State High Point - Delaware!

Delaware
Ebright Azimuth
On the way home from a biking trip in Delaware (White Clay Creek State Park!), Jimmy and I decided to take the long way home again... past DE's highest point!  The highest point marker is at the intersection of Ebright Rd & Ramblewood Dr, north of Wilmington, DE.  As it turns out, the land in the trailer park west of that intersection is actually a few feet higher.  However, that is rumored to be due to construction, and is therefore not the natural high point.  Anyway, we visited at night, so here are the best photos I could get.  Also note, it was trick-or-treat night, so there were lots of kids walking around in scary costumes!

 Ebright Azimuth - DE's High Point Marker

The park in the trailer park behind the High Point Marker.

Some of the land in the trailer park is higher than the natural highpoint.

I've noticed another curious thing about DE's highpoint.  The marker has been moved! 

Take a look at the Google StreetView:

View Larger Map
In StreetView the marker is located on the SE corner of Ebright & Ramblewood (across from the radio tower in the view).  However, the marker is now located on the west side of Ebright at the intersection with Ramblewood, and there's a nice sort of outcropping in the sidewalk so you can check it out without getting hit by cars!  Awesome!  We couldn't find the actual benchmark, but perhaps it's located near where the marker used to be?  We'll have to go back in the day time to look around for it.

Twelve-Mile Circle
On a separate trip to the White Clay Creek State Park area, we visited the end point of the Twelve-Mile Circle, which is the arc of the Delaware/Pennsylvania border.  Wikipedia has a nice illustration:

The Twelve-Mile Circle.  Not the blog.

I fell in a bunch of mud, but it was a worthwhile visit nonetheless!  And here are my photos:



I apologize for seemingly visiting Delaware only at night, and for the resulting poor photos!

State High Point - Pennsylvania!

I've never really been a highpointer, but I do like heights!  So a fascination with highpointing may have been inevitable.  Without further ado, here's the first in my series of high point adventures!

Pennsylvania's Highest Point
Casselman Wind Project
On the way home from Pittsburgh in July, Jimmy and I decided that we should stop by PA's highest point, and since Ken was in the car with us, he came too.  Not long after we got off the turnpike and started taking some of Somerset County's winding roads, we saw some wind turbines in the distance.  We agreed that if we came anywhere near them we'd try to find a way to get closer to explore.  Fortunately, we ended up driving right past a service road for the Casselman Wind Power Project!  And so we had some fun taking photos and admiring the turbines.  :)  Most of them were spinning, but it seemed that they were powered to slightly spin even if there wasn't much wind.  I suppose it uses more energy to start them up again from a dead stop than it does to keep them a little powered all the time.  Anyway, here are my photos!





Mt. Davis
Having had our fill of wind energy, we continued on towards Mt Davis.  The elevation change in our drive to the highpoint was very gradual, and we were almost surprised when we saw the "High Point" sign. We pulled over for the obligatory photos, and found a path going back into the woods to what turned out to be Baughman Rocks.We found a really nice deck with some benches, and on the other side of that, the actual rocks.  There is also a plaque that shares the creepy story of the family the rocks were named after.  And as seems to be the case in most rural areas, the high point sign seems to be a target for shooting practice.

Path to Baughman Rocks	Baughman Rocks plaque
Sitting area at Baughman Rocks	The rocks!

Jimmy + Mt Davis sign

Bang bang

We continued a bit further, turned down what looked like an access road, and found a parking lot.  There were a bunch of hiking trails that we opted not to test, as it nearly 100°F, and we were melting.  We did climb to the top of the observation tower, and admired the large relief map and the beautiful surroundings.  The plaque at the top of the tower even went so far as to explain the optical illusion of other mountains looking higher than the highpoint, when viewed from the tower.  I was particularly fond of one tree that we saw towering over the rest of the scenery.

The Mt Davis lookout tower	Relief map and description
Highest tree in PA?	My favorite tree again!

According to the DCNR brochure:

"Mt. Davis was named after John Nelson Davis, an early settler and former owner of the site.  He was a Civil War veteran, land surveyor, and naturalist.  It is said that he could readily identify all the wildlife and wild plants in the region, and was familiar with the various rock formations. 

This area is unique in that the central feature is a rock, 3,213 feet above sea level.  This rock is the highest point in Pennsylvania. ..."

Mt. Davis is beautiful, and I'd definitely like to visit again this spring and check out some of the hiking trails!

Maps and Links
All state high points can be found on a map here, and further information on state high and low points can be found listed here.  Of course I need my own map to track my visits, so here is my map of state high points.  I promise I'll keep it updated. :)

View US High Points in a larger map

For more information on Mt Davis:

• Wikipedia - Mt Davis 
• DCNR Brochure