April 14-15, 2006

Good Highday

Traveling Companion: None
Vehicle: My truck

Day 1: Highest Point in West Virginia

Spruce Knob
4,863 Feet

Having finally gotten around to getting my committee established and signed off on my dissertation proposal on Thursday afternoon and with no school on Friday for the "Spring Holiday," I decided to celebrate with a camping trip. As I was about to leave a little late, I realized that I had not brought any CDs. I was worried about taking too much time to select some music, and then I had an idea--since I was going to Harpers Ferry on this trip, and I remembered Sarah Vowell talking about John Brown, and with her book Assassination Vacation being six CDs, I grabbed it so as to not spend much time looking through the CDs. While, the John Brown thing that I was thinking of was actually on an episode of This American Life, I'm glad I selected it because as I drove and listened, I realized that it was Good Friday, April 14, and that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated April 14, when it was a Good Friday. Also, she recounts Vice President Theodore Roosevelt's ride down Mt. Marcy, the highest point in New York, after President McKinley was assassinated. This would make an excellent soundtrack for the trip.

First, as a warm up to the West Virginia's highest mountain, I started with one of its most famous, Seneca Rocks. It's where the 10th Mountain Division trained here to fight in the Italian mountains in World War II. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I were an experienced rock climber, but I thought it was pretty cool nonetheless.

After that hike, I wound my way through the dirt roads that lead to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia. At the parking lot at the summit, it is a 900-foot hike to the observation platform. It's pretty cool how the constant wind has shaped how the "flag trees" grow.

After the late afternoon's highpointing, I wound my way through West Virginia up into the far western part of Maryland, where eventually I found the state park where I would camp for the night.

Leg 2: Highest Point in Maryland

Backbone Mountain
3360 Feet

Early Saturday morning, I woke up and packed up my tent before heading to Backbone Mountain. At the top, there is a mailbox that contains the log, and as a first for me, certificates to prove that I had made it to the summit. The well marked trail to the summit actually starts in West Virginia. Near the summit, a side trail branches off to visit the lichen-covered Marker No. 3 of the Maryland-West Virginia border.

About a half-mile north of the trailhead and parking on US-219 is Our Lady of the Pines, which claims to be the "Smallest Church in 48 States." Exactly which two states were omitted is unclear because according to this list of tiny churches makes me think they don't actually mean the standard US-{Alaska, Hawai`i}.