Backbone Mountain is a long ridge that runs diagonally southwest-to-northeast in the extreme southwest corner of Maryland, extending into West Virginia. The highest point on the mountain is actually in West Virginia and is the Preston county (WV) highpoint, which I did about an hour later. The Maryland highpoint is a closed contour of 3,360 feet about two miles north of the mountain's highest point in West Virginia. However, best access to the Maryland highpoint is from the West Virginia side.

I started the day in Morgantown, West Virginia, after a night of heavy rain and thunderstorms. I awoke early, then made my way south and east along some very curvy West Virginia highways (and did two embarrassingly easy county highpoints along the way) to the community of Silver Lake on US-219 about a mile south of the WV-24 junction. An old logging road serves as the trail, and a hand-made sign nailed to a tree along the highway marks the trailhead, as do some inelegantly spray-painted markers, too. I parked off the highway and got geared up. It was a steady rain, but not too cold, so I wore shorts but also my parka, and started in.

The road makes a good trail, and it gains moderately but consistently for a little less than a mile to the ridge in a southerly direction, at which point the road ends and a good use-trail continues north. Here, signs point to the WV state-line marker and the Maryland highpoint. It seems to indicate that either direction in the fork will take you to the Maryland highpoint, but a right turn at the fork will mean less bushwhacking... I tried both ways. I did go left, walking a very short ways to the cement state-line marker, but I retreated back to the junction and went the other way a few hundred yards to the Maryland highpoint. A nice metal sign marks the highpoint amid the trees, with some clearing and a picnic table. There are good views east into Maryland, none toward the west. I signed in the register, snapped a photo or two, then hiked back to my car. The rain was steady but not annoying, although my parka was plenty wet when I returned. Fortunately the fog was minimal and I had good views and an enjoyable hike. The round-trip took about 45 minutes with about 2.5 miles overall hiking and about 800 feet of gain.

For the Preston County (WV) highpoint, I just drove south along US-219 about 2 miles... click here.