Newton County High Point Trip Report
on Fallsville and Boston quadrangle sheets
Date: May 5, 2001
Author: Hans Haustein
Newton County's highpoint is the highest point in the Ozark Plateau Region. To reach the highpoints,
drive west to Red Star on State Highway 16 from Fallsville. The first gravel road on the north side of the
road is the one to turn on. Follow this road for one mile to an intersection and turn east following the
road for two miles past and old church on the south side of the road (Robert's Chapel) to a forest road that
forks to the southeast. Follow this road for 0.5 miles to a road that goes east. Turn on this road and it
will take you to the summit area around the fire tower. The fire tower is still standing, but the bottom two
flights of stairs are gone. It would be a great view from the top of the tower. The area near the fire tower
along with an area to be discussed below were close in elevation using the DEM; they were only one meter
in difference. The highpoint area is near the tower but the ground was possibly disturbed so I walked
around the entire summit area to ensure that I reached the highpoint.
There was an area above 2,560 ft about 1/4 mile to the south of the tower area. I bushwhacked to this area
hoping I could see the tower area, but the vegetation was too thick. Just from walking down from the
tower area and up to this area the tower area seemed higher, but I could not visually confirm it.
To reach the other highpoints, return to Red Star and drive Highway 16 6.7 miles to a dirt road to the
north of Highway 16 there is a small pull off area on this road just off of the highway. The highpoint is
due east of this location about 1/4 mile. The first thousand feet are through a wooded area that ends at a
fence line that is not posted. The highpoint is visible from here. The highpoint is located in a large cow
pasture and is very large in area so a lot of walking around is necessary. This is the area that showed up
as the highest area on the DEM.
There is an additional area located to the north and east of this area that is visibly lower. The 2,560 ft
contour at Yates is reached by driving about 1 mile south on Highway 16 and pulling of the road and
walking about 1000 feet to the area at the edge of a pasture. If using the DEM as the official determiner
of the highest points and being conservative in using it, one should only visit the Buffalo Fire Tower area
and the area located in the large cow pasture north of Highway 16.