheny's. Some beautiful and rugged red spruce trees cling to the earth on a lovely path, "The Whispering Spruce Trail", encircling the summit. The area is part of the Monongahela National Forest and there are plenty of other trails and camping, but not in the immediate vicinity of the summit.
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| View from trail circling Spruce Knob |
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| Atop the lookout tower on Spruce Knob |
It was getting close to sunset when we took the last of our pictures from the fire tower and headed down to find a campsite in the Seneca Shadows Campground. We had "discovered" a beautiful feature named Seneca Rocks just before the last turn toward Spruce Knob. It was so spectacular that we had to stop and have lunch while we gawked at it. Greg was determined to climb Seneca Rocks from the moment he set eyes on it. That that led us to a conversation with the nice folks at Seneca Mountain Guides, the rock climbing guide service across the street, about climbing it the next day. I was feeling reluctant, but in the end I decided that I was in good hands with our guide and game to try the climb. Just before we settled down for the evening to enjoy our lovely view of Seneca Rocks we made our final arrangements for a climb to the summit on the next morning before the long drive back to NYC.
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| Enjoying our meal of indian food with couscous Greg's specialty! |
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| Seneca Rocks from our Seneca Shadows Camp |
Seneca Rocks (May 12)
We met our guide, Stephen Hyndman, before 8:00 am. Our route to the summit would be up "Old Man's" then Con's West Direct" The real work of the day was up the "Stairmaster", a very steep and long, but well maintained rocky trail to the base of the climb. I was feeling wasted by the time we reached the base, but after some water and a snack we geared up and Stephen led us up. The climb was quite exposed at the top of Con's West Direct 5.4. Ultimately we reached a very small pinnacle summit just as the rain began. The approaching rain was a mixed blessing for me. It was clear the climbing would only get more difficult and slippery, so I quit overthinking my moves and just went for the top cursing Greg as I did. That technique was quite successful and I was elated to make the summit.
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| Greg and Stephen |
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| Looking Up The First Pitch |
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| "enjoying" my beautiful perch |
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| That's Seneca Rocks Guides Down There On The Right Side Of The Road |
One of the highlights of the climb was a free rappel of over 150 feet. It was bit unnerving at the beginning but those feelings gave way to complete joy as I gently rotated and toke in the view of the valley, nearly 900 feet below me! I have no good pictures of me because I was the first to rappel. But here are a couple of Greg.
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| On rappel from Seneca Rocks |
A perfect weekend trifecta of highpoints topped off with a spectacular technical climb. After a snack at the car and we were headed for New York City!
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