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Texas County Highpoints, Nov. 2002 |
Dates Visited
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Bob Martin and I met once again to visit a bunch of counties over this Veteran's Day weekend. Our focus this time were the counties of the Arklatex region of Texas - the northeasternmost section abutting Louisiana and Arkansas and along the Red River. Granted, some that we did were out of this region as the locals would consider it, but I include them here anyway for your reading enjoyment.
I found this area to be interesting, with rolling hills in some areas. Nothing was too difficult other than a couple of highpoints done amid thick, thorny vegetation. The weather held up well, and once again, I thank Bob for his company and his magical ability to get permission onto the lands when all looks lost. Three or four of these are directly a result of Bob's charming the landowner. In all, I netted 17 more Texas county highpoints, all but one with Bob.
I flew into Dallas the previous night and eventually reached my hotel in McKinney at about 1 a.m. local time. Early the next morning I made the 15-mile drive to the town of Celina, our planned meeting point. Bob was driving his truck, all the way from Tucson. We met right at 8 a.m. sharp, shook hands, greeted then got to business: highpoints!
First on the docket was Collin county, and we were only about a mile from it in Celina. We followed FM-455 and some local roads to a beautiful million-dollar home and ranch complex, drove in and sought out anyone to ask for permission to cross the property. It was a Saturday and kind of early, maybe 8:30, but a nice woman from the house came out to see what us two strangers were up to. We told her of our hobby and she gave us carte-blanche to go about our business! All it cost me was my photocopy of the topo map, which I gave to her as a keepsake. I think she liked the idea of living on the highpoint. And quite literally, she does, as the house sits inside one of the two 820-foot contours. Obviously there has been some grading of the land, so the natural highspot probably was bulldozed into oblivion years ago. Bob and I deemed the yard near the office and driveway to be the highest in that immediate area.
The second area is just a short walk toward the stables and out into a field where we met with a couple cowboys, who chatted with us. We walked the field a bit and sighted to the house. After a short bit we walked back and chatted with one of the cowboys a bit longer, plus made friends with an Australian Collie. The dog actually came running at us barking his head off, but then I squatted down, put out my hand and the dog just rolled on his back and accepted a tummy-rub. Some watch dog! After our chat, we walked back to the truck and went on our way. This highpoint sets a record for most nicest people: 4 in all who greeted us and didn't seem to mind us.
After our success in Collin County, Bob and I drove north about 30 miles to the Grayson county highpoint, a single point of 930 feet in a region of many hills just west of Denison on FM-120. We parked at the turnout for Harvey Lane, just south of the highpoint hill, and walked across the highway to a gated road that should have gone right by the hill. We both decided against hopping the gate. We checked a residence to the west but no one was home. Finally we tried a residence just to the east, across from the FM-131 junction, and got lucky.
We drove in the open gate and found the landowner out with another guy. Bob talked to him and won us permission. The hill is on this guy's property. The walk was cross country in moderately heavy forest, about 1,500 feet overall one-way. We topped out on the hill where a pile of boulders marks the highpoint. After a brief visit we returned to Bob's truck and talked to the landowner, a fellow in his late-30s named Eric (If I recall right). He owns almost a full section (1 sq. mile) in the area and is retired. He did okay for himself working on the oil rigs and also with his computer skills. Nice guy; the chat went on for about 20 minutes. On the way out he asked us to lock the gate which suggests we got lucky to find the gate open.
From Denison, Bob and I came down to the Fannin County highpoints near Trenton via Denison, Bells and
Whitewright along US-69. The first highpoint area is reached by taking County Line Road due south for about 2.5 miles. The
highpoint is marked by a barn and a stand of trees, near which is a collapsed building of some sort.
In between those items and us was about 300 feet of moderately goopy mud. We parked on a road south of
the highpoint and managed to walk to the highpoint without collecting too much mud; we walked on top of
leftover corn stalks and grassy clumps whenever possible. After exploring the area we walked back to
our vehicles. It all looked the same, but the map showed a contour here and we were pretty positive we got within it.
