Order of Visit: High Point #34
Date Visited: March 28, 2021
Route Taken: Backbone Mountain Trail from Highway 219 to the summit of Hoye-Crest – 2 miles round-trip (plus a little detour when Finn took the wrong trail on his return trip)
Type of Terrain: A muddy logging road for the first half of the trail, with a steeper, but well-defined trail the remainder of the way. The entire route is blazed with the letters “HP” spray painted on the trees in red. There are also red wooden signs at all the trail junctions.
Elevation: 3,360 feet
Ancestral Lands: Massawomeck
What’s in a name?
Backbone Mountain is a 39-mile long ridge of the Allegheny Mountains located in the far western corner of Maryland. Therefore it would be impractical to simply call the state’s high point by the name Backbone Mountain.
Instead, the surveyors had to locate the highest peak on the Maryland side of the ridgeline and designate that spot as the true high point (similar Arkansas’ high point, where Signal Hill is the highest peak on Magazine Mountain) This peak of the ridgeline is named Hoye-Crest, in honor of Capt. Charles E. Hoye (1876–1951).
Hoye was born in Garrett County, Maryland, where he became a local school teacher. In 1898, he left his home to fight in the Spanish-American War and was deployed to the Philippines at the age of 22. He was discharged three years later, but remained in Manila to teach for the next 25 years, eventually rising to the role of Superintendent of Schools for the Philippine Bureau of Education.
During World War I, Hoye was temporarily recalled to military service with the 7th Regiment of the Philippine Guard, where he was promoted to the rank of Captain and served locally in the American colony.
Hoye ultimately returned to the Maryland in his 50s, where he developed a passion for local history and genealogy. This interest led him to help develop the Garrett County Historical Society. And now, Hoye himself, is part of that local history.
TRIP SUMMARY
Today was our final day on our 2021 spring break highpointing extravaganza. We’d already tagged four state high points (Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) as we headed back east for the Easter holiday, and today we were hoping to hit our final two states of the trip – Maryland and West Virginia.
The trip up to the summit of Backbone Mountain is unique because the trailhead is in one state, while the summit rests in another state. With that circumstance in mind, we plugged Silver Lake, WV, into the GPS and headed southwest from Cumberland, MD.
About a half mile south of Silver Lake, we passed a sign announcing a turn-off for Our Lady of the Pines Church, which bills itself as the smallest church in the lower 48. I’m not sure how accurate that might be, but it didn’t appear to be much bigger than a garden shed, so I suspect the honorific might be true.
It was only another half a mile south on Highway 218 before we came upon a sign on the side of the road announcing that we’d arrived at the trailhead for Maryland’s high point. There was already another SUV with New York plates parked on the small shoulder of the road, so we pulled in tight behind it to ensure passing cars wouldn’t sideswipe us as they drove down this curvy road.
Backbone Mountain is a narrow ridge that crosses from western Maryland over into West Virginia. Near the top of the peak, we’d need to a pass stone marker signifying that we were back in Maryland again. And just a bit further, we’d find the actual summit, which would be marked as Hoye-Crest.
Our visit to Hoye-Crest was one that we’d been hoping to do for a while. We’d originally planned to hike it back in December 2020, but a big snow and ice storm caused us to postpone our plans. Fast forward three months, and we were back for a second bite at the apple.
It was a wet spring day for this visit, with the weather oscillating between a drizzle and moderate rain all morning. A storm came through the local area around 10 pm last night, and it rained all night long, so we knew that wasn’t going to bode well for the dirt trail ahead of us.
After donning our rain jackets, it was time to get started. The first quarter mile of the trail was a nice logging road that climbed upward from Highway 219. The route was well-marked with bright red painted signs pointing us in the right direction.
We were careful to stick to the developed path and avoid trespassing on the private land on either side of us. And it wasn’t long before we saw the evidence of logging operations nearby. Entire swaths of the of the forest beside the trail were completely missing now, which diminished the natural views.
Predictably, the prior days’ rain had turned the dirt trail into a slippery mess, so we had to pick our steps carefully to avoid slipping and falling. It was probably a good thing we’d come prepared with extra shoes in the car because this trail was going to leave us dirty.
Several prior highpointers warned me that there were multiple trails on the mountain, creating a somewhat confusing network. Their best advice was to just pick whichever path went up, and eventually, we’d find our way to the summit.
Our highpointing experience on this mountain seemed was much easier though. Not only were there red wooden signs at each intersection we encountered, but someone had also marked the trees with a bright red “HP” along the route.
During the final third of our hike, the trail took a noticeably steeper turn. The incline was definitely causing us to work up a sweat in all our rain gear. After several drive-up midwestern high points these past few days, we were surprised to be working so hard in western Maryland!
