County Highpoints of Texas
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This county highpoint trip would be big in scope. I would first meet with Bob Martin and we would tag a few county highpoints in and around the Permian Basin, kind of cleaning up places we had missed on before on our own previous visits. Then we'd part ways. I then headed generally northeast, then started heading west, systematically visiting the county highpoints along the Red River. Once done, I trended southwest again and picked off a few more before heading back to Arizona. In all, I would collect 23 new county highpoints on this trip. I have created two pages for this trip report. This page covers the first couple days and ends just before I started the Red River segment of the journey.
Date: March 15, 2003 • Elevation: 2,980 feet • Distance: 0.3 mile wandering • Time: 30 minutes • Gain: 5 feet • Conditions: Calm • Teammate: Bob Martin
Texas
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PB
Midland County's highest point is a "rise" of land on its western boundary. The land here is so flat that elevation differentials might be a few feet per mile. There's no way to discern the highpoint just by looking at it. It's entirely dependent on the topographical maps, and a GPS unit.
In 2002, I was here and I thought I would have no trouble locating the highpoint. I had a GPS, but the maps I had did not include the lat-long tick marks. Usually, I would locate "hard to see" highpoint areas by comparing my position with other features such as fencelines, bends in the road, buildings and so on. This method works well assuming the maps and the actual land agree. Sometimes they don't, which is what happened here in Midland County.
On the map, it appeared this highpoint was in the middle of nowhere, a handful of scraggly roads meandering in the area. My first hint of trouble was that a new freeway had been built, so some of these old roads on the map were now bulldozed into history. I was able to get near my desired road anyway, but as I drove in, the bends in the road didn't seem to match what was on the map. Junctions that I needed to see just weren't there.
I drove in a couple miles and stopped, got out, and honestly felt utterly stumped. I walked around and left, thinking "I got it". Well, I got back on the freeway, drove into Odessa, stopped and got out my maps. I wanted to figure this out better. I intended to go right back and redo it.
I drove back and got off onto a side/frontage road, and parked at the Midland-Ector County line sign, and took a GPS reading, giving me a longitude value that I could use to help better locate my position (I had not pre-entered any lat-long coordinates before I left home. That just wasn't my style). Then I found the road to the alleged highpoint area, and tried to follow tracks until I was at or very near the county line, going by my longitude value.
I kept at this for about 30 minutes. I followed a "main" road that seemed to veer west too quickly. Each time I would get onto the county line, I'd get out and walk into the surrounding scrubland, and take more readings, jotting them onto a sheet of paper. I took about four or five, then when I returned home, I compared them to a complete map. Alas, I had not visited the "right" area. I nicked its southern end, but that wasn't good enough.
When Bob and I were discussing our 2003 plans, I mentioned my desire to revisit Midland County, and I was surprised when he said he felt unsure about his previous visit. Then it was settled: we'd revisit it together. Thus, we met one another here in Texas, both armed with complete maps and GPS waypoints up the ying-yang. As a result, we zeroed in on the area in a matter of minutes.
One thing still bugged me: a "major" road junction shown on the map supposedly nearby the highpoint area just was not there. We spent about 10 minutes searching for it, and we did find it. One of the roads had been torn up and "softened" so that grass and scrub would grow on it. It was essentially erased, and only the barest hints that a road was ever here remained.
Well, it felt good to finally complete this stupid county highpoint. Now we could move on to our next objectives.
Elevation: 2,752 feet • Prominence: 112 feet • Distance: 0.5 mile • Time: 30 minutes • Gain: 40 feet • Conditions: Same
PB
Bob and I were here a year ago inspecting the Irion County highpoints, but Bob decided not to count that visit as complete, so we were back again to revisit the multiple areas and give the whole place a more thorough treatment. The problem here is that the maps are inconsistent with their scaling.
Irion county has nine areas enclosed within 2,740-foot contours. Seven of these areas are found in the Ketchum Oil Field, southeast of the intersection of FM-2469 and TX-163, about 10 miles north of the town of Barnhart. The other two are on Ketchum Mountain, about eight miles to the north-northeast.