The second area is about 1 mile south and 0.5 mile east to where the road deteriorates and comes to a
T-junction. From here we could see a fairly obvious hump of land about 0.6 mile east. There was no
easy way to go get to it other than walk to it cross-country. This time the mud was gruesome! We tried
our best to walk on top of the leftover stuff but to no avail. The mud portion maybe took up about
1,000 feet of walking before we reached some earthen berms. By that time we both had about 5 pounds of
extra weight on our shoes with the sticky brown mud. Once on the berms we walked some more and crossed
two fences to achieve the highest ground, a non-descript hump in a field. After some GPS measurements
and pacing around, we walked back to the vehicles, crossing the muddy patch again. Fortunately Bob had
an ice-scraper in his truck and we used it to scrape off the goop as best we could before starting on
our way.
There's a skydiving facility in the area, and we saw one guy parachute out while we were in the area.
We stayed on US-69 to get our next highpoint in Hunt County.
Staying true to US-69, Bob and I made our way to the town of Kingston, just north of Greenville, and took FM-903 west and
south about 3.5 miles to County Road 1103. We followed CR-1103 west about a mile, staying straight at
the first junction and staying left at a second junction (staying on the main track). We parked due
south of the highpoint, marked by an old school bus in a field.
The topographic map shows a building near the highpoint but this is no longer true. The highpoint was easily
reached by crossing the fence, walking north across a field, then hopping a second fence near the school
bus. The highpoint according to the map was right about here and a GPS reading confirmed that. We were
definitely on high ground but it was a berm near a watering hole, so it was probably artificially built
up when the ranchers dug out the water hole. But we were where we wanted to be and left pretty
satisfied. So far we were three for three; Rains County was up next.
In Lone Oak, still on US-69, I parked at a gas station and waited for Bob Martin, who picked me up in his truck. We drove down just about a mile and a half south over the Rains county line, and started scouting the land to our east for the highpoint and a way in. We took a GPS reading to verify one location along the side of the road, then backtracked north a tiny bit and went in to the C-Bar Ranch toward a house about a quarter-mile in. Part of the problem we were having was the roads shown on the topo no longer match reality, so we were both a little unsure where exactly the highpoint swell was. This one absolutely required a GPS unit.
We drove to the home and met up with the landowner on his quadrunner out doing chores. He was a nice man in his 40s, and once we explained what we wanted to do he became genuinely interested to know where exactly the highest point in the county was, especially since it was on his land. He let Bob and I walk some fields, and we were able to pinpoint the highest land to an area a bit south and east of the home, in a horse pasture. It did seem like we were on high ground, but the gentle flatness of the terrain made eyeballing it a tough task. On our way out we talked more with the landowner, and gave him our GPS readings. Something for him to brag to his buddies about! He was genuinely nice and happy to know he owns the highpoint of Rains county! We scooted up to Hopkins County next as the daylight waned.
It's rare that the highpoint of a county is located within a city, but this is the case with Hopkins County's highpoint. Two areas of 650+ feet lie within the city limits of Cumby, located in the southwest part of the county just off of Interstate-30. Bob and I reached Cumby after visiting the Rains County highpoint, reaching Cumby around 4:30 in the afternoon. I parked at a gas station right on the frontage road along Interstate-30, where FM-275 crosses over the highway, and rode with Bob into "downtown" Cumby. We parked in a church parking lot, near the intersection of FM-275 and FM-499. The first of two highpoint areas is right near the corner, with a city park taking up much of the space. This made life easy for us, and we walked across the park and out on a small residential street. It all was pretty flat.
