Hoye-Crest is located at the top of Backbone Mountain in Maryland.  This is not a strenuous or long hike, and the view is OK (although it was obscured by clouds and rain on our visit to the highpoint).

This was our second attempt to reach the summit.  Although this is not a difficult hike, our first attempt was thwarted by two feet of snow on the trail.  We also had a difficult time finding the right logging road to the top.

Directions from the North: To reach the trailhead, head south from Oakland MD on US219.  At the junction of US 50, head straight and you will cross into WV after three miles.  Shortly after that, you will reach the town of Silver Lake.  Stay on US 219, and about a mile after passing the "Smallest Church in the 48 States", you will see a logging road on your left.  As of 3/14/2004, the back of a highway sign was clearly marked with a RED H-P designation.  At the time of our visit, the road was not blocked by wire, so we decided to try to make it as far as we could in our four-wheel-drive vehicle.  Bad move!!!

Synopsis: The trail starts out gently enough, and in fact there is a flat, clear area resembling a parking area.  We continued up a short, steep hill, and the trail looked very manageable so we continued.  Gradually, the trail became steeper and rockier.  A hundred yards further, the trail takes a very sharp right turn and the trail gets even steeper and worse.  At first we thought this was a false trail, since you can see another trail heading straight. You guessed it - we continued.  About 100 more yards we reached a point where we were in patches of snow, and it was starting to rain.  No place to turn around, too rough to backup - ONWARD!  We finally reached a point where there was just enough room to perform a "17 point" turn, and we started back down.  Despite the slippery conditions we had no problem going back down.  We parked the car and started back up on foot.

My key advice - stay on the logging road and watch for the RED HP markers.  After you follow the trail up the sharp bend to the right, it is about a 12 minute hike to the top of the ridge.  Once the trail levels off, the logging trail will continue on, and you will see two small cairns on your left.  These mark the actual trail to the highpoint.  There are two trails - the rocky trail and the "easy" trail.  Take either - they are both very easy.  The rocky trail does have the WV/MD boundary marker for a little extra info.  It's about a three minute walk to the highpoint once you get off the logging road.

What the highpoint misses in difficulty and view, it makes up for with friendliness.  There is a mailbox with a highpointers register and certificates of completion.  A very “homey” highpoint.  Sign the register, and have a highpoint certificate.  Drop off a business card if you have one.

Updated 3/25/2004

Note the snow covered pics were from our first (failed) attempt in Jan 2004