The two areas on Ketchum Mountain can be ignored. The highest point reaches 2,741 feet, and this is superceded by two spot-elevations down (or, should I say, up) in the oil field. So we concentrated on the seven areas in the oil field. The "Ketchum Mountain" topographical map contains most of these areas, while the adjoining "Rocker B Ranch" map to the west contains a carry-over of the largest area from the other map. This area is the biggest, and contains two intermediate 2,750-foot contours.
Last year, Bob and I visited only the two 2,750-foot areas, including one that gets to 2,752 feet. Afterwards, Bob had second thoughts about not exploring the other 2,740-foot areas, and I went with his decision. Some of those 2,740-foot regions should be inspected, we thought.
So here we were a year later. We drove in the access road, located along FM-2469 about 4 miles east of TX-163. I parked at an oil pump and rode with Bob. We visited the largest two of these remaining areas, sight-leveled and each time concluded that at most the elevation gain was about a foot. We also hiked about 3/8 of a mile, round trip, to get within a third contour, this one closest to the highway but off of the access road. The map shows this to have a spot elevation of 2,743 feet, which is likely the height of the highest point within this contour. Three small areas off to the south were left alone as this land does not feature the unlikely rocks or sudden elevation "spikes" that would vault one of the tiny areas into contention.
After visiting these large areas, we feel confident that the two 2,750-foot areas that we visited in 2002 were the highpoints, and I'd give credit to anyone just visiting those areas. The road in is public access, there are no fences and no restrictive signs. The land features mesquite, juniper and cactus. On this day, we had blooming wildflowers, too, and it was very pretty.
The area is named for the Ketchum boys, Tom and Sam, two brothers who became outlaws. They were born "near" modern-day Irion County, during the Civil War. While they may have been outlaws, they weren't very good ones. Tom attempted to hold up a train that his brother had held up not long before. The train people were ready for him and wounded him on the spot. He was arrested, tried and hanged in 1901. His brother Sam had been killed during the previous robbery attempt. That kind of tomfoolery gets oil fields named for you in these parts.
Date: March 16, 2003 • Elevation: 2,460 feet • Prominence: 47 feet • Distance: 0.1 mile • Time: 5 minutes • Gain: 5 feet • Conditions: No change
PB
Bob Martin and I arrived to the Kimble County highpoint, which is a single 2,460-foot area along highway FM-1674 in the northwest part of the county. Bob had been here last year but revisited it with me.
We parked along the highway roughly four miles south of the county line sign. The highpoint area is just about 300 feet off the road. We found a gate to the south, and walked in from there. After a sight-leveling, we deemed the visit a success. From here we drove to the city of Junction, then toward Mason County.
Elevation: 2,160 feet • Prominence: 120 feet • Distance: 3 miles • Time: 1 hour • Gain: 320 feet • Conditions: no change
PB
The highpoint of Mason County is Monument Mountain, part of the Blue Mountain "Range", which, more accurately, is one big sprawling mesa covering many square miles. The map shows a road gets close to one area, from where it would be about a mile to the other area. We came in from Junction via US-377 and FM-385 and FM-1871 and tried to get to this road.
Not surprisingly, this road was gated at the highway, miles away from the highpoint. Had I been alone, I probably would have bailed on the spot and continued on my way. But Bob wanted to try a secondary route from the east, along Mill Creek Road, which is nothing more than a local dirt road. I had no reason to think this would work, given how abundantly fenced, gated and posted all the land out here was. I was fully expecting to find fencing and posted notices. It seemed like a waste of time, but I went along to appease Bob.
