Citrus County High Point Trip Report

Date: October, 1999
Author: Fred Lobdell

The Citrus County high point is a hill topped by a 230-foot contour about 0.4 miles south of county 486 and about 2 air miles from the community of Beverly Hills. From the intersection of US 41 and FL 44 in Inverness, go north on 41 about 4.5 miles to the hamlet of Hernando.

Turn left (west) on county 486 and go about 4 miles to a height of land on 486. There will be a concrete driveway on the left; this is the road shown on the topo. However, it is posted with some strongly-worded signs, so I continued on west a few hundred feet and parked in a shopping center (not shown on the topo) on the right. (Shopping centers are good places to park; nobody notices one car more or less.)

I then crossed the county road and walked up a dirt road that headed south, the direction I wanted to go. It was not posted. After walking several hundred yards, the road forked, and I took the left, less traveled one as it appeared to head toward the hill crest. After a short walk in this direction I found myself looking at a golf course, also not on the map! I followed a paved cart trail for a while, then started ascending hills on the course. I met three ladies playing golf; we all wished each other a good morning and continued on our separate ways.

What is clearly the highest hill on the course commands a 360-degree panorama, and standing on it, I was at least 20 to 30 feet higher than anything beyond the bounds of the golf course. The grounds have obviously been landscaped, but also obviously, they put the thing on the highest hill in the county. And I could have saved myself some walking. Signs on the highway proclaimed it to be the Citrus Hills golf course, "Open to the public". So bring your golf clubs when attempting this high point!