The second area is just a short walk of less than a quarter-mile along a residential street, the first one west from FM-275 north of the main intersection. The road dips then rises to a corner, and we walked in a vacant corner lot and also made "shortcuts" across a frontyard to gain its (apparent) highest points. We walked back to Bob's truck, then back to the gas station where I was parked. While at the gas station, Bob parked in a dirt lot sort of at an angle relative to the rest of the cars there; we were just getting our maps in order and would be on our way quickly. Some gnarled old bent-over man with no teeth and huge overalls came up to us and yelled at us for "messing up his parking"... he runs an auction in a building near the lot. We nodded our heads and decided to get moving. Cumby isn't much anyway, but it does contain easily-reached highpoints.
By now it was pretty much dusk, so we convoyed over to Cooper Lake in Delta County and car-camped at the developed campground for the night. Me, I crammed into my rental and slept tolerably well, but I couldn't stretch out any. Today had gone extremely weel, with six for six - a perfect average!
The day started nicely and we looked over the five spread-out areas of Delta County, set in a mix of open fields, town roads and peoples' backyards. After exploring one or two areas, we figured getting permission for all areas wasn't likely nor worth the time, so we canceled this effort and moved on, heading north then east toward Texarkana. Lamar County was next up on the agenda.
There are two areas comprising the Lamar highpoint. Both are close by one another just west of the
town of Petty and the western county line. We accessed the first easy one by going north on FM-38 off
of US-82 about a mile to a rise in the road; the highpoint area was a field just to our west, about a
200-foot walk to get to the muddy center. The second area was west about a half-mile on US-82 to County Road 36050, and north past an abandoned (?) house into a field area about a half-mile total from the main highway. We parked and I walked out
into the field, where Bob sighted me with his level and determined me to be about 3 feet higher than the
road. Then Bob walked out to where I was and we did some minor pacing before returning to the truck. The house we passed was in disrepair and boarded up, but the barn nearby was full of stuff and there
were some trucks and dogs in the area. We guessed this may be a plot of land owned by someone who owns
a lot of these plots, and just leases it or rents it to whomever is going to farm that bit of land.
There was evidence of recent farming in the field.
Back on US-82, we simply drove east across the county toward our next objective in Red River County.
Fresh off our successful Lamar County highpoint hunt, Bob and I arrived in the general area of the Red River county highpoint, located just a smidge
east of its western county line. Just east of the town of Blossom we took FM-1502 generally northeast
about 3 miles to the Red Oak Cemetary, where I parked and joined up with Bob in his truck.
We followed the dirt road past the cemetary about a mile, to a point where we were on a north-south
stretch of the road next to a small cow pasture. The Red River highpoint is a single area just a few
hundred feet east of where we were (still inside Lamar county). Cows were in this field, but we
mustered up our courage and went in anyway. No problem, they didn't mind. We came to another fence, crossed it and then
found a couple distinct humps that agreed with Bob's GPS readings and the map. Red River County was ours. We
returned the way we came in and continued east to Bowie County
Thirty miles later, Bob and I
arrived at the Bowie County highpoint area, again a spot of land located on its western boundary just east of
the town of Avery. We found County Road 3355 and turned north onto it, where I parked and rode shotgun
with Bob. The Bowie highpoint has a private residence atop it, so we figured it'd be less intimidating
if we drove one vehicle up the long driveway, not two.
Taking CR-3355 north, the road turned right (east) and shortly thereafter we turned left onto the first
driveway we came to, following it about a quarter-mile to the home. As soon as we stepped our feet out
the door we had bagged Bowie's highpoint as we (and the house) were clearly on the top of a gentle but
distinct hill. But we went around the front anyway and knocked to get permission, but no one was at home.
Well, that was that! After a quick walk of the area we got back into Bob's truck and returned to the
main highway.
Update: There is reason to believe the county line separating Red River and Bowie counties is incorrectly shown on the topographic map. The placement of the sign along the highway seems to indicate the line is a few hundred feet east of where it's shown on the map. If so, then this "highpoint" is inside Red River county. However, no confirmation of whether this change is true has been made. Until further information is know, I am going by the map and am counting Bowie as done.
