It was about 10 a.m. when I finished off the two hills that comprised the Garden County highpoint. I drove back out of the hinterlands and parked near a utility hut just a few feet off of highway NE-2. Directly across the way was the highpoint for Grant County, a hill/ridge topped with a few radio antennae. There are about 8 or 9 separate areas that reach 4,200 feet on top of this hill inside Grant County, but previous visitors suggested the hill with the short tower may be the highest. With that in mind, I chose to beeline toward that hill first and assess from there.

I crossed the highway, then shimmied under a fence, then ... carefully downclimed a steep sand bank that led to two pair of train tracks. These tracks see regular use, as they parallel NE-2 and on my drive in this morning I'd seen some trains hauling coal ore rumbling along. As I descended I could hear a train whistle so they were close by, apparently. But it only took me about 10 seconds to cross both tracks, and that was that. I upclimbed the other sand bank, shimmied under yet another fence, and began the relaxing portion of the hike.

The easiest route just seemed to lead me up to a noticeable hill a bit east of the tall radio tower and west of the short one. Once on top of this hill it was plainly obvious I was higher than the hill with the tall tower but lower than the hill with the short tower. I followed a gravel road a little ways and walked up to the short tower's hill, where I found the "Ashby" benchmark in concrete sitting nearby the little hut and tower. No doubt about it, I was higher than the other nearby hills. After a few minutes of looking at other hills, I walked down, pretty much retracing my steps. The round trip covered about 2 miles, gained about 250 feet and took less than an hour. From here I headed north and west to the Sheridan County highpoint.

The highpoint hill does not have an official name as far as I know but the presence of the Ashby benchmark is good enough cause for me to call it Ashby Hill for these purposes. The town of Ashby is visible from the hill, and the hill may very well be called Ashby Hill. Seems logical enough.