Garfield County High Point Trip Report

Date: June 2, 2002
Author: Andy Martin

We drove in on this one from highway 59, heading southwest then west on a dirt road near Cohagen. It was 30 miles in to where we parked, and some of the road was a bit sloppy due to recent rains. We followed the DeLorme pretty well until spot 3430 (DeLorme), where we had to head south instead of west, as drawn on the map. West was a faint field road, not a maintained road. We ended up perhaps a mile east of Crown Butte, where I left the girls and started hoofing it to the cohps. The sky was overcast and threatening, and Sarah expressed concern that a deluge could prolong our Garfield visit indefinitely.

It was easy going over disked fields, though the hills had me panting by the tops. The west one seemed, by hand-level sight, a few feet higher. There were big cairns on both and I left soda can "registers" in both cairns. The USGS quad shows a good quality dirt road just north of the knolls, but I never saw it, and believe it is abandoned. Made a rapid return to the car, then headed back out to firmer ground. After finally reaching pavement we dislodged several pounds of mud from the wheel wells.

That night we camped at highway 131 and the Missouri River. It rained some more, which dampened a nearby teepee. In the morning the owner gave us a teepee tour, which the kids enjoyed.

GPS readings: Etrex WGS84, good sky -
west area (46° 56.689' N, 107° 8.878' W) at 3,694 ft
east area (46° 56.703' N, 107° 8.110' W) at 3,672 ft