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Crane • Upton • Reagan • Schleicher • Sterling • Glasscock • Crockett |
Dates Visited
Conditions
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The Permian Basin is centered around the cities of Midland and Odessa, bounded to the west by the Pecos River and to the south by the Edwards Plateau. Its other boundaries are less distinct, but the region is much more desert scrub than the plowed agricultural lands of the counties up by Lubbock. The Permian Basin is oil and natural gas country, and the stench of sulphur is everywhere. The county highpoints in this region are generally pretty easy except when they lie behind ranch fencing. I've done a few here on my own and a few with Bob Martin. The ones we have been unsuccessful on have been as a result of difficult legal access. On the other hand, oil lease lands are generally open and offer a maze of roads to travel. It's not terribly pretty country but it is interesting, at least for a couple of days. The Monahans Sand Dunes is a worthy place to visit if highpoints aren't your thing. This page is devoted to my 2002 trip to the area.
As usual, the trip began with the long journey from Arizona. On this particular trip I began with a day-hike up Picacho Peak in Arizona, followed by the 500+ mile drive to Van Horn, where the only highlight of the night was a stop at the Dairy Queen. The larger plan was to meet Bob for some highpoints down by Del Rio, but this was still a full day away, so I had today (March 10th) open. On the docket were Crane, Upton, Crockett and Reagan counties. I left Van Horn kind of early and drove the 140 miles or so to Odessa, then south from there on US-385 to the Crane County line sign. Crane County's highpoint lies on or near the county line, a gentle rise abount 3/4 of a mile off the road in some fields.
I parked my truck off the highway at the county line sign and scanned the area. I could see a slight swell of land to the west. After a few minutes I gathered my stuff, including my GPS device, shimmied under the barbed-wire fence, and hiked into the flat desert scrubland. A road cut seems to parallel (or coincide?) with the county line so I followed it for a little bit then hiked by sight toward the rise, eventually coming to another fence which trended at a SSE-NNW bearing, perfectly agreeing with a fence line shown on the topo map. The rise is just east of this fence, and with my GPS, took a couple reading that agreed with the topo maps, too. Satisfied, I returned to my truck, about a half-hour after starting. Fortunately I was right on the same highway that takes one to the Upton County highpoints, just down the road.
From the city of Crane, I headed south on US-385 about 8 miles to Castle Gap Road on my left (east). There is a Historical Marker nearby, and a good road that leads in toward the two mesas that tie for the Upton County highpoint. Alas, about two miles in I came to a locked gate across the road, still too far out to consider walking in from there. So I backtracked out to the highway, went north a bit to Ma Earp Road on the east side again, and went in. It loses its pavement at the Crane/Upton county line, then follows a good dirt road generally southeast to near a windmill at 2,887 feet at a bend in the road. King Mountain, the larger of the two mesas, was directly to my south and I could see the FAA "golf-ball" facility on its top. A locked gate prevented me from driving in, but I did see some people milling about at some old trailers and a partially collapsed barn. So I walked in and greeted them.
An older gentleman was busy hitching his cattle trailer to his truck when I caught his attention. I introduced myself, showed him my map and explained what I wanted to do. At first he seemed skeptical but after a few minutes he warmed to me and granted me permission. He introduced himself as Mr. Sanders. He opened the locked gate for me and allowed me to drive up the FAA access road to King Mountain's flat top, almost near the FAA facility. He drove with me to the top in his own truck to try to locate some of his cattle. He explained that the FAA facility is actually on another guy's land, but he didn't mind me walking to it and pacing the perimeter, which I did for a short bit before calling it good. Mr. Sanders then gave me a route to follow to get close to the other highpoint, Castle Peak. Here, we bid goodbye and I went on my way, back down King Mountain toward the trailers and barn. Two hunters were at the barn cooking lunch but they didn't mind me and I didn't mind them.
I took a sketchy ranch road a short bit to a pipeline road, followed that about a mile to another better ranch road, which curled around to the base of Castle Mountain. I parked at an oil pump. The hike to the top was short but moderately strenuous. The brush isn't too thick but finding a route through the rocky ramparts surrounding the mesa was the only challenge. I found a couple of weaknesses and attained the top in about a half-hour. I walked the flat top for about 20 minutes then started back down to my truck. Mr. Sanders had given me the combo to the gate's lock so I could let myself out. I did so, and left a letter of thanks folded up into a space near the lock. I wonder if he got it. In any case, his kindness to let me drive in knowcked off at least 2 hours from my itinerary. He was a very nice man who mentioned he usually allows access as long as permission is asked for; he does not live on the property but visits it regularly.
