2004.01.30 - After leaving Salisbury, PA, the closest sizeable town to Mt. Davis, I merged onto I-68 and began traveling toward Ebright Hill, the highest point in Delaware. All that separated me was the entire length of Maryland! Being from Texas, the thought of driving completely across a state in just a few hours is unbelievable; on a trip to Big Bend, I drove for 12 hours without crossing a single state line.

The miles passed by quickly and before I really realized it, I had arrived in the northern outskirts of Wilmington, Delaware. Approaching the highpoint area, I parked a few houses down on Ramblewood Dr. and got out of the car with my camera, flag and Jacko. I took a few pictures near the Ebright Azimuth sign, and while I was setting up my tripod, some locals drove by yelling some profanities at this crazy tourist. Feeling no worse for wear, I started walking over toward the nearby mobile home park. Delaware's highpoint is somewhat in question as there are 3 potential candidates: 1) the benchmark located at the corner of Ebright and Ramblewood, 2) a seemingly man-made summit boulder near the first mobile home and 3) a 450' closed contour further within the residential streets. After looking over the area, I felt that option 3 likely contained the highpoint; the hills of North Texas are quite similar to the topography here, which featured slopes rising to a broad "summit" area. Given the development in the area, it is very likely that the true highest natural point is buried beneath some concrete along the 2nd or 3rd streets inside the park (based on eyeballing the area, I believe that the topo may be slightly off. After walking in circles trying to discern any slight rise, I took a photo of Jacko and myself standing on top of the highest snow drift I could find. After all, snow is a natural phenomenon!

I had neglected to put my gloves on as I didn't think it was really that cold outside, however, my hands had started to become useless stumps. Trying to take pictures was definitely a difficult task. I hurried back over to my car to put on my gloves and get warm again.

Before leaving the state, I stopped at a sandwich shop in the area to have a meal and wash my face. I know its kind of tacky, but I ended up brushing my teeth and shaving (electric) in their bathroom so that I could feel somewhat presentable for being out in public. The rest of the world has somewhat higher appearance standards than the average highpointer! After a great dinner and the some of the best iced tea I've ever had (green tea), I got back on the road, this time heading toward New Jersey's High Point State Park and Kittatinny Mountain.

Note: The pictures on this page were taken on a subsequent visit to Ebright Hill, which took place on 19 July 2004. The original winter ascent pictures were lost due to a computer crash in March of 2004.