Stark County High Point Trip Report
Date: December 26, 2001
Author: John Mitchler
Combine this county with a visit to Marshall County. This northwest IL HP requires a half mile walk into
cropland to visit two areas, while another area can be eliminated as it really is just a depression.
Drive to Camp Grove. Note that the topo and DeLorme show IL 40 as IL 88. Just west of Camp Grove is
the Marshall-Stark county line. Zero your odometer on IL 17, and proceed west for 1.0 mile. Veer right
(north) on IL 40 and go 1.6 miles to a nice rest area which has a great view to the south. It also has a truss
bridge on display. At one time there were 10,000 truss bridges in Illinois but now only 350 remain.
Note that the large HP area north of the rest area is really a depression.
Continue north on IL 40 and stop at mile 1.9. A small area is on the west edge of the highway. If you look
south, the land seems higher (across the highway from the depression). Hand level indicates it to be nearly level.
I would bet that the small HP area is no longer a candidate because of farm erosion. It would be fine
with me if future visitors skipped this area, but it's so close to the highway why not do it?
Continue north on IL 40. At mile 2.0, turn left (west) on gravel county road. Go 1 mile and turn right (north)
on paved county road and go 0.5 mile to a ranch style home on the east side of the road. A person
there knew the owner and allowed me to walk a half mile into the fields to the double area HP in northwest
of section 23.