Pratt County Highpoint Trip Report

eleven areas (2,120+ ft)

Date: December 25, 2004
Author: Kevin Baker

Per Andy Martin's book, the Pratt cohp's consist of 11 different areas on the Pratt-Kiowa line. I found the road off of US-54, a few miles east of the town of Haviland. The road is S.W. 150th Street and the county line is marked on 54. The first 4 areas are 1.4 miles south on 150th, then 0.3 mile east at an unmarked road. There is some kind of storage facility for perhaps oil near 3 of the areas in section 19 (Haviland quad). The first area is east of this facility along the quarter border. I felt that this area was the highest of the 4. The other two areas in this section were to the west about 1/4 mile on the other side of the facility. These areas were very flat and hard to discern. The 4th area is on the north side of the road in the southwest corner of section 18.

The next 2 areas are in the southwest corner of section 19. I parked my car just past a pipeline, about 0.6 mile south of the previous intersection on 150th. Areas 5 and 6 are amidst a cornfield. I covered a good portion of these contours and called it good. Areas 7 and 8 are much easier to identify, another mile south on 150th in section 30. The first area is at the crest of the road at a telephone pole, the 2nd is to the northeast about 1/4 mile. This was a pretty distinct rise for a KS hp in a field. This area was higher than the area just off the road.

Areas 9 and 10 were posted but, since I had already done 8 and didn't have time to find the owner, I decided to stealth these. Head back north to US-54 on 150th, then continue north 1.6 miles to 1st Street. Turn right on 1st street, then park your car 1/2 mile down the road at the fence boundary. I drove past this and ran into heavy brush getting to these. I came back along the fence and it was much easier. These two distinct bumps are 1/4 mile north on the west side of this fence. A farm pops into view when you crest these but, when I drove by later, it appeared to be in serious disrepair. Don't know if anybody lives there or not but there are multiple no trespassing signs along 1st Street. Proceed at your own risk.

Finally, area 11 is in the northwest corner of section 30 (Haviland NE quad) just south of another pipeline. I parked at a gate, crossed the gate, and hiked 0.1 mile or so to the obvious hp. This was probably the most distinct bump of the day.

I completed these in 2 hours, 10 minutes.