Harnett County Highpoint Trip Report
Big Ridge (490+ ft)
Date: December 4, 2006
Authors: Sue Ann Miller and Frank Price
A new candidate for this county highpoint?
This visit was part of a blitz of several CoHPs around RTP at the end of a
business trip.
In 1999 Fred Lobdell walked around the fence of the FAA facility that sits on a
slight rise up a sandy lane just south of the highway. A "No Trespassing" sign
has been posted at the entrance to this lane (after 9-11-01?) but it is
otherwise open. We had a glorious day just after the passing of a cold front to
stand on this sandy ridge so, as we departed our official visit and continued
driving east, we pulled off the south side of highway 24 & 27 across from the
intersection of Claude White Road. Two county water towers occupy high ground
here and there is no posting. When you stand near the towers on ground that,
if anything was leveled down for the towers, you are looking down on the short FAA
facility towers that stand above the trees to the west.
Big Ridge is a long feature in this area. We suggest that the topo map may not
show a contour that is at least as high as the posted HP and perhaps slightly higher.
Crude line-of-sight certainly suggested a height differential in favor
of the water tower site for the actual CoHP. Subsequent HPers should observe
the ridge to the south of the highway as they drive from the FAA lane to the
towers and repeat our observation, perhaps with better ability to provide actual
data for comparison.