After a successful ascent of the Upton County highpoints, I drove into McCamey then east along US-67 to have a go at the Crockett County highpoint. I wasn't successful at Crockett on this go (I was, however, a few days later ... see below). Back on US-67, I went east some more through Rankin and on towards Big Lake in Reagan County through the tiny settlements of Texon, Santa Rita and Best. In Best, I took Lone Wolf Road south over some railroad tracks, then followed it east a tiny distance, then south, west and south again for about six miles to a gated oil-lease road marked with "Kodiak" lease signs, slightly less then a mile south of the last major turn. Here, I parked, left a note in my truck in case anyone came upon it, and started in.
The hike follows decent ranch and oil roads west for about 2 miles to the elongated 2,960-foot contour marking Reagan County's high ground. The roads and the topo map agree perfectly. Joyner windmill, a large active windmill just west of the highpoint rise, was visible much of the way and served as an excellent reference point. I walked these roads at a brisk pace, staying on the roads and only going cross country at the final bit to walk the highpoint region. The land is dotted with oil pumps and storage tanks. On the way out I came upon a flock of sheep, but saw no one herding them. The round trip took about 45 minutes. So far as I can tell, no one ever drove by my truck. It was getting late in the day from here I drove back west towards Fort Stockton, where I spent the night.
The next day (the 11th) was devoted to the Terrell and Pecos County highpoints, both done with Bob after we met west of Sanderson. The 12th started with a lengthy attack on the Val Verde County highpoint (see here). We had no luck with that one but it did get us close to Schleicher County, next on the list.
After five-plus hours of driving and trying ways to find the Val Verde County highpoint, Bob Martin and I finally conceded defeat and drove on into Ozona on Interstate-10, where we had lunch. The plan was to head north and try for Irion county, but I wanted to also go hike the Schleicher County highpoint. Bob had already hiked it previously and wasn't interested in doing it again, so we agreed to meet a few hours later in the small town of Barnhart, about 30 miles north of Ozona. I went ahead and hit the road toward the Schleicher highpoint area.
From Ozona I went north on TX-163 to Crockett County Road 09 on my right (east), which I followed for about 15 miles or so as it went east then gently curved north through some desolate ranch properties. Eventually it met up with Irion County Road 132, where I turned right (east) and went about three more miles to a locked gate spanning the road. I parked here and started the hike in. I was roughly at the Irion-Crockett-Schleicher county tri-corner. Ranch fencing in the area seemed to coincide with the county boundaries.
An open (but very rough) road leads south into Schleicher County. The road descends then ascends to a very gentle and broad ridge, on which the Schleicher County highpoint areas sit. I walked the road south for about 1.25 miles, going at a quick pace. I came to a gas-line that headed southeast, true to the map. I followed it a bit to where it topped a small rise, the first of the two highpoint areas. The land here was rocky desert scrubland, with plenty of cactus on the ground. A hunter's stand stood in the distance, on the downslope side of the rise. I returned back to the main road, then hopped a fence to seek out the second highpoint area, hidden in a thicket of juniper. I walked a big looping arc, always heading "up" whenever I could sense it. After a spell I was satisfied that I had covered the highest ground, and from here, returned quickly to my truck, then on to Barnhart to meet back up with Bob.
Although I moved fast, I easily covered over 4 miles in total walking, which was surprising in a way. This one was a bit of effort!
From Barnhart, Bob and I traveled north a short bit into the little vestigial strip of land extending west from Tom Green County. The Tom Green highpoints are scattered in here, six areas in all. Bob had hit two on a previous visit, but together we had no luck in getting the others. This took up about an hour. We then proceeded a few more miles into Irion County, where we spent a couple hours seeking out its highpoints - the full details are given further down on this page. Sterling County was next up but it was getting dark when we arrived, so we found an open place to car camp for the night on McDonald Road North, which runs along the Sterling-Glasscock County line. Prior to that we had explored an open gate to seek the highpoint, but gave up quickly as it was too dark. We would try again the following morning.
Back at our car-camp I noticed my tire had lost all its air! Evidently I had picked up a nail somewhere along the line, so I was obliged to put on the spare right then and there. Not the way I had planned my evening, but at least it gave me something to do.
The next morning we re-entered the ranch road and drove back to where we were the previous night. Bob drove and I was shotgun and navigator. This time, we could see much better, making navigation a lot easier. Although the map's roads were no longer accurate, we followed a rough road along a fence line about a mile to a gas-line right-of-way, driving by dead reckoning toward the obvious rise in land. About another mile along the gas line road, we topped out at the rise and took a GPS reading. Much to our luck, we were right in the highpoint area! We walked around for about 15 minutes, with Bob making sight-level readings using me as a mobile survey marker. No one point stood out as the highest point but we narrowed the general area to about a 100-foot square parcel, and walked around that for a bit.
