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While many Northeastern states have their highest point located on or
immediately near the Appalachian Crest, Pennsylvania's Mt. Davis is actually found on
the Allegheny Plateau. The summit itself was uplifted approximately 300 million years
ago and is composed of Pottsville Sandstone, which has stood up relatively well to the
forces of erosion. There are no expansive views from the top, since the glaciers that
once covered this area left a fairly flat land profile in the vicinity. Deer Valley
Lake and High Point Lake provide moderate topographic relief, and are both remnants of
ice age glaciation.
For the majority of the year, Mt. Davis is easily accessible by car. In
the winter, though, its difficult to know what exactly to expect. The county roads in
the area are maintained (plowed) by the state, but it may be a day or two after a storm
until the roads are cleared again. In any case, the road leading N from CR 2002 or S from
CR 2004 into the Mt. Davis Natural Area will not be plowed, making for a minimum roundtrip
hike of just under 2 miles.
Mt. Davis is the highest point in Somerset County, however, there is
one other area just to the north of county road 2004 that is also above the 3,200'
contour. Although it isn't likely that this point rises higher than the boulder
surveyed by the USGS, it doesn't require much more effort to reach this spot just in
case.
North Approach Road (I, 1.0)
Trailhead: 952m (3,124ft)
Summit: 979m (3,213ft)
Vertical Gain: 27m (89ft)
Distance: 2.6km (1.6mi)
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2004.01.30 - After concluding a business trip to Virginia on
the 29th, I ventured into West Virginia to scout out the route up to the summit of
Spruce Knob. Encountering a snow closure that would require an overnight camp, I
decided to save the ascent of the Mountaineer's State as well as Maryland's Backbone
Mountain for another trip. The drive up to Grantsville, MD, aka the nearest major town
to Mt. Davis kept me attentive and on edge due to the snowfall and slippery roads. I got
a $55 room at the Grantsville Inn, a Holiday Inn before being renamed the week prior,
and tucked myself in for an ascent the next morning.
The roads in and around Mt. Davis left quite a bit to be desired; the
successive storms from earlier in the week had left snow drifted up to 4-meters high in
some places, completely closing off sections of road. Luckily, the southern approach
from Salisbury was passable, and I was able to drive all the way up to the state park
entrance east of Deer Valley Lake. The snowplows had left a mound where the park road
should have been, which created a 2-meter high snowy "headwall" to start off the hike.
The hike was easy, though cold and windy; I computed the windchill on
the tower as -35°F. Heading south along the road, I made quick progress as the snow
depth was only around 15 - 30 cm. The closer I got to the summit boulder, however, the
depper the drifts became. In front of the geologic sign, I sunk in almost a full meter,
with the snow coming up near my waist!
I arrived at the top after only 10 minutes of walking. Clouds obscured
any view, though they were thin enough that I could make out the lines of the ridge
along which Mt. Davis rose. The wind was bitterly strong by this point, so I quickly
darted up the ladder, took pictures of the signs so that I could read them later and
finally descended back into the relative protection of the trees along the road. Another
short 10-minute hike and I was back at the car ready to continue on to
Delaware.
Note: None of my personal pictures are on this page due to a problem
with the hard disk on my computer, which wiped all the trip photos before I could back
them up. I plan on returning in the future to re-create as many of the photos as
possible!
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