Sitting here at the top of the highest point in Pennsylvania I feel like I’m on top of the world. It was just a short, easy walk up a rolling hill to get here. I’ve done much more difficult climbs, but this will be etched in my brain for the rest of my life. I will never forget this moment, this feeling. I did it.

Mt. Davis is the highest point in the state of Pennsylvania at just 3,213 feet above sea level. Having hiked to the tallest points of New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, I decided on this hike out of pure list chasing. Highpointing is the act of climbing to the highest point of an area whether that be the seven summits with Mt. Everest as the culmination, or the fifty states with Mt. Denali in Alaska towering above all others. I don’t know if I will ever have the courage or grit to visit the highest point of every state, but I figured that while driving through PA, I’d check this one off the list out of pure convenience.

Arriving to the picnic area, I was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful grassy meadow with lots of picnic tables spread about sheltered by a canopy of large trees. We started up the gentle High Point Trail as the mid-morning heat started to push in, and Lucy and I were both glad to be sheltered by leafy trees along the way. The path was very gentle to the tower marking the state high point, and we had the trail to ourselves on this quiet Tuesday morning. As we wandered up the packed dirt trail, I was interested to find that there wasn’t a single rock or root plaguing the wide path. Reading accounts from Appalachian Trail thru hikers I expected Pennsylvania to be rocky, but this trail was beautifully maintained and a great little warm up for the rest of the loop that we would continue on later.

When we reached the lookout tower marking the state’s highest point after just one mile we climbed to the top to take in the view and have a quick snack. Here I checked my phone and noticed an email from the NCCPA, the certifying board for Physician Assistants, relaying the results from my board exam I had taken exactly one week earlier. I braced myself for the worst but hoped for the best as I checked my score, and was elated to find out that I had passed! I was officially a PA-C here atop the highest point in PA. I couldn’t think of a better way to find out about the culmination of my three years of graduate school. It was especially appropriate seeing as I was voted “most likely to rescue someone in the wilderness” by my PA classmates.

After sending off some excited texts Lucy and I had some special snacks, a Stinger Waffle for me and some high protein freeze dried snacks for her, before descending and continuing on our hike. Lucy was a tad wary of the steep metal steps coming down from the tower, but she was brave in her descent and came down without an issue. We started down Shelter Rock trail to the old logging road that cuts straight down the center of Mt. Davis Natural area. This stretch of trail was slightly more rocky than the first, but still gently graded. We then walked south on the grassy, overgrown road for a short distance until we reached Timberslide Trail leading east through the forest before returning to the road and eventually our starting point. On this trail I felt like I was deep in the forest for the first time since leaving my car.

As I walked down the gently sloped trail, Lucy just a few feet in front of me, I found myself in the familiar trance I’ve come to love so much about my time in the outdoors. My mind becomes totally at ret as my senses take over. Birds sing from high in the leafy canopy above. The brook gurgles gleefully beside me as water rushes over the mossy green rocks cascading into shallow pools below. The air smells of earthy forest floor, damp and leafy with a hint of newborn leaves and blooming wildflowers wafting through the air. I can feel each rock, root and bump in the trail under my sandal-clad feet, gently nudging my soles as I pass over them.

Suddenly a groaning, crashing sound startles me out of my sensory sanctuary. I turn to see Lucy leaping off the trail after a white tailed deer retreating into the forest. I instinctively call lucy, who turns away from the doe immediately and the encounter is over as suddenly as it began. This is my first deer encounter on the trail, and I’m in awe as well as a little intimidated by the horse-sized wild creature. For the rest of the hike I talk to Lucy about our trip as not to startle the creatures who call this place home.

Mt. Davis, although a short and easy hike, was made a wonderful adventure by just exploring a few extra miles of trail around it. After the hike, Lucy explored the grassy picnic area while I did some yoga to stretch my unconditioned muscles and prepare for the long drive to Virginia as we head to Shenandoah National Park to continue the southeast leg of our trip. This hike was very enjoyable and showed me how rolling hills can be just as wild as the granite strewn mountains I’ve grown to know and love in New Hampshire.

Mt. Davis (3,213 ft) via High Point Tr, Shelter Rock Tr, and Timberslide Tr.