Backbone Mountain, Maryland

Darlene and I decided to take a different type of vacation this time. We decided to hike the highest point in Maryland, which is Backbone Mountain, also known as Hoye-Crest. We've frequently been to Harpers Ferry, South Mtn., and all points along the MD section of the Appalachian Trail, but those typically range about 1600 feet. Backbone Mtn. is twice that at 3,360 feet.

We climbed Backbone Mountain on Thursday, September 16, 2010. In spite of the rain, we had a great time.

Getting to Backbone Mountain was not all that difficult. It's about 10 miles south of Oakland, Md on US 219 and about 1/2 mile from the smallest church in the continental USA (seats 12 total). When we arrived the door had an "open" sign on it so we took the opportunity and went in. There were a total of 6 pews, each pew was two seats wide.


Maryland's highpeak is actually owned by a private company but access is allowed from the West Virginia side. There's a small area to park along side the road and the trailhead begins as a fire road. The hike begins at about 2760 feet and it's about a one mile hike to the top and took us about 30 minutes one way, although my pace was faster than Darlene would have preferred.

1/2 way up, Darlene's heart was pounding at 140 bpm; I was at 150 bpm. Our bpm's would have been higher had it not been for the cool steady rain. We passed another hiker, who was coming down from the summit. He said it was a good hike but visibility at the top was limited because of the weather.

We were directed by a trail marker to turn left. All in all it was a gentle hike along a well marked trail. Once at the summit we were able to register our ascent on the high peaker's list inside of the mailbox. It turned out that the hiker we just met 20 minutes earlier registered as being from Fairbanks, Alaska !

We took a couple of images to record our hike. This was the first of many highpeaks we plan on identifying and hiking in the near future.