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Lubbock/West Texas, March 2001
Gaines • Cochran • Bailey • Lamb • Hockley • Terry • Lynn • |
Dates Visited
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Once again I was back in Texas, taking advantage of my Spring Break from teaching to visit a number of Texas county highpoints. The emphasis on this trip would be a number of fairly challenging "sandy" counties along the Pecos River, where road nets are primitive and very few people live. The remaining counties were a bunch centered around Lubbock, most of them fairly simple.
I convoyed with Andy Martin into Texas, camping that first night in the desert near Allamoore in Hudspeth County. The next morning we met with Bob Martin, my first meeting with this amazing person. He and I would eventually make five trips together into Texas over the coming years before he sadly passed away in 2008. Andy stayed with us just for a day and a half before returning to rizona. Bob and I then visited a few more for another day before he, too, returned to Arizona. I stayed for another couple of days picking off the county highpoints on my own. In all, the trip netted me eighteen new Texas county highpoints. Weather was cooperative, and I had no real difficulties to speak of.
Unlike my November 2000 North Panhandle tour five months earlier, where the land up there was flatter than my singing voice, the land down south varied enough to keep things interesting. Much of the border area between Texas and New Mexico sits atop a gigantic raised plain called the Llano Estacado, or "Staked Plains". It's a raised plateau that is very flat on top, and extends for thousands of square miles within Texas and New Mexico. Some of the Llano Estacado's impressive cliffs that surround it can be seen along Interstate-40 between Tucumcari (NM) and Adrian (TX), looking south. In other areas, the "cliffs" are weathered a bit to be more smoother and less cliffy. East of the Llano Estacado is the watershed and drainage creeks feeding into the Brazos River, which provided for some interesting highpoints in and around Scurry and Kent counties.
Our story starts with Andy, Bob and I visiting the highpoints of Reeves County, Ward County and Ector County, all on the 10th and all "first visits" according to the club rules. We camped in an oilfield near Notrees in Ector County, then the next day the four of us hit the highpoint of Winkler County, at which time Andy bid us goodbye. Bob and I then had a fun and challenging visit to the peculiar Loving County highpoint, which was probably the most challenging county of the trip, then an easy one in Gaines County, which is where this page picks up the exciting action...
The day was nearly over, well into sunset, when Bob and I returned to the oil town of Jal in New Mexico, beat from our Loving County hike. However, we had an easy highpoint, here in Gaines County, that could be done in little time, even with the sun going down. We followed FM-83 into southern Yoakum County, putting us just north of the Gaines highpoints.
We followed a road not shown on the map into the presumed highpoint area (as shown on the map), and got out to pace around. Bob sighted using his level to sense our relative position. It looked pretty flat to me, but we were where the map said the highpoint should be, and Bob felt his sightings confirmed our position, so we left feeling pretty good about this visit. The area is weedy and uninteresting, a smattering of farm homes and oil wells surrounding us. By now it was nearly dusk, so we drove into the town of Plains and each got a room at the only hotel in town, a little old place seemingly unchanged since the 1940s. After two nights in the bush, I needed a shower and bed.
Being in Yoakum County, we gave its highpoint a visit, but failed when we came upon very muddy roads well short of the goal. At this point Bob needed to return to Arizona, so we said our goodbyes. From here on out, I was on my own.
The Bledsoe Bluffs are a set of low, scrub-covered sand dunes located on Cochran County's western border with New Mexico. Bledsoe Benchmark is located within these hills, but any one of about 10 little dune "summits" could be the highpoint. The tiny community of Bledsoe on FM-2182 serves as a good reference point. Proceed westbound for two miles and follow the road as it turns north, literally on the Texas-New Mexico state line. Where the road turned west again, I carefully drove down into a small sandy depression/pullout, and parked behind a small sand berm.
From the pullout, I walked north along the sandy road to a gate that has no restrictive signs against access, which was promising. I hopped it, then walked alongside a north-south fence, set right on the New Mexico state line. I tripped once on a pile of barbed wire hidden in the brush. Other than that, no problems. A sandy ranch road that I could have followed was very muddy with big pools of standing water.
