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Washington • Yuma • Sedgwick • Phillips • Logan |
Dates Visited
Conditions
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In May 1996 I made a quick three-day journey through Denver and knocked out three state highpoints: Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. However, the weather during those three days was abysmal, with fog, rain, hail and the ever-present threat of twisters. I didn't have as good a time as I'd have liked. So eight years later, I had some free time, the teaching being over for a few weeks at ASU. The big peaks were still snowed up so I was looking for a project to tackle. I settled on another High Plains trip, with the goal of expanding my glob of counties to include Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. I really enjoyed the Sand Hills of Nebraska on my first trip in 1996, and I figured that since I had bad weather the first time, I was guaranteed to get good weather the second time. That's how these things work, I like to think. With my wife Beth out of town for a week on business, everything was properly primed for a highpointing binge unlike anything the world had ever seen.
The fun all began at Phoenix' Sky Harbor Airport. To get a good deal to Denver I had chosen to fly at unpopular times. My flight out was at 9:30 p.m., due to arrive in Denver at 11:30 p.m. I was flying "Ted", the United Airlines' low-cost carrier. But when I arrived my flight was delayed 3 hours. I was able to get them to get me onto an America West flight leaving about the same time. So I trekked over to that terminal with my stuff, and got in line. A woman was raising hell with one of the check-in ladies. Furious doesn't begin to describe her feelings at that moment. A tall gangly cowboy fellow in line was backing her up. I wasn't exactly sure what had happened but suffice to say the woman was angry and the check-in ladies weren't too happy either. Fun theater. I got checked in alright, and the flight went well. It was almost midnight when I finally got my vehicle, a Ford Escape mid-sized SUV that Budget had for $200 for a week. Not a bad deal! First up: Washington County:
I hadn't planned on a hotel because there are none near the Denver Middle-of-nowhere International Airport, so I figured I may as well get driving, heading east toward Kansas. Along the way there were two very easy Colorado County highpoints to be had, including this one, Washington County. I drove east via Interstate-70 then US-36 for about 100 miles in cold, misty weather to the town of Last Chance, then south on CO-71 to the Washington - Lincoln County Line. From here, it was a couple more miles east along a dirt county road to a high spot in the road, the Washington County Highpoint. I had no topo map, just John and Dave's Hiking Colorado's Summits book with me, which I followed to the letter. Once at the highpoint, I got out, at 1:45 a.m., in total pitch blackness and a pall of fog, and walked the area. It was cold and windy and not generally very nice. I could see nothing. I'll have to trust John and Dave on this one. I got back into my vehicle and drove back to Last Chance, then east a bit more until I finally pulled off the road and slept in the vehicle for a few hours. Next up: Yuma County's equally pathetic highpoint, at 6 a.m.
From my vehicle-camp, I got moving very early, driving along US-36 through the towns of Anton and Cope, where I left the main road and sought out the Yuma County highpoint. Using John and Dave's Hiking Colorado's Summits book, I found it, an imperceptable rise in pastureland at a fence line near a county road. The weather was cold and drizzly. I got out of my vehicle to step on and around the "highpoint" area. A few minutes of that and I has satisfied. Well, that was sure easy. Day was now six hours old and I had two highpoints to show for it, both involving no hiking. I rewarded myself with a two-egger breakfast at a truck stop in Burlington along Interstate-70.
Next up: Sherman County in Kansas. I'd do one more in Kansas, then a few in Nebraska. Much later this same day, I popped back into Colorado for two more highpoints before calling it a (long) day.
It was close to 5 p.m. and I had already visited and hiked to nine county highpoints today. Frankly, I was pretty beat and ready to get a hotel so I could crash. I was intending to put these two off until the next day, but after studying the map, it made sense to visit this highpoint and the one south in Phillips County, then put on some miles and get a hotel. Coming down from my last highpoint in Deuel County, Nebraska, I worked my way toward the western county line of Sedgwick County, and its highpoint, a sand hill that comes in from the west in Logan County. I had my map and my Hiking Colorado's Summits book with me. The book suggests to come in from the east near a barn. I thought I'd be clever and come in from the north along a poor quality two-track road; the advantage being that I could shave about a quarter-mile from the walk. At this point in the day, every little bit helps! The hike looked like cake: walk southwesterly across a field to a fence line, presumably the county line fence, then south to the highest point along the fence, which would correspond to the highpoint of Sedgwick County. So off I went.
