Black Mountain, Kentucky

Elevation: 4,139 ft
Date: 1 day, October 3rd, 2004
Group Size: 2
Miles Covered: Drive-up
Difficulty: Pretty exciting drive back...
Scenery: Nice drive, but not much to see from the summit

Black Mountain is one of those unglamorous high points. The peak is owned by a coal company, and waivers need to be signed before driving up there, just in case the summit collapses, or something along those lines. Well, since I am pretty close to Kentucky, I decided to spend one Sunday by driving out there. Pat Welz, who is also working on the highpoints, came along.

View of the mountain from the road

The drive on US460 was really pretty, partly due to the fall foliage. However, there wasn't much to see from the summit, besides a lot of garbage and a run down tower. We spent about 5 minutes there. On the way back we stopped at some country grill for country fried steaks. They were pretty damn good.

Pat and I on the summit

B/W picture of the summit tower, shot on color film

Anyway, one of my contact lenses was bothering me all day long. Perhaps half way back, while stopped at a gas station, I decided to take it out and clean it. Well, the problem wasn't dirt. The darn thing was torn and fell apart as I took it out. Too bad I didn't have glasses with me. So I came out and asked Pat if he knew how to drive a stick. Unfortunately, the answer wasn't what I was hoping for. Well, it was time for him to learn. We did some 15-20 loops around the station, practicing starting from a stop, changing gears, etc... After numerous stalls, he finally got a hang of it and it was time to get on the road. Well, it was pretty exciting. Pat kept looking down at the shifter instead of keeping his eyes on the road while changing gears. Few times we ended up on the gravel shoulder or in the other lane. But anyway, we, and the car, got back fine. Thanks for driving, Pat! Eight down, 42 to go.