Getting ready to head to the highpoint of Maryland 

Backbone Mountain (3360 feet) Photo Album

First things first…I’ve got to get more timely in writing these posts….

Thanksgiving week always makes for an interesting time in my household.  It marks the end of college football season and rivalry games, especially the Battle for the Golden Egg, celebration with family, and working out time for my son to spend time with me, my family and his mom and her family.  One week does not always seem like enough.

Thankfully, I have an awesome family who knows that those of us in the education business are limited with our time off and when it occurs, and his mom is pretty flexible when I want to take him on a trip, so we decided to forego football (good thing because Mississippi State got popped hard), have an early Thanksgiving dinner, and then take off on a fast five-day trip to Backbone Mountain, Mount Davis, Gettysburg and Washington D.C.

We started off with a drive up to Morgantown, West Virginia, which makes for a pretty good place if you want to go to Backbone Mountain the next day.  The trip was great, and it marked my son’s first time in West Virginia.  More importantly, he handled the 15 or so hours in the car during the drive from Brandon, Mississippi, well.  We even got to see some snow fall that night, so we pulled over at a rest stop and tried to get as much on our tongues as possible.  If you are wondering, we rarely see snow on the Gulf Coast.

Celebrating Ben’s first trip inside of West Virginia

After checking into our hotel, it was time to hit the hay and get ready for a two highpoint day.

We got up pretty early the next morning because I had heard there was a stop that had to be made when getting ready to head up to Backbone Mountain, a visit to Our Lady of the Pines church.  It claims to be the smallest church in 48 states, so either Alaska and Hawaii do not count, or they are just leaving two out.  At any rate, it is worth whipping in and looking around the sanctuary, which seats 12.

Ben standing inside Our Lady of the Pines. It claims to be the smallest church in 48 states, so I guess Alaska and Hawaii didn’t make the cut. It seats 12.

After a quick stop, it was time to snag a highpoint.  Well, it was time to blow past the sign and have to find an awkward turn around and try again, but we finally got there as you can see above.

The trail to the top of Backbone Mountain is not too difficult, but you do have to be careful not to slip in spots. During the winter, none of the trees have branches, so there is not much color, but you can see a bit of the mountain as you wonder up the trail.

Perhaps the most confusing part is that unless you are really keeping up with distances, you can think you have reached the top a couple of times.  In fact the last little stretch to the top felt a little wrong to me, but it takes you there.

Be sure to take the time to visit the state line markers and do all of the fun pictures of everyone being in different states (Maryland and West Virginia).

The trail to the top runs along the state line between Maryland and West Virginia. Here we are in two different states.

This was our coldest highpoint, as the temperature was 15 degrees as we started the trail in West Virginia.  It edged out our trip to Taum Sauk Mountain, which was pretty cold as well. However, with the sun shining and enough layers and movement, these two coast guys made it just fine.  In fact, it really didn’t feel cold at all.

Backbone Mountain makes for a great trip, and if you have a friend that you are trying to break into highpointing, it would be a great first highpoint.  You get a little bit of distance and gain on the trail, but it is nothing too challenging.  We saw all sorts of people on the trail as we went.

I do need your help with one aspect of this climb.  My phone died after I took a picture from the top of the mountain. Another hiker, who was in from Colorado with her folks, took our picture, but it never made it to us.  Spread the word with folks you know who run in hiking circles. I’d love to see the picture make it to me one day.  It’s a shot in the dark I know, but hey, it is worth a try.