Harrisonburg City Highpoint Trip Report

two unnamed areas (1,760+ ft)

Date: May 6, 2005
Author: Fred Lobdell

For the 1,767-foot spot elevation area, see my previous trip report. This report concerns only the area on the city line.

I followed Don Derosiers's trip report, parking on Betts Road and hiking up from the northeast. Betts Road is a narrow gravel road, so I parked at a pullout a couple of hundred yards east of the power lines.

I hiked up somewhat steeply through open woods to the ridge crest, where I found a man cutting and gathering firewood. He was an employee of the Mr. Frazier who owns the land in the area and lives in a large and impressive stone house on the southwest side of the ridge. The topographic map shows the city/county line to be just on the city side of the power lines and I walked the ridge line toward the city to the edge of the open, grassy area. Near the northeast edge of this area are three trees and I felt that the ground under these trees was slightly higher than anything else back toward the power lines and was thus the HP of Harrisonburg city.

Also not mentioned in previous reports, I found reference marker "Frazier No. 1" with a date of 1965, along with a badly abused witness post, at the base of one of the power line stanchions. I followed the arrow for a couple of hundred yards but was unable to find the bench mark; it may be gone or buried. By this route, this is a round trip of about a third of a mile with an elevation gain of about 200 feet.