The Titus County highpoint is a single hill in the southwestern part of the county, south of the town of
Millers Cove and close to the small community of Monticello. Bob and I passed through Mt. Pleasant and
took FM-127 about 9 miles westerly toward Monticello, with nice views of Lake Monticello along the way
(Lake Monticello is a finger of the larger Lake Bob Sandlin). Anyway, I arrived in town first and
waited for Bob, who had taken a small lunch break back in Mt. Pleasant.
In Monticello, we followed a series of paved local roads toward the highpoint. The first road from the
main highway is marked by a cemetary sign. It might be called SW-12. In any case, it forks very
quickly; stay left, and it'll turn into CR-2630. We turned right at CR-2650 (about 1.5 miles from the
main highway), then an immediate left onto CR-2670, then very shortly, onto SW-49. SW-49 then dead ends
about 3/4 mile later at a gate. The map shows the road continues. Well, it does... but they must have
gated this road ages ago, and it must see few visitors, as the road after the gate was all but swallowed
up by vegetation and dirt. No signs at the gate prohibit access and our best guess is some
"corporation" owns the property, not an individual local owner.
From the gate we walked about 0.4 miles and gained about 100 feet to a sharp bend in the road. A GPS
reading confirmed our location. The highpoint hill was just a short ways back amid the huge trees and
the thick brush and sticker-vines. We simply entered this flora mix and did our best, battling to find
a good route. For the most part we did fine, but on occasion we had to battle the sticker-vines
directly. Soon we topped out on this small hill, and found a distinct rock at the highest point. A
nice, obvious little highpoint! After a brief visit we descended through the brush and back onto the
road and to our vehicles. Round trip was just about a mile and about 40 minutes of our time.
From here we made an attempt at Franklin County's highpoints, but could not access two of the three
areas. Then it was a long drive to bag the Kaufman County highpoint, with little daylight to spare.
Bob Martin and I were making good time picking off the extreme northeast Texas counties today, only to
be stopped up by Franklin county highpoints. We were able to do one of the three areas, but the other
two were safely behind 8-foot wire-mesh (i.e. unbreachable) fencing. After checking out a nearby ranch
for permission (no luck), we assessed our remaining time and decided to skip the eastern counties and
start heading into the Dallas area. So we made our way through the town of Winnsboro down through
Mineola and US-80, from which it was a straight shot about 40 miles toward the town of Wills Point, our
(planned) jump-off point for the Kaufman highpoints. I drove lead with Bob in tow.
Passing through Wills Point I missed the expected road (never saw a sign for it or anything), so plan B
it was. Fortunately Bob was right on my tail so he just followed me, wondering where I was headed.
From Wills Point it's about 7 miles to the town of Elmo and the junction with FM-2728. We went
northeast on FM-2728 4 miles to County Road 346 (not well marked), and turned right. CR-346 makes a
slight bend right, then a 90-degree bend left, now heading northeast again, passing under a canopy of
tree limbs from the large trees that line the road. In waning daylight we parked just a tad south of
the field which held the highpoints.
We battled a short bit of heavy brush and a barbed-wire fence to access the field, then simply walked
north toward the obvious highest humps. The map shows 3 areas for the highpoint, all close by. The
land is quite bumpy herein, so we simply walked the highest ones, and used the sight level to ensure we
were at or very near the highest point itself. A herd of cattle was in an adjacent field, watching us
intently. We walked back to our vehicles; by the time we got back to US-80 it was mostly dark, so we
drove the remaining 10 miles to the town of Terrell and stayed in a hotel.
Rockwall county is a tiny (144 square miles) county located just northeast of Dallas as one heads east on Interstate-30. Bob Martin and I stayed the previous night in Terrell, about 15 miles to the south, then drove up, arriving about 8 a.m. in moderate traffic (despite this day being Veteran's Day). Part of the problem was there was lots of road construction causing us to alter our routes accordingly. I parked at a Love's truck stop on the frontage road right at the Interstate-30 and FM-549 junction, and rode shotgun with Bob, acting as navigator.
