Beth and I were visiting the hot springs in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, apparently the oldest hot springs resort city in the country. It's fairly basic, with some outside pools, some private pools, and a couple of high-end spa centers where you can get massages and other treatments. The town itself is packed into a tight valley, typical I guess of West Virginia, with old buildings and a neat downtown well worth a visit. I had never heard of this place in my life until we planned our trip back east; Beth seems to know the location of every hot springs in the universe, so she hankered for a visit there. I like hot springs, and discovering that there were two fairly easy county highpoints nearby sealed the deal! We left her folks' place and made a side trip to visit the highpoint of Berkeley County at Third Hill Mountain before spending the bulk of the afternnon in Berkeley Springs. By fortuitous luck the highpoint of Morgan County can be easily accessed from the Berkeley County side via a decent dirt road from Cacapon Mountains State Park.

When 4 o'clock rolled around we figured we needed to be getting back so we left town southbound on US-551 and about 20 miles later found ourselves at the entrance of Cacapon Mountains State Park. This is a highly developed park with a small lake, cabins, a huge visitors center with conference facilities and restaurants, riding trails, hiking trails, golf, you name it, all set amid thick forest. Nice place. In fact, upon arriving Beth recalled having visited here at some time in the past for some sort of family outing. We drove in and got lost. Actually, I partially randomly found the way to the main visitors check-in area and asked about the lookout road, and how to get there. The guy gave me a decent map and we simply followed the roads and the signs toward the Batt Picnic Area that's past the main lake area. He warned me the road is 'really rough' but in reality it's just typical graded dirt road once the pavement ends. Tiny passenger vehicles will feel the bumps but most cars will handle it well. It is steep and it does have a couple narrow turns but we've seen roads millions of times worse. The main attraction is a newly-built lookout deck looking out over the valley below.

We followed the road southerly as it basically gains the bulk of elevation in one long traverse, sometimes steeply. After a few miles it bends north at some radio towers and goes another half-mile to a large parking area and the lookout deck. Along the way we came upon a big fat snake in the road. Upon inspection he was dead, having been run over (not by us, though). Dark, he looked like a timber rattler. We spent a few minutes at the lookout, us being the only ones there. The haze and humidity was thick enough to obscure the valley below and the mountains across the way. On the drive out we sought to highpoint of Morgan County. This requires a good map and a keen set of eyes. The highpoint is nothing more than a benchmark set into a rock outcrop no more than 20 feet off the road. This benchmark, called "Ridge", is at the extreme southeast corner of Morgan County and is also a 'corner' of the state of Virginia, where it tucks into West Virginia at its eastern panhandle. The benchmark isn't even at the highpoint of this little ridge! We had to keep an eye out but soon we found the right rock outcrops and in short order found the benchmark. We gingerly stepped into the brush and leaf bed of the forest, keeping an eye out for the snakes, which we were sure were here by the hundreds, and walked to the benchmark, which is signified by a cairn of white rocks. I tagged it first then helped Beth tag it for her records.

At this point I was standing a few feet from her, while she stood on the rocks themselves. She stood tall and looked me in the eye and reminded me that 99.95% of all the women in the world would not even remotely consider putting up with this crap and that I should count myself lucky that she actually kind of likes finding these odd-ball geographical points of interest. I agreed and suggested it be best we get moving so as to avoid the amassing hordes of snakes. But she stood firm and reminded me again... and again, and made me agree, which I heartily did! I also felt I could agree better and in greater depth and detail once safely back in our vehicle. I got a lecture at a highpoint! I love the hell out of my wife!

We did eventually walk the 20 feet to our car. We also chatted with some others driving up, trying to explain what we were doing. Views at the highpoint are of just the rocks and forest, but views back at the lookout and on the drive up are pretty nice. Here, I'll put in a good word for Cacapon Mountains Resort. From here we drove the 40+ miles bcak on US-551 into Winchester, Virginia, and back to her folks' place.