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Martha Moats Baker Memorial 50Km

MMB is an acronym for Martha Moats Baker Memorial 50K. This is a low key, no fee run put on by Dennis Herr. If you have questions or want to participate, please contact Dennis at: herrdennis@yahoo.com

The Start

The start is at the same trailhead as the TWOT start/finish. If there is no room in the parking lot, don't park along the road, but go about a quarter mile east and park in front of Camp May Flather. The camp will be open so do not block an entrance.

Here is the course narrative and the inscription on Martha's memorial that Dennis sent in:

Course Description

Start at the parking lot. Go up and over Grindstone Mountain and continue on Chestnut Ridge to Little Bald. Go straight on Bald Mountain Road for 4.4 miles past the 2nd gate to 85 and hang a right. Go 1.2 miles to the stone spring (will be flagged), and climb up to Reddish. Descend on the circular road around Reddish down to the northern end of the guardrail and cut right on Timber Ridge Trail (flagged). Run down (about 4 miles) to the Hearthstone Trail and fork right (should be flagged) and bottom out on Tilghman Road. Turn left, run for 1 mile to the dog graveyard, turn right (flagged). Run up to the Cookie Trail "T" and go right (NOT FLAGGED). Continue south past the tower for a 1/4 mile and veer right on an easily missed trail (hopefully flagged). Drop down to Tilghman, motor left and run 1.3 miles to the Grooms Ridge Trail. Right on GRT (flagged) and trudge up 4 miles to Wild Oak. Left and down to the parking lot. Hopefully you'll know where you are, because I'm not going to mark this turn. At the Grooms Ridge/WO transition, the blazes turn from yellow to white respectively. So if you see white blazes you need to turn around and run back to the turn off. I'm not marking the Grooms Ridge/WO intersection, because you'll be passing it twice, once on the way out and again on the way back. So to avoid any confusion, no flagging.

The MMB Memorial site is 2.3 miles north of Little Bald. Once you pass the 1st gate, it's at the northern end of the 2nd large wildlfe clearing area. It's on the right side between two oak trees. The inscription says:

Martha Moats Baker
Born 1880
Froze To Death Near This Spot
On Brushy Mountain
January 1925
Found August 30, 1925 (or August 31,1925. I forget which)

Quatro and I will have water at Reddish (12 miles), dog graveyard (20) and T/GRT (25).

The Next Day

David Snipes is planning to run roundtrip from the parking lot to Briery Branch Gap the next day. He invites anyone to join him and possibly to carpool with him. You can contact him at shadysniper23116@aol.com.