I made the hike to the fence, then south up and down the sandy hummocks, and everything seemed to be just fine. Then, the north-south fence line made a quick jog left about 50 feet, before resuming its north-south orientation. Hmm... slight confusion... which north-south fence line is the county line? Whereas I could have simply hiked to the highest points of both fences and secured the highpoint that way, I, for some reason, did not do that. I scooted under the short east-west part then stayed in line with the westernmost of the two north-south fence lines, then hiked a bit south, figuring this is the continuation of the county line and that I'd just have to guess where exactly the highpoint was. With that, I hiked back to my vehicle, an round trip of exactly a mile in about 30 minutes.
A nagging feeling that I should have gone to the other north-south fence's high area wouldn't let go of me. I drove out a short bit but then drove back in, driving all the way to the first north-south fence line and taking a GPS reading. Sure enough, the GPS put this fence a bit west of where the map showed the county line. The other north-south fence line was the county line! Shazbat... I knew this would bug the hell out of me so I did the only thing I could do... I went and re-hiked the damn thing. This time it was personal. Head down, pure business. I went past where I'd stopped, went to the other fence line, found its highest post, did a "toe-under" to make it count, and noted a cinder block that some one set there likely to mark the highpoint. Then, back to my vehicle. Well, that was an interesting hour. Even more tired now, I drove south about 15 miles for one last super easy highpoint, the drive-up highpoint of Phillips County.
This was the eleventh and final county highpoint I did today, and by the time I got to it it was getting dark and I was beyond exhaustion. I had done my first highpoint at 1:45 this morning, and aside from about a 3 hour nap in my vehicle, I had been out and about the entire day hiking and driving. As much as I enjoy this hobby, I was just downright tired and wanted no more of it for today. Fortunately, this is just a drive-up along a farm road south of the town of Haxtun, which in turn is just a few miles south of the Sedgwick county highpoint, which I had just completed. The Phillips highpoint is along County Road 1, which straddles the Phillips and Logan county line. It's two miles west of CO-59 and between County Roads 16 and 18. All I did was drive up to it, get out, run about 100 feet north, then run back. That was good enough for me. Back through Haxtun, I drove about 45 miles further to Sterling and took a hotel in town. Argh!
For most of the next couple days I would be up in Nebraska and later, Wyoming and South Dakota, but the next day, I did one more in Colorado, ironically coming in from the Nebraska side: Logan County.
The day was still pretty young and I'd just visited the Cheyenne County highpoint in Nebraska. I stayed on the local road net just inside Nebraska north of the Colorado line, heading west towards the jump-off point for the Logan County highpoint in Colorado. It was some nice, lonely country up here: farm fields, ranchlands and mostly wide open spaces sprinkled with wind and rain0eroded bluffs. I didn't have a good topo map with me for this hike because I simply forgot to make a copy, so I was totally dependent on John and Dave's Hiking Colorado's Summits county highpoints book. They hadn't let me down yet and I hoped my good luck streak would continue!
Using a combination of their book and my DeLorme atlas I found a road they mentioned and went south on it like I was supposed to. It quickly began to behave differently than what they said it would do. It went past a ranch home complex and some oil pumps. I realized I was where I wasn't supposed to be so I returned back to the main road. I went west another half mile and found the right road. Both roads had the same designation! Confusing as all heck. Anyway, I went south on this road and about 3 miles later stopped just past an old missile silo site. I was in high rolling pastureland with very distinct hills. Not a soul was anywhere and I had the whole place to myself. I was about 1 mile due west of the highpoints, so off I went.
I hiked mostly by reckoning east and eventually came to a fence after about a mile. Crossing that, I hiked up a couple of hills including one with a substantial cairn built on it. I searched but found no register. Figuring this was the highpoint, and seeing that John and Dave also mention this cairn, I felt pretty good I had found it correctly. Nevertheless, just to be sure, I walked the immediate area and up a couple more rises. Then, on the way back I made sure to always go up whenever possible. I figured I hit all the likeliest areas. The walk back went fast, aided by the missile silo towers off in the distance. The total walk covered a bit over 2 miles and took about 40 minutes in fine, pleasant weather.
From here I went back north into Nebraska for some more counties up there. At the end of the trip, I did one more in Colorado, in Douglas County.
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(c) 2004 Scott Surgent. For entertainment purposes only. This report is not meant to replace maps, compass, gps and other common sense hiking/navigation items. Neither I nor the webhost can be held responsible for unfortunate situations that may arise based on these trip reports. Conditions (physical and legal) change over time! Some of these hikes are major mountaineering or backpacking endeavors that require skill, proper gear, proper fitness and general experience. |