Mitchell County Highpoint Trip Report

one large unnamed area (1,400+ ft)

Date: March 20, 2005
Author: Mark Ness

Mitchell County's highpoint area is located in Section 13 of Wayne Township. Part of it extends into Howard County, whose 1410 foot area is a trip two-fer with Mitchell. I visited there on March 20, 2005, after sundown, under a waxing gibbous moon.

From Elma, in Howard County, I drove north on County Road V18 for about 9 miles, and turned left on State Highway 9. I drove west on S.H. 9 for 8.08 miles, and turned right onto C.R. T62. I drove north on T62 for 7.3 miles, and turned right onto 485th St (2 miles south of Minnesota border). I drove east on 485th for 2 miles, and turned left onto Addison Av (Mitchell-Howard county line road). I drove about a mile north on Addison and parked just south of the farmplace shown on the topo map as being between the railroad track and the county line road.

I didn't encounter the railroad track, so it may have been destroyed for the farmland.

It being fairly dark, I had to walk around inside the contour for a long time to claim this county. Every step I took, I sunk down about four inches, which added to the difficulty. I used a new method for high ground assessment. I kneeled down, looking at the yardlights on the horizon. Using this method, I determined that the highest ground was either in the middle of the contour, or on the southwestern bulge or on the northern bulge.

I spent about 60 minutes on this effort.