Franklin County High Point Trip Report

two areas on Eckerberger Mtn (1,140+ ft)

Date: September 26, 2003
Author: Bill Jacobs

There are three choices for getting to the top of Eckerberger Mountain: the southerly bushwhack route pioneered by the Packard/Williamson team, the route I blazed, or the easy way.

From H24 (a new freeway not shown on all maps), east of Russellville, turn south on CR91. Turn left (east) on old H24, now H724, for 1.6 miles. Turn south on H99 for 1.4 miles to mailbox 1494, home of Mr. Bill Glassnot (phonetic spelling). (At 1.3 miles note the ORV trail gate - "the easy way".) He owns part of the mountain and allows use of his ORV trail to access the mountaintop, probably the same road mentioned in Kevin's report.

Thinking I knew more than the long time resident, I drove another 0.4 mile down H99 to a dirt road which looked suitable for driving a rental car to the top. Only made it 0.4 mile before having to begin some serious bushwhacking, ascending a sharp upslope. Eventually reached the ORV road, forgetting to mark the spot, and was able to locate the two areas along the ridge line - GPS assisted. On descent, came upon an impassable rock cliff and had to edge sideways along the slope - encountering a rattlesnake - to find an adequate route for continuing the descent.