We found what seemed to be an abandoned residence and an open, unlocked and unposted gate. Still a little unsure if we were in the right area, Bob broke out his GPS unit, and rode with me as I drove in a little side road. Bob confirmed we were on the side road shown on the topographical map as the one getting close to the summit. We had to pass one gate (unlocked, no notices) and drive past cattle. We managed to get as far as a windmill shown on the map at spot elevation 1,847 feet. A second "gate" blocked our access. It was not locked but it was nothing more than old metal gates and junk leaning up against a fence.
Since we were now within 1.5 miles of the top, we walked the rest. We breached this second gate, entered into a field and a Y-junction, and took the left fork. This turned out to be the incorrect choice. But we followed the left fork as it went toward the mesa's sides. We found paths that helped us enter the brush, and in short time we were on the mesa top ... but clearly not on any useful road. Bob's GPS showed us to be southeast of the summit. The trees were thick, and line-of-sight navigation worked intermittently.
After about 20 minutes of battling the brush and trees, we came out to an ATV track which led to a more substantial track, which led to the road we should have been on in the first place. We had the top within view. The final segment was up a moderately-steep slope with heavy brush and branches, but in minutes we were on top. The hike from my truck had taken 45 minutes.
The top is about 200 feet long, flat with spotty trees, cactus and grass clumps. The other 2,160-foot contour area mentioned earlier was visible to the west. it has been graded flat and was clearly lower than where we were. After 10 minutes, we started down, following the good road all the way back to my truck.
I was curious as to how we missed this good road going in. At the aforementioned Y-junction, the two roads look about equal in quality. If we'd followed the right fork about 200 feet we would have seen that the quality improved considerably. We got back to my truck and drove out to Bob's truck, then convoyed back toward the US-377 junction, where Bob and I parted ways. My thanks, as always, to Bob for being so persistent. I very likely would have let this one go if I'd been by myself.
A couple years later, I received an email from the landowners of the Blue Mountain Peak Ranch. They are very friendly and run a guest ranch here. Their link is Blue Mountain Peak Ranch. When in the area, look them up.
Elevation: 2,413 feet (Concho HP) & 2,432 feet (Menard HP)
• Prominence: 62 feet (Menard HP)
• Distance: 6 miles
• Time: 3 hours
• Gain: 300 feet
• Conditions: Clear and pleasant
• Teammate: Just me now
PB (Concho County) • PB (Menard County)
The highpoints of Concho and Menard Counties lie on a low, sprawling hill whose top lies within Menard County, with ridges north into Concho County. There are two 2,430-foot contours within Menard County, one with a spot elevation of 2,432 feet. One area in Concho County has a spot elevation of 2,413 feet.
My hike starts at a radio tower than can be seen from many miles. I tried a few ways to get there, arriving to it via local paved and dirt roads from the town of Eden. I arrived at 3 p.m., the weather pleasant and stable. The highpoints were about 2.5 miles west of this tower.
I almost didn't get anywhere at all. When I hopped the fence, I landed on rocks on the other side and almost busted my ankle. I took a few moments to walk it off and make sure it was okay. Satisfied that it was, I started the walk west. I was aiming for the Concho County highpoints first, two ridges off to the west.
The first Concho County highpoint area is a mile west of the tower, and the second area another mile farther west. The first three-quarters mile of the hike was through moderate tree cover, not enough to slow me, but enough to limit my line-of-sight views. I came to a fence line at 0.8 mile, shown on the map. This proved to be tricky to scale as all the posts were flimsy. Cattle watched me. I just put my head down and walked right past them. The land was more open here.
Soon, I reached the first area, the largest area and the one with the 2,413 spot elevation. I took a GPS reading to ensure my position, and I walked in looping arcs to cover this area. The "fattest" part of the 2,410-foot contour coincides with the spot elevation and I found this with no problem. Satisfied, I continued west toward a second fence. I could see the second Concho County highpoint ridge ahead.
Here, I noticed a work truck and a trailer up on the hilly area south of me. I was about a half-mile north and unless they were looking hard, I wasn't noticeable, even in the open terrain. As I approached this second fence, I noticed a herd of sheep. Sure enough, they all freaked out when they saw me, and took off running to the north. The sheep creating all sorts of commotion, I decided to spend the next few minutes laying low, hiding in a patch of brushy trees.
