Washington County is located in the narrow band of land connecting the main part of Maryland to its western hillier parts. Its highpoint is Quirauk Mountain, which seems to be part of a long narrow range called South Mountain that extends from the Potomac River in the south up into Pennsylvania. Quirauk Mountain is also the most prominent mountain in Maryland, at over 1,400 feet. However, Quirauk is also covered in communications towers and patrolled by armed police (their patches read “D. C. Police”). Getting to the top of Quirauk requires some advance legwork and permission. Just showing up and hoping for the best is likely to fail. Stealthing it without permission could get you some free lead. It is a very sensitive place. We “started” this highpoint journey a few weeks earlier when I called the PIO (name and numbers are provided on the cohp.org website). Earlier visitors had established these connections and to them I am grateful. The PIO was very helpful. When we arrived in Baltimore I called again with a make, model and license plate number for our car, plus an exact date we’d be there.

From Beth’s folks place in Millwood, Virginia, the drive north to Quirauk covers about 80 miles via Frederick and Thurmont. From Thurmont we followed smaller highways through the Catoctin Mountains toward Sabillasville and Cascade, just following the signs to stay on course. Finally we arrived in the community of Pen Mar, sitting on the Pennsylvania-Maryland state line. Quirauk is immediately above the town. Here, we took a short break at Pen Mar Park, then drove up the three miles up a narrow road to the checkpoint.

The guards/police were waiting for us, asking us if we were the “hikers”. They were nice, probably happy to have us show up to relieve the monotony. While we gave them our IDs, the guard cats emerged. Four of them! The guards feed them. Evidently they have the final say who goes on past the gate. Within a few minutes they led us on the grounds, and we followed another police guard named Sean, who’d been out for a jog, to the highpoint. He was nice and we all had a short chat. The actual hike covered just a few hundred yards, and photographs were not permitted. The “natural” highpoint was probably flattened ages ago. Some disturbed rocks near a parking area are the likeliest highpoints. After tagging them we started back down the hill, the entire visit taking maybe 15 minutes. We thanked the guards and the cats and drove back down a mile to High Rock, a lookout along the road covered in colorful graffiti and a popular launching point for hang gliders. The views down onto the Maryland countryside were very nice.

From here we circled down into Hagerstown then south along Interstate-81 via Martinsburg WV back through Winchester and onto Millwood. The weather, rainy most of the past few days, had been beautifully clear all afternoon, by far our best day so far.

In talking with the guards they said only a few people have come up specifically to seek the highpoint in the past couple of years. The Appalachian Trail runs right along the spine of the South Mountains and jogs just west of Quirauk Mountain. Nearby military and government installations use the communications towers; one can imagine the need for security up there. The guards were nice, as was the PIO on the phone. However, I would stress that future visitors to this highpoint call ahead and make plans with the PIO rather than just showing up. It would be a shame to have this access denied because of some irresponsible people. And trying an end-run around the guards would surely mean business for you and them. They are armed and it is made clear they will use force if need be.