Washington County High Point Trip Report

Pruitt Mtn (1,582 ft)

Date: June 18, 2002
Authors: Dave and Beckie Covill

From MO 21 in Caledonia, go north about a mile to road "C". Go west on C 1.7 miles to BB. Go southwest on BB 2.0 to crest of road.

We parked here, and I bushwhacked through medium dense woods up 200 feet in about 1/4 mile to a small knoll, some outcrops, visible on the map at 1,300 feet, and came to an old logging road. I followed this straight to the top. It bends a bit, but generally follows the ridge line. Summit ridge is VERY flat, and about 1/4 mile long, as indicated on map. HP appears to be in middle of contour, not at south end as shown by spot elevation on the map. I left a cairn with register on a rock on the east side of the path, about 10 feet in from it. HP could be anywhere within 100+ feet of this spot. You choose. The ridge is flat for about a width of 100 - 150 feet, and for about 1000 feet along its length. Very heavily wooded, no views.

I returned via the road, and it came out at a spot about 0.3 miles northeast of the crest where we had parked, or about 0.1 mile from the curve just to the north of it, near the center of section 9. There is a wire across the path, and it is signed here with a very old No Trespassing sign. There are 1 - 2 houses across the road where you could ask if anyone knew the owners of the mountain, but we didn't stop.

It took about 40 minutes up, and 20 down, with 20 spent looking for the HP. Very hot & humid here, dripping sweat when I got down.

I removed literally 15 - 20 ticks from myself between arrival at the car, and a shower in Salina KS that night. Brutal. Some were very small, others 1/3" across. Many required a firm tug. I also flicked off about 10 while hiking. Nasty!