From Interstate-30 at FM-549, we went north over a pair of railroad tracks to the
first right turn, about 0.3 miles north of I-30. This road is called
Riding Club Road (according to the map). We turned onto this road and proceeded
about 0.7 miles to a home across the street from a radio tower. The highpoint
bulge is visible in an unfenced side-yard about 100 paces from the home
itself. We knocked but no one was home. Chickens were our company. The
map shows a dashed road in this contour but it is no longer there. I walked into this open area and Bob sighted me through his level... maybe a foot higher than where we parked in the driveway.
Back on Riding Club Road, we continued east briefly, crossed the railroad tracks twice,
and proceeded north about 0.6 mile toward a paved road (TX-66). Just
before the intersection the road crests, and the second highpoint area is just
off to the west in an open pasture ringed by some homes, but sufficiently
far away to not stir attention. The highest land is close to a garage structure. The land was grassy.
For the final area, we got on TX-66, went west a mile back to FM-549, then south 0.5 mile to
another distinct rise in the road. The final highpoint area is a short walk into
a field behind some homes. It's the smallest of the 3 areas but is fairly
pronounced. A horse was grazing in the yard of one of the homes.
It's impossible to say which of the three areas was the highest. Visit all three. The
journey took about 30 minutes. It's possible these remaining bits of open land may succumb to development in the future, so Rockwall's accessability might be contingent on future plans in the area.
We drove back to where I parked my vehicle, but in the intervening half hour we'd been gone, the TX-DOT guys had closed the overpass back to the Love's truck stop, forcing us to go about 4 miles out of our way to backtrack so I could get my vehicle. From here, we made a harrowing journey through downtown Dallas toward the Dallas County highpoint.
The Dallas county highpoint is located in the south part of the county, inside the city limits of Cedar Hill. One distinct region of about 5 acres is enclosed in a 870-foot contour, while to the south a bit is a single benchmark (Patton) listed at exactly 870 feet, although there is no 870-foot contour to accompany it. In any case, they're close together and we (Bob Martin and I) visited both. We had just come from Rockwall County, and our route would take us right through the heart of downtown Dallas. We tried to stay together as we were driving two separate vehicles... but we failed to do so. First, I got us kind of lost when I overshot the US-67 interchange off of Interstate-30, which was never marked in any fashion. We backtracked a bit via boulevards, and re-found US-67, at which time Bob apparently started following another vehicle like mine. So when I couldn't see him, I pulled over at the Ellis county line sign and waited, as was our back-up plan. After 15 minutes, he still hadn't shown... where was he? I figured he may have gone right to the highpoint area so I went to go look for him. I went south on US-67 to the next exit, doubled back north, and as I passed the county line, saw him pull up to it on the other side (southbound). So I raced north, got off the freeway, got back on southbound back to the county line sign, and he was gone again. This time I waited for good, and after another 15 minutes he showed back up. It was like a dance of sorts. Anyway, the highpoint.
As was our usual plan, I parked somewhere (this case a Texaco) and rode with Bob to the highpoint itself. On US-67, we exited at Mt. Lebanon Road, went west shortly then south, and turned west into the driveway of George Hale's Horse Boarding Facility (marked by a GH logo). We met Mr. Hale, who gladly let us explore the land behind his home. The highest point we deemed was along a fence line about 200 feet north of the house/barn area. We chatted with Mr. Hale briefly. A nice man, very much a cowboy through and through. The second area is south about 0.2 miles on Plume Road. We went no more than 200 feet and park near a set of mailboxes at a Bible Camp. The Benchmark "Patton" is located here. The map does not indicate a contour of 870', but we eyed an immediate area that may rise 1' over the benchmark... but it is built up, so it may be artificial. The northern area is likely the highest point. The map shows the house (Hale's) to be near the contour line itself, and we easily gained about 6 feet to the rise in the pasture. From here it was a short (10 mile) drive to our next objective, Ellis County.
