Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Maryland High Point Trail and Blackwater Falls State Park
This morning we drove a dozen miles to the Maryland High Point Trail, where we hiked all the way from West Virginia to the highest point in the state of Maryland, the peak of Backbone Mountain, elevation 3,360 feet.
The West Virginia portion of the Maryland High Point Trail is a steep and rocky logging road through a large clear-cut area. Once you reach the Maryland border, the trail becomes an even steeper footpath through the uncut forest. There's a marker at the top and a logbook to record your summit conquest, plus the view is quite nice!
To the top of Backbone Mountain
Tom hits the high point
Jana enjoys the view
Western Maryland
On the way back down, the trail provides nice, open views of West Virginia, thanks to the clear-cutting. The hike is only a 2-mile round trip, but it's pretty tough over the steep, rocky ground. Yesterday's hike at Seneca Rocks had an annoying number of switchbacks, but this trail could have used a few back-and-forths instead of going straight up. I'm not even going to mention how long it took us!
Back toward West Virginia
Since we were so close, we next dropped by Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church, which claims to be the “smallest church in 48 states.” Hmm, I've seen a lot of small churches, and I'm not so sure about that, but it was definitely tiny and cute.
Little church with a big claim
Certainly small
Tiny interior
In the afternoon, we visited the impressive Blackwater Falls State Park, just outside the town of Davis. Our first stop was the eponymous falls, where we tested our tired knees traversing 214 steps leading down to multiple overlooks of the 57-foot cascade.
Blackwater Falls
Blackwater Canyon
Elakala Falls is a series of four waterfalls, but you can only reach the top one easily via trail. This uppermost falls is 35 feet tall, with a footbridge spanning the creek just above. By now it was late afternoon and threatening rain, so we made this our last stop of the day. We can return to the park tomorrow.
Elakala Falls
Davis and nearby Thomas are very small towns, and most of the restaurants are open only Thursday through Sunday, or in some cases less. We could have returned to the BBQ place in Canaan Valley we went to yesterday, but we opted instead to cook cans of chili in the community microwave located in the laundry room of our motel. Fancy!
Fun fact: Davis, at 3,520 feet, is the highest town in West Virginia and averages 120 inches of snow per year. The Canaan Valley overall averages 150 inches. Great Scott!
Tom
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