One abeam of the dunes, I walked over to the highest one and sighted around, using my sight-level. In doing so, I determined two or three other little dune-tops to be equal to or higher than my position, so I went and stepped on these, too. I back-sighted to the other dunes and felt pretty good I hit the highpoint, one any one of the three or four dune-tops I visited. The whole journey lasted 40 minutes.
The bluffs appear to be natural, but the local ranchers have used them to build (or augment) water catchment basins within them, held in place by low scrub. What isn't covered is exposed as very soft, fine sand.
Bailey County is due north of Cochran County and its highpoints sits close to the New Mexico state line as well. I drove local roads and some FM routes to get into the community of Stegall on FM-298. West four miles brought me to County Road 11, then north on CR-11 two miles to CR-1194, where I went left (west) again. A half-mile later, there I was. The road intersects a closed contour of 4,120 feet, which meanders over about 120 acres. There was a plowed field to my north and a weedy field to my south. Determining one point above all others was not possible; the road was in the fat part of the contour and nothing looked significantly higher. I made some very short walks in the immediate area.
A recent rain had rendered the access to CR-11 from FM-298 muddy, although the rest of the road was in fair shape. Drainage isn't the best here. This highpoint didn't take much time (or effort) at all.
Next up was Lamb County, just to the east. Two regions exceeding 2,870 feet vie for honors, west of the town of Sudan. The northwesterly of the two points is a small hillock/dune beside a ranch road near the west county line. It was just a simple scamper up this hill to claim it. I sighted to the southeast spot and it definitely seemed lower, so I skipped it. Not much to Lamb County, and no reason to stick around, I got moving again.
Like Lamb County to the north, the Hockley County highpoints are two regions in flattish farm country. At the junctions of FM 303 and 597 about two miles south of Pep, a section road goes west. I parked at the rise and spied some more rise in a fallow field to my north. This is the larger of the two regions, and interestingly, the "top" was actually visible and noticeable. I sighted over to the smaller northern area and it was clearly not a contender, so I got moving once again. I was in a rhythm.
After two fairly easy highpoints, I drove south into Terry County for a go at its highpoint, a spot elevation of 3,602 feet set back in from the highway in some of the ugliest, bleakest landscape on earth.
I came down from the north from Whiteface, driving about 15 miles south on FM-1780 to the Cochran-Yoakum county line. The map shows two tracks leading to the east about 500 feet south of the county line off of FM-1780. One parallels the county line, another trends to the east-southeast toward a windmill, from which a pipeline (and accompanying road) leads right to the Terry County corner and its highpoint. I drove to these dirt roads but found them fenced. A very old sign with all its letters burned off or just worn with age was on the fence, but I couldn't make out what it said. Not wanting to park my truck at the edge of the road, I backtracked north just under 2 miles to a slight bend in the highway, at which Cochran County Road 260 spurs to the east. I turned in here, then turned into a smaller road and parked, somewhat well hidden from the main highway. The plan was to ride my bicycle south back to the dirt tracks, shimmy under the fence, stow the bike out of sight, then hike to the highpoint. I got on my bike and did exactly that, covering the 2 miles in about 10 minutes at a leisurely pace. The locals out here don't see too many bicyclists, that's for sure.
Once at the dirt tracks, I quickly squeezed under, lifted my bike over, and tossed it in a set of bushes. The dirt track supposedly paralleling the county line does not exist, as I couldn't find any sign of it. So I started hiking along the track toward the obvious windmill out in the distance. A recent rain left parts of this track extremely muddy and I found myself hiking more in the brush than on the track. After a half-mile, I just decided to leave the track and hike by dead reckoning to the northeast; I figured I'd either reach the county line (fenced) or the pipeline road, and from there finding the intersection of the two would be trivial. Aside from the slow going in the scrubby, colorless brush, I arrived upon the fence first, then walked along it until I found the pipeline road. To be sure, I hiked in the immediate area, going a bit farther east and south than I needed to, until I was satisfied. Total one way hiking was just over a mile.
