Phillips County High Point Trip Report
Antoine Butte
Date: May 14, 2002
Author: Jerry Brekhus
A passenger car will get you to Zortman. The road beyond gets rather rough and rocky and may be muddy
in spots. I suggest a 4x4 or park and walk.
Entering Zortman from the east, take the first road left (just before the general store, post office, etc.).
At 0.1 mile a sign reads "NO THRU TRAFFIC TO LANDUSKY ROAD CLOSED IN 6 MILES". Take the
right fork (a well-graded road to the left enters a land-fill). At 0.2 mile the road forks again. Take the left
(lower) fork here. One mile from Zortman choose the road to the left heading up Pony Gulch. We parked
the Blazer about 3 miles from Zortman and walked on the road, which still had patches of snow on it.
About 4.5 miles from Zortman, the road is blocked by a couple of berms. We walked over them onto a wide
well-graded all-weather road! This is a mining road which has restricted vehicle access. We walked on this
road on up to the three high areas.
Hand leveling shows the first bump (southwest) is not the true high point. The second (middle) and third
(northeast) areas are too close to be sure, but the middle hill seemed a wee bit higher. There are
communication equipment towers on the two higher hills. The third hill is about 5.7 miles from Zortman.
While we were on the mining road, traffic was light. We encountered only three pickups. After we returned
to our vehicle, however, we met a big truck and had to back up a few hundred yards to a point where there
was enough clearance to get by.