How have I lived in Pennsylvania most of my life and not have heard about Mount Davis!?
Okay okay, it's really not some life-changing place or experience by any means but it's still pretty cool to say that I stood on top of my home state (3213ft plus 50ft while standing on the observation tower).
Mount Davis is located in Forbes State Forest in Somerset County and is right on the border of Maryland and West Virginia.
And during the fall, IT IS GORGEOUS!!
There are actually three ways to get to the peak. You can drive up by car, park down by the Highpoint Trail picnic area and hike the straight 1-mile trail, or take the 5-mile loop trail. Since my friend and I drove 2.5 hours to get there, it only made sense that we took the leisure route and hiked the 5-miles.
For those of you who are still fairly new to hiking, don't be alarmed about that number because it really didn't feel that far on this trial. Even my friend, Alexa, was a bit "ehhhh" about the sound of a longer hike but I think she'd agree that it was on the easier side. So, stamp of approval from the both of us.
I will admit the trail was a little harder to find at first, as it was removed a bit from the picnic area parking lot. There were no signs indicating where to go, and we got lucky walking up the grass a bit while noticing a couple appear from the woods. The path is marked as High Point Trail which is the start of the 1-mile trail and 5-mile loop.
Roughly around 100ft from the start of the trail, the 5-mile loop breaks off and turns left while 1-mile trail continues straight. Also, I should mention, the 5-mile loop is created from 3 or 4 different trails in the forest, which we didn't realize at first either. At one point it ends up changing markers from yellow to red, which we probably would not have noticed if it wasn't for the All Trails app. Honestly, if you don't use this app while hiking...GET IT NOW! It is so helpful, especially on poorly marked or confusing trials.
Once we neared the top of the mountain, we were met with a big sign indicating the peak and the large 50ft observation tower around the corner.
There was a good handful of people there but everyone seemed to be courteous with social distancing and taking turns going up and down the tower. The steps going up can get pretty narrow, so it's definitely better to wait until a group comes down to go up and vice versa.
Once we reached the tippie-top, it really was beautiful. I mean, most of it was just the tree line, and we couldn't really see anything out in the distance BUT, the colors of the trees were really cool and it's one of those dream like moments that you want to capture in your head and hold on to for awhile.
TDLR: Nature is awesome guys! And I recommend this place during the fall over any other season.
Ever since I moved back home, I have been dying to get outside on the trails as much as I did when I was back at college in New York. And I really miss hiking the big mountains in New Hampshire, but I digress, little ol' PA has a bit of charm to it, albeit sometimes a bit hard to see right away.
I'll admit, I have been sleeping on some of these local charms. And as a travel blogger who always preached about exploring the local while I lived in New York for four years, I feel like I went against myself by not doing the same with my OG home state. So, here's to me trying to be a bit more adventurous in PA. Maybe this will inspire you to do the same. Or not.
Either way, enjoy this picture of a beautiful cow I saw while driving through farmland on the way home.