I decided to work up the courage and go meet and greet whoever was in this trailer. As I walked up toward them, the lay of the land was such that I became more hidden as a result. They were up on a hill, while I was below, hidden by the slopes. So I decided to skip meeting them and continued west.
I hopped a second fence, and entered into a copse of trees. I reached the second Concho County highpoint ridge quickly. No one area stands out as "highest", but I walked the spine as best as I could. I was north of the two Menard County highpoint areas, one of which I could see about three-quarters mile to the south.
So I continued on toward the Menard County highpoints. I came to a third fence running east-west. The map shows this fence to be inside Menard County by about 1,000 feet, and my GPS reading confirmed this. The fence makes getting the northern of the two Menard highpoint areas easy, as it runs over the top. I quickly ran over to visit this northern area, then hopped the fence to seek out the (likely) higher southern area, with the 2,432-foot spot elevation.
After lengthy walking through intermittent trees, I came to what appeared to me to be the highest ground. It clearly dropped to the south, west and north, so I paced east a little to cover the general area encompassed by the 2,430-foot contour. While I couldn't declare what particular rock was the highest point, I spent about 15 minutes walking the area, confirming with my GPS and visually, and left feeling confident I had been in the right place. Cattle were in the area, which was a little more open with less trees.
Satisfied I had visited the four necessary areas to claim Concho and Menard Counties, I began the long walk out, following my route exactly, including hopping the fences at the same places. The sheep were long gone, and the cattle had moved to go feed, too. I walked briskly, but I slowed down at the eastern Concho County highpoint area to walk the other fat part a little more as insurance.
I was back to my truck at 6 p.m., and it was getting dusky as I came back out to pavement and civilization. This hike entailed almost 6 miles round trip hiking, plus a gross cumulative gain of nearly 300 feet, when I include all my gains and drops. It was a pretty area with lots of green, trees, and rolling hills. I was expecting more ugly scrub but was thankful I had very little of that. The map was absolutely vital, and it helped that the main fences shown on the map were in their proper places in the field. A windmill roughly in the center of all this also served as a useful navigation reference.
This was it for hiking for today. I stayed in the town of Ballinger, putting me near Moro Mountain for the next morning.
Date: March 17, 2003
• Elevation: 2,310 feet
• Prominence: 370 feet
• Distance: 3 miles
• Time: 90 minutes
• Gain: 410 feet
• Conditions: Cool
PB
I spent the night in Ballinger, within easy driving distance of Moro Mountain, a lone mesa in north Runnels County that is the county highpoint. It was first on the day's agenda and I was moving at dawn. I started by trying roads from the north.
First, driving US-83 past Winters and into the community of Bradshaw, I followed county roads two miles to a locked gate, three miles north of the mesa. That stopped me. I returned to US-83, went back to Winters, then east on FM-1770 about 5.5 miles to county road 171, across from the junction with FM-2647. I went north two miles to CR-172, right briefly, then left onto CR-173, heading north. The road turned east again then came to another gate after three miles. There were no posted notices on the gate. I parked my truck, got suited up, put a note in my truck's window, and started walking. I was at spot elevation 2,029 feet, about one mile southwest of the top.
I walked north along the road for a half mile, then east into a large draw, losing about 60 feet. Soon, the road came to another gate. I hopped this gate and entered into the trees. At first, it was sporadic trees with lots of low grasses and cactus, and cow paths helped me wind through the brush. Shortly, I entered into thicker "forest" and the grasses gave away to bare soils and rock. And it got steep, too. The actual climb up the mesa is short and quick.
I picked my way up the steepening hillside, periodically battling low brush, until I reached the caprock at the mesa's rim. Finding a place to gain the rim was challenging, as the caprock was 6 to 8 feet high all around. I found a brushy cleft with big blocks that made it relatively easy for me to scale the caprock. Once on top, I strolled toward the obvious highpoint. I found what appeared to be an old cairn, but the rocks had been spread apart.
