Hike to High Knob Fire Detection Tower

My first time hiking to High Knob Fire Tower in the George Washington National Forest.  This tower is on the list of National Historic Lookout sites, built in 1939 by WWI vets, finished by the CCC in 1940, and rehab'd in 2002, it is the last standing fire tower in the GW National Forest.  It is empty but the catwalk is open to the public -- those who want to hike in -- about two miles -- uphill -- from the parking lot on US 33 at the Virginia-West Virginia state line.

 

There's also a High-Knob Tower in the Jefferson National Forest, but that one is much newer and many miles to the south.  This High-Knob Fire Tower sits right on the VA-WV state line, as does the sign shown below.  There is a USCGS bench marker right behind this sign which marks the state line to the nearest 1/16th of an inch.

View to the southwest, below, looking into West Virginia.
The green stripe in the center of the picture is a grassy road about a mile away

 

Below:  View to the north.

Below:  the inside of the fire tower.  The wire visible in the top of the windows is actually the lightning arresting gear running around the outside of the rafters, grounding the tower from lightning strikes.

 

The tower is just under 2 miles from the (relatively) new parking lot on US Highway 33 on the Virginia/West Virginia border.  The hike is gorgeous, but it is almost totally uphill all the way, and the last half-mile is very, very steep, almost like climbing stairs.  It is an invigorating hike.  I had to stop every 100 feet or so and rest and catch my breath.