Quirauk Mountain is the highest point on
South Mountain. The peak is located in northeastern
Washington County,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. It lies just southwest of
Fort Ritchie Military Reservation in the village of Cascade and about 1/2 mile southeast of the community of Blue Mountain. The
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...
and South Mountain State Park are about 1/2 mile to the west of the mountain's summit.
Background
On the summit is a broadcast tower for radio stations WETH-FM and WAYZ-FM (in
Hagerstown)
and "Site C", a radio communication outpost of the
Alternate Joint Communications Center, a
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
emergency relocation site near
Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania
Blue Ridge Summit is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States, southwest of Gettysburg in the central part of the state, adjoining Pennsylvania's southern border with Maryland. It is ...
. There is a fenced-in area of the mountaintop that is federal property and thus a restricted area. Quirauk Mountain's broadcast tower was formerly used by radio stations WJEJ-AM and WWMD-FM. A fire lookout tower also used to occupy the summit.
About 1/2 mile to the west-southwest of the summit is High Rock (on the Appalachian Trail), which provides an excellent view of the surrounding countryside.
[Maryland Scenic Byways, p. 140]
References
{{Mountains of Maryland
Mountains of Maryland
South Mountain Range (Maryland−Pennsylvania)
Landforms of Washington County, Maryland