It had taken me 45 minutes to reach the top. I stayed long enough to snap a photo or two, then started down. I found a better place to descend the caprock, then re-entered the trees down low as I made my way to the main road. I was back to my truck at 8:30 a.m., a total of 90 minutes of hiking covering 3 miles round trip, and a gross elevation change of about 410 feet, including the 60 feet I dropped and regained.
The only downer was that somewhere along the line I lost my good sunglasses. They must have fallen off of me on one of my many slips, slides and butt-landings while descending the rubbly slope. As for the hike, no one bothered me, and I saw no one, although I can't vouch for certain that this peak has public access. But I did get the impression the top has been visited before.
Elevation: 2,257 feet
• Prominence: 217 mile
• Distance: 2 miles
• Time: 45 minutes
• Gain: 100 feet
• Conditions: nice
PB
The Coleman County highpoint is one of three contending hills reaching 2,250+ feet elevation, all spaced about one mile apart. The center hill is marked by a USGS benchmark "McCord". It may be the highest point. Sighting between these hills is not possible due to the trees and brush that block views, so I planned on visiting all three.
I came here from state route TX-153 to dirt county road 456, heading north about 2 miles to a cattle grate spanning the road. I crossed the grate and parked off the road near a gate. The east highpoint hill was visible beyond the gate, no more than a quarter-mile away. There wasn't much out here. No homes or ranches, nothing that looked active. The fence and gate were not posted explicitly, although I know that doesn't mean it's not really posted. The whole place had a run-down, derelict look to it. I hopped the gate and walked to the first hill, reaching it in just a couple of minutes.
From the first hill, I hiked to the middle hill, with the McCord benchmark on it. I found the top and the benchmark and a lot of cairns for some reason: big stacks of rocks everywhere. There were more trees in this area. The western area was a third of a mile west across a fence. There's a water tank on this hilltop. Once I tagged what I thought were the highpoints, I retraced my steps back to my truck. The whole hike took an hour and covered a couple of miles. I never saw a soul.
A couple years later some couple in Dallas scolded me for being on "their" property, apparently reading about my trip on my website. In 2008 I was in correspondence with Lee Rosenbaum, a surveyor from the Abilene area who has taken an interest in the county highpoints of Texas. He reported to me that the property is being developed. Well, further detective work by Mr. Rosenbaum showed that the presumed landowners were in error. I never crossed their property, but skirted north of it. He supplied me with aerial images showing the property lines of the landowners. Whose land I was actually on, I have no clue.
Elevation: 1,929 feet • Prominence: 153 feet • Distance: 1 mile • Time: 45 minutes • Gain: 230 feet • Conditions: Okay I guess
PB
There are three areas in Comanche County that reach 1,920 feet, all on Hog Mountain. One isa large area and a spot elevation of 1,929 feet, and two tiny ones that almost certainly don't get that high. Besides, Bob Martin had been here in the few days before me, had sighted these smaller areas with his level from atop the big area, and showed they were lower. Thus, I sought only this 1,929-foot point.
I drove FM-1689, then local county roads 175 and 177 south and west to a bend in the road north of the highpoint hill. It looked to be a short hike. However, this one proved to be the brushiest, viniest, stickeriest hike of the trip. I parked at the fence along the road, and started up the steep and loose slope, coming to a fence quickly. I found a breach in this fence and wriggled through it. So far, so good ... sort of. I had slipped a few times on the rubbly slopes on the way up, and this was already kind of a nasty hike. But it got worse, fast. There was no clear way to gain the final 40 feet to the mesa top without barrelling directly into a mish-mash of low, dense vines and foliage.
