Ashe County Highpoint Trip Report

The Peak

Date: May 16, 2005
Author: Patrick Craft

I had been wanting to climb this mountain since learning it was the county highpoint. Ashe county is like its neighbor, Allegheny county, in that it is a rolling county but there are some fairly large mountains in the western half of the county. I have seen two trip reports. I drove over today and scouted out the west side of the mountain from West Peak road. I was going to meet another highpointer but we never got connected.

I found a promising jeep road a few miles north of NC 88. I hoped to climb the ridge that ended at the saddle south of the highpoint. I struck up the track alternating between old road and ridge-line bushwhack, increasingly steeper, until the jeep trail ended at some survey tape and a survey rod, about 300 feet in elevation below the saddle. Here I went up, very steeply (maybe a 40-50 degree incline) pulling up and through rhododendron.

At the saddle I followed the ridgeline to the summit. I stopped at many spots on the ridge to see the views to the west. At the summit, I found the microscopic benchmark and sat to have a snack. The panorama was spectacular. One could see 10 other county highpoints in 3 states: Grandfather (Mount Calloway Peak), Grassy Ridge, Roan High Knob, Snake Mountain, Holsten High Knob, Whitetop Mountain, and Mount Rogers. Clinch Mountain could be seen far to the west; it was difficult to make out Beartown Mountain.

The hike up took 90 minutes. I returned by the same ridge in 45minutes and spotted the car of my late-arriving companion. I wonder how he did? The spring growth is coming out. The smilax, blackberries, locust, and other growth make long pants and long sleeves advisable.

I'm not certain who owns the mountain. It may be the Nature Conservancy. Some of the land is posted. The west side of the mountain is much steeper but less of an approach.