Elk County High Point Trip Report

Wildwood fire tower site (2376 ft.)

Date: June 6, 2009
Author: Andy Hatzos

If at first you don't succeed...

This trip report will detail an ascent of the Wildwood Fire Tower site. The other four candidate areas in Elk County (one near the Wildwood Fire Tower site, and three on Boone Mountain) were eliminated based on my LiDAR elevation analysis.

I first attempted a southern approach to reach this high point -- coming in on Shawmut Grade Road, off Wilson Road about three miles north of St. Mary's. Shawmut Grade Road is very narrow, with steep drops of easily over a hundred feet just off the side. The quality of the road is poor, but passable in a passenger car. Unfortunately, I found the road gated and locked about two and a half miles away from the high point. This would not be an unreasonable hike, but given the successes described in other trip reports, I opted to follow those directions instead.

So, I retraced my tracks and re-routed myself through Emporium, to complete the traditional approach from the east. I drove north on State Route 46, and then headed west on State Route 4004 (Rich Valley Road). This road is paved for about six miles. It crosses a one-lane bridge over the Driftwood Branch of Sinnemahoning Creek, and heads northeast as a dirt road. The road is fairly good in quality, and is easily passable in a regular car.

I followed this road northeast until finally reaching an intersection (complete with the most unnecessary stop sign I have ever seen), roughly seven miles from the one-lane bridge. Either of the two roads heading roughly south will get to the high point. I traveled one road each way, and found the western Wildwood Fire Tower Road (also noted as Straight Creek Road) to be in much better condition than the eastern Shawmut Grade Road.

The two roads converge a few times as they head south. They finally join into one road at an intersection with the access road to the Wildwood Fire Tower site. I parked in front of the gate at the access road, which is posted with permission for hikers. I completed a short hike east up this road, as it climbs the hill.

The Wildwood Fire Tower, of course, is an item of the past. A radio tower is located on top of the hill, which is mostly cleared. The original topo map depicts a benchmark, BM Wildwood, but the datasheet suggests it was located underneath the old tower. The benchmark likely met the fire tower's fate -- destroyed before the radio tower was built. Reference Mark 2 is still in good condition, just west of the tower.

The area of brush and trees immediately south of the radio tower was depicted by the LiDAR data to be the highest ground. I completed a short bushwhack through this area and found that the ground inside the vegetation was probably a couple feet higher than the ground in the clearing.

The total round trip hike from the parking spot was about four tenths of a mile, with about 60 feet in vertical gain.

PICTURES:
Picture 01 (196 k) - The gate at the entrance to the road that leads to the Wildwood Fire Tower site.
Picture 02 (119 k) - Looking up the road, to the east, at the radio tower on the hill.
Picture 03 (102 k) - The radio tower at the highest point in Elk County.
Picture 04 (168 k) - Reference Mark 2 for BM Wildwood, which likely no longer exists.
Picture 05 (193 k) - Looking south from near the radio tower. Reference Mark 2 is visible. The area of brush beyond the gravel is the location of the highest ground.

KMZ Trip Log File (Track file from Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx)


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