I bashed through waist-high brush, in shorts, encountering sticker vines which sliced my legs effectively. When will I ever learn? But I was successful in gaining the top. Mercifully the brush wasn't as bad on top, and I was able to hike south about 500 feet in intermittently open areas and on game trails. I didn't find anything that looked human-made to mark the top, although I did find a bare rock area with what seemed to be a two-rock cairn. In any case, I spent about 20 minutes walking the top, trying to sense the highpoint and the possible location of the 1,929-foot spot elevation. After awhile, I declared my goal finished, as I had paced the whole area as best as I could.
I hiked back down through the same vines and brush. The hike down was easier because I was lighter by about a few pints of blood. The town of Rising Star down the road had a gas station where I cleaned my wounds. The whole trip covered a mile with about 230 feet of gain in less than an hour.
Elevation: 1,980 feet • Distance: 1.4 miles • Time: 45 minutes • Gain: 190 feet • Conditions: Unsettled
PB
An unnamed range of low hills lie mainly within Callahan County, but a few ridges and foothills extend east into Eastland County. Three separate hills reach elevations of 1,973 feet, 1,975 feet and 1,976 feet. However, a ridge extends into the county with a contour area of 1,980 feet. I decided to scale this area first than look back and sight to the other hills.
I went north on FM-569 off of state route TX-206 past the Sabanno Cemetary, then turned left onto the first county dirt road I came to. I followed it as it bent north, then northwest, then north again, parking at a gate north of spot elevation 1,798, at a road shown trending northwest, also shown on the map. I suited up, put the usual "I am not a hunter" note in my truck window, and started in.
I scaled the gate, which in this case was a big hunk of metal chained to the posts on both sides, not attached by a hinge of any sort. Weeds were waist high and I suspect no one ever opens this gate. I didn't see any homes or hints of people in the area. There were no tracks in the dirt road, and no signs against trespassing.
I walked on this road toward a pond, then north again about a half mile to where it split into three paths. I went left. This road curved around Hill 1,976 then came to a grassy saddle west of this hill and east of the highpoint area. In moments, I had scaled the last few feet, arriving onto the 1,980-foot area.
This isn't a summit. The land rises slightly west into Callahan County. However, a fence seems to be at the county boundary, so I walked to it. The lower hills seemed conclusively lower, so I did not visit them. Just as fast, I exited. Moving quickly, the round trip covered 2.5 miles, about 190 feet of gain and 40 minutes of time. From here, I went north into an increasingly ominous storm to visit the Stephens County highpoint.
Elevation: 1,628-1,631 feet • Prominence: 60 feet • Distance: 1 mile • Time: 1 hour • Gain: 200 feet • Conditions: Getting nasty
PB
The Stephens County highpoints are five areas in the southern part of the county. Four flat areas are located along FM-1852 about one mile north of the Eastland-Stephens county line, at County Road 123. A fifth area is 4 miles west, on Gunsight Mountain, on a portion that juts into Stephens County. I arrived here at 1 p.m. in humid, sunny weather, but a big storm was brewing to the north.
Of the four eastern areas, one features a spot elevation of 1,628 feet, and John Garner's survey work detailed on his report at www.cohp.org seemed to show that it, and some areas nearby an oil tank, are likely the highest points. The fifth area on Gunsight Mountain also seemed like a very strong contender.
I came to the western area first, the one on Gunsight Mountain. I located myself onto Stephens County Road-154. I followed it about a mile until it curled west, and parked in a pullout north of some oil storage tanks. I hopped the fence (no restrictive signs) and followed the road south and west toward the brushy hillside. I went directly up the hillside, which wasn't too bad. I breached an old fence about half-way up, and came out to the top after about 20 minutes. The top was open, and I walked north and south along this noticeable hump, stepping on anything that looked promising. Satisfied, I descended the same way, and was back to my truck after 40 minutes. The big storm to my north was now almost right over me, and I had sprinkles. I didn't waste time driving out back to pavement.