We simply followed the roads back out of the ranch and back to my truck. We drove in the 20 miles to so to Big Spring where I left my truck to get my flat patched (so I'd have a spare).
While my truck was in the shop, Bob and I drove to Glasscock County for a go at its highpoint. The highpoint is just a swell of land in the north-east portion of the county. A look at the map for Glasscock county shows very few roads other than the handful of state and federal highways. This is a ranching county, with lots of fencing and not many people. But, we got lucky: the highpoint area was easily accessed by one of the few county roads in the area. We came down FM-33 from Big Spring about 20 miles to Sherrod Road on our left (east), then followed Sherrod Road about 4 miles to where it topped out at a noticeable rise in the road.
The highpoint contour was to our south but the road leading had a "No Trespassing" sign. Fortunately, a quarry company owns the land, and their plant was just north of the road, so we went in, got permission, and we returned to the access road. We drove in about a mile to another fence line, and got out. Taking a few sight-level readings, we walked about a quarter mile in a thick cactus grove for about a half-hour. The highest area seemed to be south of an abandoned house (?) and north of a fence line, about a mile south of the Sherrod Road. We saw a few big trucks carrying enormous stone slabs for the quarry.
From here it was an easy drive back to Big Spring so I could get my truck, then a couple hours' drive to Stonewall county and its highpoint for later in the day. To read about that adventure and the second half of my 2002 trip, click here. After my time north, I headed back south for one more attempt at Southwest Mesa in Crockett County, before heading home.
The Crockett County highpoint is atop a huge mesa located in the extreme northwest finger of the county near the Pecos River. Southwest Mesa covers many square miles and is located in the same series of mesas as the Upton county highpoints. This is a very pretty area; the other 98% of the county is bland, bleak flat scrubby desert. The only town, Ozona on Interstate-10, isn't anything special but I was able to buy an air-filter there for my truck, so I guess it's an okay place.
I had originally tried for Crockett county's highpoint a few days earlier on March 10th, while doing the Upton and Reagan highpoints nearby. I found the right road off of US-67 about 8 miles east of McCamey and entered the "Boob Kelton" ranch. A good bladed dirt road leads to the wind farm and the huge fans on top the mesa (wind energy), but the road is gated and locked at US-67. I knew I could get to this good road by taking a sketchy ranch road from the adjacent Kelton ranch but there were a few of them and I wasn't sure which one to take, and it was late... so I gave up. The next day I met up with Bob Martin and we talked about it and he described the road I should have used, so I decided to go back to it a few days later on my way home to Arizona.
On the 14th, after a few more days highpointing and a long drive coming south from Lubbock to Midland-Odessa, I made the 40+ mile drive from Odessa through McCamey back to the Kelton ranch, which I entered, driving in about a mile and a half to a gas pipeline "road". I took this road about a mile to an unlocked gate that fed me right onto the nice dirt road to the top. In truth I probably should not have been where I was; signs stated "No Unauthorized Vehicles" but I figured I'd be okay. Sure enough after another couple miles I came to a building at the base of the mesa and met up with a worker, so I parked and went up to him. Generally, the workers don't care about visitors as long as it looked like I was not dangerous. He said he didn't mind me poking around on top and even "escorted" me up the road to the top. He just said to stay away from the fan towers, then we parted ways.
The highpoint is a single 3,060-foot contour toward the mesa's east side. I had about 4 miles of driving atop the mesa to get to it, but navigating was easy because it was pretty obvious where the land rose. Also, I used Table Top Mesa, immediately to the north, as a bearing device, and I arrived at the highpoint area with no problems. It was windy and nearing sunset so I had some time to take some nice photos of the sunset through the huge fans. The fans themselves are monstrous things: each consists of 3 blades, each about 50 feet long. The towers are about 150 feet tall, and are grouped in groups of 4 to a dozen or so all over the mesa. The idea, obviously, is to generate electricity from the ever-present winds in this part of Texas.
I didn't stay for very long, with a keen desire to be down and back out to the main highway before dark. Plus, I had passed a couple gates and I was concerned I might get locked in. Anyway, I made it out fine, went back through McCamey and the 40 miles to Interstate-10 in Fort Stockton, by which time it was dark. I drove another 120 miles to Van Horn and took a hotel, and drove back home the following day.
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(c) 2002, 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. |