Mt. Davis Trip Report
On Thursday September 25th of 2015, I stood atop the summit tower of Mt Davis Pennsylvania. This was highpoint #3 of 6 completed during our 2015 East Central Trip and it was #36 out of the 50 states for me.
Highpoint Statistics:
Summit Date:Thursday September 25th, 2015
State: Pennsylvania
Elevation:3,213′
US Rank:33
Round Trip Hiking Distance: 1/4 Mile
Round Trip Hiking Time: 15 Minutes
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The drive to Mt Davis took us through beautiful rolling hills that were populated with Amish farms.
The countryside was populated with Amish farms
The highpoint was a drive up with a generous parking lot and a short hike along a curiously unmarked trail. Susan donned her best hiking shoes, and we set out with Samson who was quite happy to show us the way.
Susan’s idea of trail shoes
A very excited Sheltie leading the way
On the way to the summit we found a gallery of sorts with large stones arranged in a semi circle festooned with bronze placards opining on topics such as history, horticulture and the glorious benefits of governmental forestry management.
Samson & Danger reading exhibit plaques
The Summit
The natural summit is a large cone-headed rock with a very worn USGS summit marker. Presumably this was from people standing on it, which despite my median sobriquet I was not compelled to try.
The summit stone
USGS Badge atop stone
Summit Tower
There is also a tower which gets you above the treeline for a nicer view. Susan was not interested in expending the effort, and Samson gave the steep mesh stairs a distrustful look and turned back so I made the climb alone. It was a perfect day, with only a few wispy clouds a mild wind and unlimited visibility giving me a fantastic view of the top of a lot of very colorful trees.
Danger on the summit tower with a brilliant blue backdrop of sky
An Amish Carpenter
On the way back, I saw an Amish cabinet in his workshop with children playing at his feet and stopped to talk. The shop was very basic, with none of the modern tools found in contemporary workshops. But I noticed he was using air tools and had some other powered equipment which surprised me because I thought the Amish did everything by hand. I asked about it and learned that power for these systems was derived from a diesel powered engine and not electricity which was acceptable in their culture. I examined the quality of the workmanship and it was very high, but lacking precision. The finger joints at drawer corners for example were splintered and rough as they were cut by hand with a chisel and mallet. Still pretty impressive for hand work, but far from the precision possible with modern equipment. This is inherent and part of the character and charm of Amish crafted furniture. I asked about the nature of his business and learned that he sold the majority of his cabinets to buyers outside of the Amish community and was fully booked with projects for the next year.
An Amish cabinet maker
I also learned that different Amish communities have different standards of what technology is acceptable, but some things are universal, their kids for example will never get iPhones, which is probably why this kid looks so unhappy.
I want an iPhone!
Amish Bakery
The Amish carpenter pointed me to another building on the farm that was full of ladies baking all manner of delightful goodies, which they offer for sale, generally within the community, but they were happy to sell us some of their creations and we left with a variety of delicious confections which we are still enjoying.
A very busy Amish bakery
Amish pies, are as good as they look
We boon-docked at a truck stop in Accident, had a good nights rest and set out for Ohio the next morning.