As for the large eastern area, I parked at the junction of FM-1852 and CR-123, where one 1,628-foot spot elevation exists, and made a brief walk within this flat area. Frankly, the storm was spooking me. I even sat in my truck and watched it for about 10 minutes to see what it would do. One cloud had a prow-shaped protrusion coming from underneath the main cloud, a precursor to a twister, perhaps? I drove south to Ranger, and had lunch while waiting out the storm.
Lidar shows that the area by FM-1852 & CR-123 is highest, at 1,831 feet. A tiny area about a thousand feet northeast also clocks in at 1,831 feet. The other areas shown on the topo that are east come in at about 1,826 feet, as does the point over on Gunsight Mountain.
Elevation: 1,530 feet • Prominence: 30 feet • Distance: 1 mile • Time: 30 minutes • Gain: 140 feet • Conditions: stormy
PB
There was an active tornado situation going on nearby, so I ducked into a travel-mart to ride out the weather, as if that would help me if we got a direct hit. Fortunately, we didn't.
I stayed inside for an hour, re-emerging at 3 p.m., noting that the storm had moved east. This was good for me. Continuing east on Interstate-20, I went north on TX-16 to the town of Strawn, then just under a mile north to the junction of FM-207. I went left on FM-207 for 4.5 miles to Hohhertz Road on my right. I drove on this road, which was dirt. The storm had dropped a lot of rain and the road was slick and muddy.
I went north on Hohhertz Road about three miles. The highpoint is atop a small series of hills that parallel Hohhertz Road to the west. I parked in a pullout near a set of three oil storage tanks with a sign reading "Delta Oil & Gas - J. N. Stuart". There was a clearing from these tanks all the way up the hill, from which the highpoint would be an easy stroll on the ridge top.
I hopped the sturdy fence and walked up this steep, muddy clearing, staying clear of the exposed oil pipelines. After 15 minutes, I gained 120 vertical feet and was now on the ridge top. Once on the ridgetop, I turned north and walked about 300 feet toward an obvious rise. The rise was obvious and I achieved the rounded top after another ten minutes of strolling amid the open land. My GPS confirmed my position beyond all doubt. I paced the high areas a little more, then returned back to my truck, a total of about 1 mile round-trip hiking and about 40 minutes of fun.
For reference, the place where I parked was 2.9 miles north on Hohhertz Road from FM-207. The name "Hohhertz Hills" is my own creation. The map doesn't have a name for these little hills, and I liked the name "Hohhertz". I don't know what they're called locally.
While driving east on TX-16 and US-180 toward Mineral Wells and my next objective, Wise County, the big storm had now stalled over Weatherford and Mineral Wells, and it looked mean. In fact, I saw something very peculiar, like a dust cloud. Then I turned on the radio and they were talking about the twisters that had been spawned in Weatherford and along Interstate-20, exactly where I was looking. Did I see a tornado? I am not sure. I may have witnessed my first tornado, albeit from about 20 miles away.
I tried one more county highpoint for the day:
The Wise County highpoint is a few hundred feet in a pasture in an area of nice homes. I arrived here late in the day as the sun was setting. The fencing and gate was substantial, certainly more ornate than the usual barbed-wire ones I had seen. I got my boots on and was just starting to go for it when ...
... up rolls a shiny SUV. I waited and greeted this person, trying to smile and not look like a complete spook. This person happened to be the landowner, and a knockout. She was about 40, wearing a cute professional suit-dress outfit, a pound of hairspray keeping every hair in perfect place.
Like I always do, I state my name and tell them exactly what I am doing. I showed her my map. By the way she held it, I could tell it made no sense to her. She asked kindly that I don't do my hike. There was no point in bargaining with her. I could tell I was probably upsetting her. I thanked her and told her I'd be a hundred miles away by nightfall.
I stayed in the town of Bowie. I was scratched and beat and tired. The hotel was next door to a diner. I walked in as they were closing, but they were kind enough to prepare me a meal (take out), which was delicious. I forget the restaurant's name, but they're next door to the Park's Inn on US-287. The food was good and they were friendly. So if you're staying in that area, go there because I said so.
The second leg of the trip continues here.
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