Lackawanna County Highpoint Trip Report

Moosic Mtns (2,323 ft)

Date: August 6, 2004
Author: Fred Lobdell

I approached this one from the north via back roads and got myself temporarily misplaced (not lost, you understand) before eventually finding the correct approach roads. As I have only a most confused recollection of how I got to the trailhead, I'd better let the directions in previous trip reports stand.

This HP lies in State Game Lands #300 and thus is public property. Access is not a problem but hunting season should be avoided.

When you turn into the dirt road that gives access to the HP, you are greeted almost immediately with a sign "No Motorized Vehicles Beyond This Point", although there is no physical bar to your driving further. There is a large parking area on the left. Being a good citizen (now and then, anyway) I parked here and walked where others have driven. This added about 1.5 miles to my round trip hike, all of it easy walking on a good gravel road.

Follow this road, as described in previous reports, as it turns left and briefly follows some power lines, then turns right and passes under them to a gate. Continue up the road and just after a right bend, shown on the topo and a short distance before the road crests, note a woods road on the right. Follow this generally northeast for several hundred yards until it sort of turns into a large blueberry patch. As Dave Orsheski noted in his report, it is now almost unnecessary to fight the awful scrub growth. Just plow through the blueberries, keeping your compass or GPS unit in hand, as the terrain looks pretty much the same in all directions.

I first topped out on a rise that I thought might be the HP but a clear view to the south convinced me that I was on the first, false summit. I continued on a few hundred more feet to a second rise where I found a small cairn. After reading that Dave Orsheski had built a small cairn on what his GPS unit said was the HP, I concluded that I was there.

On your way out, there is a quite visible radio tower (shown on the topo) to your south, in the general direction of the entrance to this area and the parking area. Stanchions from the power line are also visible from time to time, so it would take some effort to get lost on your way out.

There were a number of cedar waxwings, probably taking advantage of the blueberry crop. I also had an excellent look at my first-ever black-billed cuckoo.