As soon as we crested the ridge, we saw another sign pointing us to Marker #3 up on the rocky spine of the mountain. Here, we had the option of bearing left toward the stone marker up atop the state border or staying on the main trail toward the high point.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter which path we chose to follow, since the two routes merged back together about 100 yards later. Thus, we opted for the smooth main path and would visit the marker on the way back down.
At a grassy knob, we passed one final sign pointing us to the top of Maryland. We only had a few more feet of climbing on Backbone Mountain.
Once we reached the summit of Hoye-Crest, we crossed paths with another group of visitors. Perhaps these were the folks from New York who we’d parked behind down on the highway shoulder. And just beyond them, we spied the summit sign beside a giant rock pile.
The low clouds concealed the majority of the views from the top of Backbone Mountain. Yet we could see some slivers of the green farmland down below us between the shrubs and bare trees.
Backbone Mountain’s summit also had a bench and picnic table, plus a black mailbox with the visitor journal waiting for us to sign our names. The only thing it didn’t have was a privy, which I was in desperate need of. My bladder was crying out from all giant cup of coffee I’d consumed on the ride out here.
As we headed back down, I decided to detour onto the alternate path to take a closer look at the stone marker on the ridgeline. Meanwhile Keith and Finn opted to return on the main trail ahead of me.
The rocks on the alternate trail were super slippery this wet morning and the path was very overgrown. Nonetheless, it didn’t take long to get out to the two-foot tall stone monument covered in green lichen. I felt an inherent need to stop and take a photo of it while straddling the rocky crest with one foot in Maryland and the other one in West Virginia!
With my unique border photo captured, I jogged down the trail to catch up with my family. I could see the back of Keith’s bright green rain jacket ahead of me, but I couldn’t see Finn. He must have decided to run back the trail down to the car, leaving his slow, boring parents behind.
It took me nearly a quarter mile to catch up to Keith, and I when I did, I asked how far Finn was ahead of us. Keith looked back at me like I was talking gibberish. He thought Finn was somewhere behind him, not ahead of him!
That’s when we realized Finn must have taken a wrong turn somewhere on the descent. Did he miss the obvious red sign at the last trail junction directing us toward the trailhead and Highway 219? Keith and I had been heading back down toward West Virginia (where the car was parked), but it seemed Finn was walking down the opposite side of the mountain into Maryland.
After figuring this out, we called Finn’s cell phone to let him know he was heading the wrong direction before agreeing to reunite back up again on the summit. And so, Keith and I quickly turned back around to head right back up the steep section of trail we just descended.
When we got back to the Hoye-Crest sign again, Finn was waiting there for us and a little upset that we’d “left him behind.” We still can’t figure out how he missed the obvious turn, or the signs, or the red HP blazes on the trees. It was so abundantly clear which way to go that he almost had to try to get lost!
That little mishap would put us a bit behind schedule on our way to our next high point, West Virginia’s Spruce Knob. But at least we were all back together again!
DETAILS
When to Visit: This hike is open year-round, but the first half of the trail tends to get very muddy and mucky during the wetter seasons when logging operations are ongoing.
Getting There: The trailhead for Backbone Mountain is a mile south of Silver Lake, West Virginia, just off Highway 219. Maryland’s high point is located approximately 60 miles from Cumberland, Maryland on the state’s far western border.
Entrance Fees: None. The trail to the summit takes visitors though private land, thus you should be careful not deviate from the main path, if possible.
Parking: Visitors should park on the shoulder of Highway 219 near the sign announcing Maryland’s high point. There’s space for approximately 3 cars as the first parking pull out, and another 3 cars at the next pull out 50 yards further up the road.
Accessibility: This high point will require a moderately hard hike to the summit, so come prepared with good hiking shoes.
Bonus: If you are looking to grab a few high points in rapid succession, Backbone Mountain is only 50 miles from Pennsylvania’s high point (Mt. Davis) and 65 miles from West Virginia’s high point (Spruce Knob).
Resources:
- An Overview of Backbone Mountain (Summit Post)
- Hoye Crest / Backbone Mountain trail guide (All Trails)
- Captain Charles E. Hoye (Towson University)
Not sure how I ran across your post here, but just had to comment and say that my son and I hiked to the high point this past Summer and he also missed the sign pointing back to Route 219 (he left the top to head back down before I did) lol. Thankfully he realized it and called me immediately to tell me. But man, talk about your heart dropping when you realize your kid is “lost”, even if my kid is 18 lol.
That certainly makes me feel better! Kids!