Baxter County High Point Trip Report

three unnamed areas on Norfolk SE and Norfolk quadrangles (1,400 ft)

Date: August 12, 2002
Author: Hans Haustein

To reach Baxter County's highpoints, go 10 miles north on Highway 341 from its intersection with Highway 14, just east of Big Flat, AR. After 10 miles of twists and turns, a gravel road leaves to the north of Highway 341 at a large wooden sign for the Leatherwood Wilderness Area. The gravel road is narrow in places and had several gravel washouts which left the road pretty bumpy, but passable by a car. Follow the gravel road to the north for 2.2 miles where the main road turns west and a lessor road continues north. This intersection is near the spot elevation 1371. Andy Martin had a good description of the highpoints in his earlier trip report. The following is what I found.

The first area is about 0.25 mile to the north of the main road and a faint track goes directly to the summit. I paced the area off and determined that there was no more than 3 to 4 feet of gain to the summit above the 1,400-foot contour.

The second area is reached by returning to the dirt track and continuing east for about 0.2 mile to a locked gate that is posted. Beyond the gate there was an overgrown field with somewhat of a track beat down through it. I could tell that someone had driven an ATV not to long ago through the high grass. Continue east for about 0.2 mile to a somewhat cleared area with a large oak tree. If you have a GPS to navigate with, it is best to skirt the overgrown field to the south and west at the edge of the woods. Someone had cleared a path through the woods along the edge of the field and left pink ribbons in the trees. After skirting the field for about 0.2 mile, cross back into the overgrown field to the east and go to the second area. The second area is in a very thick mass of vegetation, the worst part is that there were lots of Black Locust trees in the mix. (For those of you who are not familiar with the Black Locust, it is a tree with lots of thorns protruding from the trunk and branches.)

To reach the third area return to the edge of the woods and continue south for about 0.2 mile to the large 1400-foot contour. This area is a little more open than the second area, and was pretty broad and flat. I was unable to locate the Bench Mark.

The third area is probably the highest of the three, I could not see the second area from the third to hand level. The first area is definitely lower than the third. It was a pretty tough bushwhack, came out with lots of scratches and quite a few seed ticks.