We exited US-67 at Ward Road and went south through an enormous factory complex. It was huge! It was
the plant for Texas Industries, which manufactures steel, concrete and other basic building materials.
The buildings stretch for acres. Very impressive. Bob and I convoyed through all this, then continued
to past where the road lost its pavement, making a left turn at the only main junction we came upon.
About 2 miles south of the plants the road (which seemed to be paved at one time but is largely
unmaintained) rises toward a radio tower. We parked here and breached the ricketty fencing, walking
toward the obvious USGS witness post for the Eskridge benchmark, about 50 feet from the road. We toured
the small building complex and walked the perimeter, then came back to our vehicles.
The second area is an obvious ridge to the east about a quarter-mile. We walked the road a short ways,
then hopped a fence and followed cow paths through a thicket of trees before breaching another fence
and walking up toward the ridge top, breaching a third fence on the way up. We found an obvious mound
and walked to it, but didn't spend a lot of time. To the east and south were nice ranch homes. To our
north was a large quarry supplying the Texas Industries plant. We could hear the beeping of the work
trucks off in the distance.
Walking back to our vehicles, we were met by two dogs running along the road who barked at us pretty
vehemently. I squatted on the other side of the fence to calm them, and they seemed to cool down a
bit. Then I hopped over, and helped Bob over, meanwhile listening to the intermittent barking directed
our way. As we walked back to our vehicles, the dogs followed us and even got kind of friendly, running
around somewhat playfully. Probably local strays. Total time here was about 45 minutes. Now, it was a
50-mile drive to the Somervell County highpoints, which we ultimately did not get, then onto Hood County and its highpoint at Comanche Peak.
Bob and I made the brief drive north into Hood county for a go at the first and only
actual "mountain" of our trip. Comanche Peak is, like most other hills in central Texas, an eroding
limestone bluff topped by a sturdy caprock. From FM-51, it is readily visible and not too far southwest
of the county seat, Granbury.
Access to the peak is via County Road 211, marked as Peak Road from FM-51. We headed south about 2
miles, following the road as it made brief bends left and right, to an obvious main right turn, at which
time we parked. Comanche Peak was immediately to our south and east. A good-sized mansion is currently
being built right at the base of the mesa so it's hard to say what access will be like in the future.
We squeezed through a metal fence (no restrictive signs anywhere) and simply walked up an old road track
that gained about 200 feet fairly quickly to the top of the mesa. From here, we walked due south toward
an obvious rise, following a road not shown on the topo map. After about 10 minutes we could see the
two witness posts and a cement pillar of sorts signifying the Comanche benchmark placed there by the
USGS, and the highest point overall. The benchmark is listed at 1,230 feet; two other contours of 1,220
feet are nearby. Bob sighted with his level and showed conclusively we were highest where we stood.
The top is a pleasant field of grass with trees spotting the scape. The views down across the
countryside were quite nice.
After a brief visit we started the walk down, arriving back to our vehicles after a total of about 45
minutes on the hike, and maybe a shade over a mile round trip. We checked out the construction of the
house. It's sure to look pretty spiffy in a couple of years. From here we made a short trip east to
gain the Johnson County highpoints.
After Hood County, we caravaned east from Granbury into Johnson county. There are two distinct highpoint areas inside Johnson
county. One area is located about 1.5 miles southeast of the town of Cresson along TX-171, in the
county's northwest corner. The other area is Caddo Peak, located in the north-central county near the
town of Johsua. Both areas have the same elevation, and would all need to be visited.
