Beth and I planned to take a full day and drive up to the town of Berkeley Springs, site of one of the oldest developed hot springs resorts in the United States. Berkeley Springs is about a 60 mile drive northwest of her folks, but we chose (as usual) to take a scenic route, with the plan to hike an easy highpoint along the way. The objective was the top of Third Hill Mountain, with benchmark "Shanghai". According to the map and reports, a jeep road/foot path meandered about a mile to the top from the main road. Looked like cake. So we headed north from Millwood through Berryville toward Charles Town, West Virginia, then took off west through some smaller communities - Glengary and Shanghai - until we got onto the correct local road called Hampshire Grade Road (County Road 7-13). It was a straightforward drive to the trailhead, which was easy to miss ... and I did, but backed up to it without incident.

Beth was feeling pretty bad at this point and opted not to go on the hike. I suited up and promised not to be long, and bid adieu to Beth, while she stayed back at the car. The 'road' is no longer jeep-worthy and is only open to foot traffic. The condition of the trail started out kind of poorly, with some deadfall and a heavy mat of forest detritus on the ground. I took it slow, mainly to watch out for the slithery critters, but soon enough conditions improved, the trail grew wider and more exposed, and I made much better time. The trail goes directly to the top, gaining about 380 feet at a very lenient grade. Within 20 minutes I arrived at the top, coming upon a derelict tower with a flapping American flag on top. Some rocks behind the tower seem to jut higher a bit, but then so did parts of the trail, so I explored and called it good after a few minutes. Three other areas, including one about the same size as the accepted 'top', lie nearby, and the trail goes right to them, so I visited these and then started the hike right back out. Views of the countryside were blocked by the thick forest, and I didn't trust the tower enough to climb it. Basically this was a quick, business-like hike... nothing memorable, but still nice and enjoyable.

It took about 20 more minutes to egress, and including my time at the 'top', a total of 50 minutes for the whole adventure. The humidity was thick and I was pretty wet and sticky after I was done. I also walked into a number of spider webs along the way. From here we descended through some interesting West Virginia backroads that eventually put us right out onto US-551 about 3 miles south of Berkeley Springs. We spent an enjoyable few hours touring the little town and taking in some of the amenities. Apparently George Washington soothed his sore muscles here back in his time. Much later in the day we made a short, quick and pleasant visit to the nearby Morgan County highpoint on Cacapon Mountain.