Hiking back to my bike and the main road, I followed some cattle trails but these just meander so again I just walked in a beeline and soon arrived back to my bike. Back on the main road, I had a stiff 20 mph headwind, so I ended up walking most of the two miles back to my truck. Total time on this one was about an hour and a half (including scouting for other routes) and 6.5 miles of actual non-motorized travel. I even broke a sweat.
Lynn county's highpoint proved to be a pleasant experience after a series of flatties that I had done so far today; this would be my 6th of 8 highpoints for the day. From the intersection of US-380 and FM-179 in the community of West Point, I went north on FM-179 about three miles to a section-line road off to the right (east). I turned and followed this dirt road a little over a mile to a point where it ended at a small metal pipe sticking out of the road (the topo map shows the road jigging south and another one continuing east along a fence line but these were sketchy tracks at best. Another road leading north from this post is not on the map). There are no fences or restrictive signs, and the sandy hills offered a good place to park my truck.
From this post in the ground, I walked north about a quarter-mile to the crest of a rise in this road (the one not noted on the topo). From here, looking to the east, were a series of low hills about 1,000 feet away. I hiked out to these hills and just hiked up until I topped out on one that was higher than the rest. My sight-level came in real handy and I felt certain I was at the highest point. The topo shows a bewildering mess of contours so it really isn't much help except getting you to the general area. The wind was really kicking up with blowing sand and dust and I had to cover my mouth while hiking to avoid ingesting dirt. I passed through some big dust clouds on my way up to Lubbock, just to the north.
The Lubbock county highpoint is very easy as a paved highway crosses right through the highpoint contour, tucked tightly in the extreme northwest corner of the county. From US-84 about a mile northwest of Shallowater, I took FM-179 north eight miles to the town of County Line, then west along FM-597 about three miles to where it made a turn to the south. I parked and walked around. That was it, Lubbock County in the books.
Today was going very well, with seven counties done, but I was getting kind of tired of the driving and the wind (and dust). It was only about 3:30 in the afternoon, but I decided to just skip the rest on my list for the day and start heading south. Well, I did one more along the way, in Garza County. Too easy to avoid.
Garza county's highpoint is simple and conveniently located near a major highway. Access is off of US-84 southeast of Lubbock and just past the town of Slaton. However, the turn-off to the little road that leads to the highpoint is not well-marked, and I passed it and entered into Lynn county. I found a place to turn around, and re-entered Lubbock county. Using the sign as a land-mark, I proceeded up US-84 about a mile to the first paved road on the right (east), onto County Road 79. I followed this road, carefully noting intersections and landmarks on the map, which matches well with what I saw. There were no signs mentioning where the Garza County line was, but navigating by the map, I got myself onto the right road. Then it was just an easy drive to the slightly obvious highspot, which bisects the highpoint region. Easy enough. I walked a bit, just to be sure. This was enough for me today. I stayed the night in the town of Post, just a few miles down US-84.
After a good sleep in Post, I got moving, generally aiming west for the long drive home but with some plans for more counties along the way. First up, Scurry County's highpoint. I followed US-84 about 15 miles to FM-1269, which gained steeply up a mesa-side to top out onto more flatness. The road actually crosses over the highpoint region, so I parked and walked around to inspect the area. There was a gravel/clay mine behind some fencing, but seeing no way in, I decided this was good enough. It wasn't worth the hassle to gain maybe another foot. On to Kent County.
Kent County sits in a region of bluffs and mesas among the feeder creeks that eventually form the Brazos River. As a result, there is actual topography to be had in Kent County instead of the usual flatness. The highpoint is a pair of mesas called the McKenzie Mountains in the southwest part of the county, near the Scurry County line. I came in from the north from the town of Post, although easier access is available from Snyder to the south. From the junction of US-84 and FM-1142 about 8 miles northwest of Snyder, I took FM-1142 due north to a point where the road curved west, about 10 miles from the junction. At this bend is a dirt road continuing north, labeled Kent County Road 316. The McKenzie Mountains are visible from miles around and they get larger as one drives up FM-1142.
