***1 1/2 stars***…read more
This was my 19th high point and easily my least favorite. As part of a road trip adventure, my top-tier chum who literally went to the school of hospitality and I came over here last Wednesday afternoon from Blacksburg, VA en route to Irvine, KY. The journey through that western tail of VA was gorgeous and highly recommended, with very pretty hills/mountains and lots of farms. It got poochy in Kentucky though, and that started as soon as we crossed the state line and got to the top of Black Mountain.
The biggest problem is that whoever is in charge of Black Mountain (Kentucky? A park in Kentucky? Unclear.) has done the absolute minimum to make the summit accessible and pleasant for visitors; arguably they've done literally nothing other than put a plaque up there so you at least know for sure you got to the top and don't accidentally gaslight yourself about it. There's no viewpoint, unless you think a random radar tower is a sight to behold, and anything worth seeing isn't at the top but back on the "main" road, which boasts the views and commemorative signage.
To get to Black Mountain from the VA side, we drove up Inman Road and both literally oohed and aahed as we climbed higher towards the high point. If you've tackled the other Appalachian high points nearby like NC or TN, the scenery is similar in a good way, especially with the nicer, sunnier weather we experienced at the time. Lots of rolling hills going out to the horizon, with a few shadows from clouds that we were probably getting close to parallel to at certain points.
And then it gets crappy. The signage isn't great, but we figured out pretty easily that we needed to take Black Mountain Ridge Rd, an unpaved road that hasn't been maintained in years, to the actual summit. This was nasty. We had a rental SUV and were both pretty uncomfortable almost as soon as we got onto that road. It's pockmarked with DEEP potholes and I never went more than 10 miles an hour. Luckily we got out of there unscathed, but it's pretty clear that the powers that be don't want you up there (and I think it's technically trespassing/illegal, though I think Kentucky has bigger fish to fry). And ultimately I'll acknowledge - if something HAD happened to that rental, that's on us. We made the conscious decision to go up there and not at least walk a significant chunk of the way.
The summit itself? A joke. It's totally wooded so you don't even see a hint of a view up there, and there's an ominous looking FAA tower nearby with lots of official signage. I'm a little surprised that Ridge Rd isn't slightly better just because I assume someone needs to go to that radar tower every once in a while, but I guess if we could do it in the rental dot dot dot. We easily found the plaque, took a few quick pics of it and got out of there.
The only nice part of this experience is back on Inman, where you have the scenic viewpoint right across the state line on the VA side, and then further down on the KY side, they have a little spot for you to park and take the views in, with a Black Mountain Overlook sign. Unfortunately, the view over there isn't remotely close to what you have in Virginia, which isn't KY's fault, but to me makes it more imperative that they get their act together and really do something about that awful summit situation. It's a shame; the neighboring high points are significantly better and worth the trip. This one isn't.
