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Ascent of Black Mountain on 2009-03-23

Climber: Walter Blume

Others in Party:

Nichole
Renny

Date:

Monday, March 23, 2009

Ascent Type:

Successful Summit Attained

Motorized Transport to Trailhead:

Car

Peak:

Black Mountain

Location:

USA-Kentucky

Elevation:

4139 ft / 1261 m

Ascent Trip Report

If you come in from the Virginia side on highway 160, you can be briefly fooled by a dirt road into thinking that the road to the high point is unpaved and rather rugged. But actually the real road is paved and goes almost the entire way to the highpoint. We decided to walk instead, and it made for a nice 3.5 mile round-trip walk through a quiet wooded area. Curiously we saw three dead moles on the road as we walked. No clue why they were just lying on the road, but we decided it was due to the massive RF radiation emanating from the FAA radar antenna situated near the highpoint. The radar installation is probably the most impressive thing near the highpoint (though my wife was unimpressed and did not like it). The actual summit is rather ugly, with debris strewn about and a bunch of antennas. On the way down we found an RF immune salamander with red spots on its sides. My son Renny threw his knife at random trees for most of the hike, and aside from woodpeckers, it was about the only noise we heard. We took a few pictures by the state line signs, and I managed to leave my backpack behind. We drove over a hundred miles before noticing that the backpack was missing. Decided to drive back, and found it sitting waiting for us by the rock where I had put it down.

See map here

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

445 ft / 136 m

Distance:

4 mi / 6.4 km

Route:

access road

Trailhead:

Hwy 160 entrance 3694 ft / 1125 m

Route Conditions:

Road Hike

Weather:

Pleasant, Calm, Partly Cloudy

Ascent Statistics

Time Up:

1 Hours 0 Minutes

Descent Statistics

Time Down:

55 Minutes

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