2005.01.14 - Almost one year ago, I paid a visit to Spruce Knob, WV. Let me emphasize the payment part. After several days of snowfall, the road leading up the mountain had been covered in 0.5 to 2 feet of the white stuff. I decided to try and drive as high as possible since hiking from the base would entail ~22 miles round-trip.

The car, a 4x4 Chevy Tracker, made slow but steady progress up the lower part of the route. When I got to FR-112, the snow got significantly deeper and after only 100 meters, I was having difficulty. Even in 4WD, the wheels struggled in vain as the tried to claw up the slope. It became obvious that I wasn't getting any higher, so I made the decision to turn tail and return at a later date. As I was backing down, the tires lost traction and the car slowly into a ditch on the uphill side of the road. To make a long story short, I tried digging out to no avail. Luckily for me, a husband and wife drove by on CR-6, and upon seeing my plight, stopped to help. They hooked a chain up to the Tracker frame and within a minute, I was back on relatively clear pavement. I thanked them profusely, and, with my tail between my legs, headed to Mt. Davis, PA.

That was then, this is now...

After summiting in Maryland, I drove mostly south along the country roads of West Virginia toward the town of Elkton. There, I hoped to get some dinner and some information about how far I might be able to drive up the Spruce Knob road before having to start the hike. Once in town, I found a Subway and was able to satisfy both goals. I ate a delicious toasted tuna sub, and learned from a local family that there was some snow in the high-country, but that the road would most likely be passable with 4WD. Luckily for me, Avis decided to give me a 4WD Ford Escape! Happily I continued driving to Seneca Rocks, where I intended to car camp for the night.

After some more quality time spent in the car, I arrived at the Seneca Rocks camp store which was surprisingly still open at 9:00 PM in the off-season. I walked inside to get some more information, and ended up having a great conversation with the man who owned the store / motel. He told me that the road was clear all the way to the top, but that I might encounter a few patches of ice. He also recommended that I not drive up at night, because if the car were to break down, the remoteness would keep me confined until morning. We exchanged goodbyes, and I thanked him for the information. Up until this point, I hadn't considered trying for a 4th state on this particular day. Since the road would likely not present any problems and since I had enough gear to make camp if the car did decide to quit working, I was rather tempted.

To make a long story short, the lonely 20-mile drive up Spruce Knob was great time for prayer and praise. There was no cellphone service and no radio. I really enjoyed the feeling of isolation. Once I got to the summit parking area, I stepped outside to a windy but beautiful night. The wind was tearing through the trees, and was blowing spindrift all about. I pulled out my pack and headlamp, and started out along the walkway leading to the summit tower.

I felt like I was walking on the moon. My headlamp illuminated the beautiful shapes of snow-covered trees, but there was still black everywhere around me. Glancing up at the sky, the moonless night revealed an infinite number of stars gleaming more brightly than I have ever seen. I felt like I was the only person in the world. The song that kept running through my head was "God of Wonders", which seemed a perfect soundtrack for the experience. The setting made me feel incredibly tiny; just to think that there were millions of other stars and planets out there, almost all larger than our tiny Earth, put things in perspective for me. Even though I only drove to the top, this night was one of the most wonderful wilderness experiences I have ever had.

The summit experience took a back seat to the beauty of my surroundings, though I did take all the pictures I intended to. I spent most of the time sitting silently on top of the tower watching the heavens and listening to the sound of the wind. After 45 minutes of enduring the freezing cold, though, I had to pull myself away from Spruce Knob. As an aside, I would definitely recommend that anyone wanting to visit this peak plan to do so at night; since the nearest town of any size is so far away, the sky is completely amazing!

This had definitely been a satisfying day! Prior to this trip, I had only visited 2 highpoints in a single day. Now, I had shattered my previous record and set foot on the highest points in 4 different states in less than 24 hours! I felt a little guilty about not getting to do at least some hiking in West Virginia, but I now had plans to add 2 more states on the trip. With no maps to guide me, I would try to visit both Kentucky and Virginia the next day. With several hundered lonely miles to drive, I set off for Marion, VA, which would be my stopping point for the night. I eventually reached the rest stop there at ~ 3:30 AM on the 15th, so that I could get a few precious hours of sleep before tackling Black Mountain, KY after sunrise.