Kane county has a peculiar situation: its highest peak is the unofficially named "Andy Nelson" Peak, at 10,027 feet. However, about 2 airmiles north of this peak, a band of cliffs jutting in from neighboring Iron county rises to just over 10,080 feet at a point where the county line runs over the top, thus giving the highest point. Not many counties have this anomaly. Some have their highpoints on the slopes of a peak whose summit is in a neighboring county (I usually just climb to the summit anyway, then seek out the highpoint spot). But Kane's situation features two distinct points, including Nelson Peak, completely contained within Kane county. For highpointing purposes, I could have ignored Andy Nelson Peak altogether and sought out the northern boundary point, but that option just seemed to lack any satisfaction, so I opted to visit both points in order to claim Kane county. Fortunately, road and trail access for both are abundant.

After a long drive out of Henderson, Nevada, via Cedar City and up the curvy and steep UT-14 highway (and following a U-Haul going 20 mph), I came to the Navajo Lake turn-off about 25 miles east of Cedar City, high in the mountains. First on my agenda was Andy Nelson Peak. The name is unofficial but has been used many times and will probably be the de-facto name in due time. The Navajo Lake road is gravel, then paved, as it swings south of the lake. There were many campers and hikers out and about, this being Labor Day weekend. I followed the directions in Weibel and Miller's High In Utah to the Te-Ah campground at a point where the pavement ended. I parked on the continuation dirt road, backtracked a bit and started in on the Virgin Rim trail. There is an extensive trail network in this area, but it's relatively new and not noted on the topo maps.

On the Virgin Rim Trail, I went mainly south about 1.5 miles, gaining about 400 feet along a gentle grade. Mountain bikers also use these trails, and I had to watch out for them coming down fast! The trail leads to a saddle between Navajo Peak to the east and Andy Nelson Peak to the west. I left the trail at a convenient spot and just started up through the trees up the slopes to the top. The final portion gained about 500 feet in about a quarter-mile. It was steep in places, but the summit was broad and flat, and treeless. A lone cairn sat in the middle of the clearing. Views weren't that extensive, but in places coming down the slope, views out over the Navajo Lake were very nice. Round trip hiking was about 1.5 hours and just about 4 miles round trip.

I backtracked back to the main highway (UT-14) and headed back west about 4 miles to the Iron county line sign. Immediately after this sign I turned left onto Forest Road 66, marked by a Deer Valley sign. This road is graded well for about the first mile to accomodate campers. Then, the quality deteriorates. About 2 miles in (maybe less), the road junctions with FR-1642 on the left. I took FR-1642 in another half mile in very rocky, rutted conditions, putting my truck into 4wd for a short bit. Finally, I just parked and walked in the final 3/4 mile or so to the road's end in a thicket of strange looking trees: they looked like Aspen but much thinner and with gnarled trunks. In any case, I was at the end of the road, roughly on the Kane-Iron county line.

The highpoint is inside a small 10,800-foot contour that bleeds into Kane county from the north. The map indicated I needed to walk just a few hundred feet west to get "close" to the area. I did so, using my GPS to help keep my bearing, but it is very thick forest and it's difficult to maintain a constant bearing. I continued to hike until I reached what I sensed to be the top of the ridge, but I really wasn't sure if I was in the right area. I started to wander the area and by luck, came upon a cairn built by Andy Martin, who sought out the highpoint a couple of years ago. While his cairn is just a good guess on his part where the county line and highpoint may be, it did indicate that I wasn't totally lost! Using the cairn as a guide, I wandered the immediate area, then walked out back to the road, using that thicket of funny-shaped trees as my landmark. The cairn's Lat-Long coordinates are (deg:min.dec): N 37:32.65 W 112:49.48.

The drive out was nice, and I went no more than another 10 miles up the road to Cedar Breals National Monument. Cedar Breaks is a set of cliffs with awesome views, similar to the Grand Canyon, though just a fraction of the size. While at Cedar Breaks, I had a good view of my next objective, Iron county's Brian Head Peak just up the road. These two county highpoints can easily be done in a couple of hours.