After a long day of flatties and some cave romping, I made a 60-mile detour from my "main" route along US-60 to tackle a series of mesas marking the Roger Mills highpoint. This proved to be the most challenging and enjoyable of the Oklahoma highpoints I did on this trip. I arrived around 5 p.m. after following a bunch of local paved roads and dirt roads into some pretty countryside near the Canadian River. Two mesas vie for top honors in Roger Mills county: one has a spot elevation of 2,604 feet and the other has a single 2,600-foot contour. Both areas are on separate mesas so to count Roger Mills county as done, I had to do two separate hikes.

I chose to tackle the single 2,600-foot area on the northern mesa first. I parked at a pullout on its northeast side and hiked steeply up an old and very faint trail, then gained the top through a short, steep break in the mesa caprock, just a handhold shy of class-3, but definitely a notch above 'normal walking'. Once on top I paced the length and breadth of this tiny summit and sighted south to the other highpoint area, but could make no determination as to whether I was higher here, or if the southern mesa was higher. I retraced my steps and returned to my truck.

For the southern mesa, I drove south about a half-mile and parked along the road, then hiked directly up the east side of the mesa, gaining the top through a jumble of rocks on the mesa's easternmost point. While it looked steep and possibly slightly technical, I never needed to use my hands. Once on top, it was another 300 feet of walking west through juniper and tall grass toward the obvious top, where a benchmark post marked the highpoint. Sighting to the northern mesa was inconclusive. I quickly retraced my steps and made sure to avoid snakes as I hiked out in the tall grass to my truck. The two hikes together took about 1 hour of hiking time, covered about a mile and cumulatively gained about 400 feet of elevation; the southern mesa hike taking just a bit longer than the northern mesa hike. There were great views were in all directions, with the setting sun providing long shadows. I had time for just one more, up north in Ellis county.