Perry County High Point Trip Report

Date: November 11, 2001
Author: Jon Mann

It was getting dark as I approached the highpoint, but decided to go for it. I almost stopped when I got to the neighboring house, but decided to go ahead.

Head east from Sparta on IL 154 to the Randolph/Perry county line. Turn north on County Line Road for 2 miles, turn east on Rose of Sharon Road. At the northeast corner awaits one of the more interesting and frightening sights a county highpointer could imagine - a farmhouse, next to the highpoint, completely surrounded by old trucks, buses, trailers, cars - basically whatever junk the owner could get, piled on the edge of his property, creating a walled compound. The only entrance has a large gate, with numerous stop, no trespassing and keep out signs on it. Fortunately, only the area immediately surrounding the house is "walled".

I debated what to do, and decided to go for it. I passed the house, and pulled off the road in front of what is shown on the topo as a barn. Only the silo currently remains. There are no posting in this area, so in the fading gloom, I hastily made my way out into the field, keeping an eye on the darkened house. I reached the high area of the field, and trotted out to the small area to the northeast, which proves to be lower, and need not be visited by future cohpers. I made my way back to the car, relieved that not a stir came from the house.