My wife Beth and I were making our annual visit to her folks in Virginia. As we had done in the two previous years, we flew into Baltimore-Washington (BWI) airport, about a 90-minute drive from where her folks live. We had an early flight from Phoenix, so when we landed, it was still only about 2 p.m. local time, including the time difference. Traffic was light getting out of the Baltimore region, and we headed west along Interstate-70 toward the city of Frederick, from which we'd take US-340 south toward her folks' place in Clarke County, Virginia. Along the way we made a side trip to visit the highpoint of Frederick County, which is in the hills near the community of Thurmont, about 15 miles north of the city of Frederick. It looked easy enough and we figured maybe a 60 minute side adventure at most.

We stopped in Frederick to get a quick bite and figure out the road net to the highpoint. From Frederick we followed US-15 north to Thurmont, then took MD-77 west into the Catoctin Mountains State Park. We drove through the lovely scenery and thick trees a few miles before coming out the other side of the small range, near the community of Foxville. We found Foxville Lookout Tower Road (Called 'Tower Road' officially), and followed it south roughly 1.5-2 miles. The road passed through some residences and some small estates. The road shown on the map gave us the impression it would be a dirt forest road but in fact it was paved, and with brand new homes being built along its side. We had concerns that the highpoint may be inaccessible due to the new homes. We backtracked and tried another road that went west of the highpoint but quickly determined this to be a waste of time. So back to our original road. Apparently we were looking for a tall, thin radio tower of some sort (the actual lookout tower having long since been disassembled and carted off). The highpoint was near this tower. We had our position pegged accurately according to the map, but the landmarks weren't there ... until Beth spotted the tower hidden amid the thick forest cover. So we parked and started in.

The hike, if you will, was just a short stroll along an old, overgrown road servicing the tower, and some bashing through light brush. We quickly found the highpoint and three concrete foundation pilings on which the old tower stood. The true highpoint could be on of a few piles of rock sticking up in the brush. We visited each of these areas, and took our visit real slow, keeping our eyes out for snakes. Nevertheless our total time was about 15 minutes. In the humidity we both got a good soaking.

We made our drive down to her parents' place with a bit of confusion, getting lost on some of the local roads and having to backtrack into Frederick before getting our bearings.