This being Texas, I was fully expecting these mesas to be well-fenced with numerous "No Trespassing" signs everywhere, but I was genuinely and happily surprised to see no restrictions whatsoever. Landowners must have forgotten to put them up. On top of that, these mesas looked like a genuine challenge and featured some flora that was easy on the eyes, like little Juniper-like trees and green grasses. I put on my boots, grabbed some water and my sight-level and started in. Of the two distinct mesas, the eastern one is larger and contains a spot elevation of 2,830 feet, while the western one has a spot elevation of 2,823 feet. I chose to climb the eastern mesa first and sight over to the west to see if I'd need to bother climbing that one.
There is no trail to the top, except for game and cattle trails. The mesas are topped by a caprock that forms some challenging cliffs. It appeared the best option was to climb toward the saddle between the two mesas, where there appeared to be more weaknesses in the caprock. The hike was short but strenuous, and very slippery due to the rubbly limestone rocks. I followed some drainages and achieved a ridge and soon, found a spot in the caprock that I breached. From truck to top was about 20 minutes. I continued along the top of the mesa to the highest area, which was spotted with numerous trees. I sighted to the western mesa and it was clear that I was higher where I was. However, on this same mesa is another rise to the east that was inconclusive upon sight-leveling, so I walked over to it anyway to ensure my successful ascent of Kent County. Hiking down, I made a minor error in judgement: I failed to note where I entered through the caprock and found myself hemmed in by these cliffs. I eventually found a way down, but I should have noted my route on the way up in the first place. I was back to my truck, and the total hike was about a shade over an hour. Very pretty.
The Dawson county highpoint is located on the west edge of the county in a region of low but distinct hills, devoted to cattle and oil. I worked my way into Gaines County, just west of the Dawson highpoint, then spent some time figuring out how to get to the target. A dirt road coming off of FM-1066 seemed promising but it was gated at the highway. Instead, inside Gaines County I took another road (Gaines CR-151) south for 1.5 miles, then went left again (east) onto a sketchy soft-sand road marked by "Goodrich Petroleum" signs. I stayed on this road for 1.7 miles, coming to an unlocked, unposted (apparently) gate. I parked here and decided to walk to the highpoint, still about a half-mile east. This I did, but when I got near the highpoint, there were a lot of cattle milling around, including a bull, and I didn't feel comfortable walking amidst them. I returned to the truck.
I figured I'd take my chances driving in, and I did, getting to within maybe 50 feet of the highpoint, which is just a smattering of little sandy dune hilltops covered in typical Permian Basin scrub. Utterly unremarkable. The cattle were still there, but my walk to the highpoint was short, and they caused me no trouble. Easy enough; I drove out and got back onto the main highway. Another quicky highpoint was awaiting me down in Martin County.
My hiking stats include the walk I took where I had to return to my truck. I spent about an hour futzing around at this highpoint.
Martin county, just north of Midland, was my 18th and final highpoint for this trip, and it wasn't even on my original plans. Bob Martin suggested I try for this county as it was easy, legal and with good road access. He supplied me a copy of the topographical map.
Access is from TX-349 between Lamesa and Midland. I came down from Lamesa, heading south. I found Martin County Road D-2651 just south of the community of Patricia, and parked a bit south of a low but distinct dune, the Martin highpoint. I hiked across low, ankle-high scrub to gain this swell of land, then walked its spine to satisfy my curiosity. The map says there's a benchmark "Sandy" nearby, but not at the highpoint area. The highpoint itself was just a bunch of low grass, scrub, and well-hidden snakes. I had no trouble, however, and once satisfied, I walked back to my truck.
I actually gave Midland County's highpoint a go, but messed up on it for a variety of reasons. Then it was just a long drive back to Arizona, with an overnight in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Another fun, pointless highpoint harvest courtesy of Texas!
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(c) 2001, 2011 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. |