Hettinger County High Point Trip Report
Black Butte - two areas (3,010+ ft), one with spot elevation 3,012 ft
Date: March 30, 2002
Authors: Jobe Wymore, Pat Wymore, Julie Kawa
At the Junction of ND21 and ND94 just south of the center of Regent, North Dakota, head north on a paved
road that has signs by it that point you to I-94 and the center of Regent. Set the odometer here and at 0.4
mile the road curves to your right and at 0.6 pass through the center of Regent. At 0.9 mile the road curves
to your left as it swings out of town and continues north in the direction of Black Butte. At mile 2.6 you'll
pass some huge structures of a farmer with his family and at mile 6 another huge steel structure of Teddy
Roosevelt riding a bronco! Finally at mile 7.2 you'll come to an intersection with a Black Butte sign and
Black Butte itself being immediately to the northwest of you. Turn left here and follow this lesser dirt road,
that you might need some clearance on, as it skirts the southern edge of Black Butte. Notice the Butte
rocks that resemble a train of sorts(?)! After going a mile down this lesser dirt road, you'll reach an
intersection with another lesser dirt road onto which we turned right on and went 0.2 mile north and parked.
The slopes to the top are a little bit more gentle at this point so this is where we decided to begin our ascent.
From here, we headed east up the slopes and eventually topped out just a little north of the small
northernmost area. The HP of this spot appears to be along the edge of the contour on a rock that pops out
a bit higher than the rest of the area. In howling winds, I hand-leveled over to the 2nd area which is just in
back of a small communications structure on the summit. The 2nd area, with spot elevation 3012 feet,
appeared a bit higher and back sighting confirmed. We built a cairn and left register on this one.
You're looking at close to 380 vertical feet on this one! WOW! Returned same way.