Black Mountain, KY - Peak #7

July 12, 2010 




Beth at the summit monument of Black Mountain, KY

  

Our trip to Black Mountain, the highest point in Kentucky at 4139 ft., was a scary experience. The land is privately owned and has towers on top of it. Basically, there is a one-lane, winding road for a little over a mile that gets you to the top. Beth and I reached the first tower we saw, which was a radar tower. Not only did we not see the marker, we were in the clouds giving the area a spooky feel. We realized the road actually proceeded a little higher so we got out our hiking poles and shoes and began to walk up the road. A bird suddenly flew out of a tree and made Beth scream. A few steps later, we saw a truck parked on the road above us and a man appeared by the truck. We stopped to ask him if he knew where the marker was. As he smoked a cigarette, he said he had no idea, and pointed us to the first tower we had come to saying that must be the high point. He was somewhat convincing, but the fact remained that the road ahead of us was a higher altitude. Neither Beth nor I had a good feeling from this guy and Beth was ready to run for the car. But, I insisted that we proceed up the road and finish our mission, so Beth kept walking with me. (She even turned on her video camera and recorded the guy's license on his truck.) Success once again! At the top of the road we found more towers and the highest point marker.