For the Cresson areas, we passed through Cresson and found County Road 1000 about a mile south along
TX-171, just after a bend. We turned left (east) and drove the dirt road to where it crested, about a
quarter-mile in. One area was right on the road. A house was visible about 1,000 feet south, and a
garage with some boats was located right on the road, right where we were. A second area is just north,
about a 500-foot walk along a sketchy ranch path. Bob and I walked out to the obvious rise, and found
the highest point near a water trough amid scraggly brush. We didn't spend much time in the area where
our cars were, but we can claim that we did "go south" of the fence, in case anyone wants to challenge
us on that!
For Caddo Peak itself, we went southeast along TX-171 through Godley, then east along FM-917 to FM-1902
about 7 miles east of Godley. Caddo Peak is visible, a sharp little bump topped by thick trees and a
radio tower. We first went to the north side and inquired at a house right along the access road. A
woman out with her two kids greeted us. She explained the top was owned by AT&T and could not give us
permission. We thanked her and tried a southern approach. All land surrounding the base of the peak
has been built up with homes. We found a road marked by a sign for "Cado [sic] Peak" off of FM-1902,
and went in, then kept taking left turns wherever possible, going up and up until we were on a
residential street pretty high up (relatively speaking) on the south flank of the hill. We tried
another driveway to a home, and again, were met by a nice lady who couldn't grant us the permission.
But we got a little lucky: along this road is a wooded patch, not yet built upon. There are no fences
nor signs restricting access, and it looked like a short walk up to the top. It was late in the
afternoon, and we figured we'd make a quick scamper to the top and be on our way. So we walked in and
started up the hill... and met up with a thicket of brush, dominated by long vines with thorns.
Battling through this mess was slow and tiresome, not to mention bloody! We wore long pants, but still
got scratched up pretty good. A machete would have been wonderful! Despite this, we did manage to make
the top, where we inspected the building and the tower. It would appear that AT&T rarely ever visits
the top. Very overgrown and in disrepair, not to mention littered with beer bottles, which suggests the
local kids visit the top often, as well.
Bob and I battled our way down, taking in all about 35 minutes to cover maybe a quarter-mile and 100
feet of gain. We were both scratched up pretty good. We left the area, driving up to the city of
Crowley just south of Fort Worth. In thick traffic, we bid one another adieu, Bob on his way home to
Arizona while I went north in the dusk and darkness to nab one more highpoint, the easy Denton County apex. Another strong, successful trip with Bob in which we managed 16 counties together. My thanks to him, as usual!
Denton county gets a vote for being one of the easiest county highpoints to do in the state. It's just a single area of 980 feet coming in from adjacent Wise county, and a good dirt county road passes right over it. It can be done any time and no private property needs to be crossed, and no permission to be asked. As such, I decided to go get this one after a full day of highpointing with Bob Martin. We had culminated three days in which we gained 16 counties together in north-west Texas. We had just finished the thorny Johnson County highpoints and has battled some bad traffic in the town of Crowley trying to get on Interstate-35. We bid one another adieu. By now it was dark, but only about 6:15 p.m. I decided to go ahead, spend the extra time and go nab the easy Denton highpoint.
From Crowley I went north on I-35W through Fort Worth, battled traffic, and simply stayed on the highway past the city of Denton to the town of Sanger, then from there took FM-455 west about a dozen miles to the county line with Wise and the town of Slidell. From Slidell I went northeast on the main residential street a brief ways, then north on a county road, which about 1/4 mile later comes to a couple of junctions. This is the highpoint. I parked, got out an walked, but kept the truck running and the music playing. I'm sure the views were nice, but in the dark I'll never know!
Well, that was that. I now had about 50 miles of driving back to my hotel in Dallas. It turns out the Denton highpoint was a bit father than I had thought and I put over 100 extra miles and 2 hours of time into my day. By the time I got to my hotel I was ready to shower and crash. But in retrospect I'm glad I did Denton. Now I don't have to worry about it in future trips. Thus ends another successful Texas county highpoints tour: my total for the trip was 17, with just under 1,000 miles of driving. I flew home the next day.
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(c) 2003, 2006 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. |