Mercer County High Point Trip Report
three areas of 2,440+ ft - one with spot elevation 2447
Date: March 30, 2002
Authors: Jobe Wymore, Pat Wymore, Julie Kawa
From Exit 102 on I-94, hit the odometer and head northwest on CR139 towards Hebron, North Dakota.
At 2.8 miles later you'll reach an intersection with CO89. Set the odometer once again and this time head north
on CO89, an excellent dirt road. Immediately cross over some railroad tracts and soon after you'll come to
an intersection with 35 ST turning to the west and CO89 still pointing northward. Stay north on CO89 and
stay on CO89 heading north past the Y-intersection with C140. At mile 5.3, CO89 will start to curve to the
northeast and a lesser dirt road will continue north. Remember this intersection because you will have to
come back to this point to get the 3rd and final area located in the extreme southwest corner of Section 32.
To continue onto the first 2 areas in Section 33, continue on and follow the road as it curves and has you
heading east-northeast and then east once again until mile 6.9, where you need to pull off the side of the
road by a white sign. A communications tower would have been reached shortly if you would have
continued further down the road.
The first 2 of the 3 areas are in the field to the north of you and a barbed wire fence will have to be crossed.
The huge pile of rocks out in the field is obviously manmade so we worked our way around to the east side
of it, walking over high ground (area one) and then northwest 100 yards to where spot elevation 2447 was
marked on the map, near the edge of the bluff. An untilled section of the field about 25 feet to the west of
the spot elevation at first appeared highest since it had some rocks, but turned out it might be a little lesser in
actual gain. If I had to make a call, the 2447 spot seemed highest but not by much.
For the 3rd and final area, get back to the above-mentioned intersection with the lesser road and set the
odometer again. The land at this point is posted to your right but sticking to the trip report should keep you
off posted land. Head north and quickly at 0.2 mile the road comes to a Y. Stay with the main track and at
0.3 the road will Y once again. Stay with the main track once again and pass through an open fence shortly
after. At mile 0.5, another Y intersection. Stay, again, on the main track heading north and at 0.8 mile a
gated fence is reached. A fence line runs northward at this point. We got out, passed through the gate, and
followed the fence line on foot for about 1/4 mile north until it ran into another fence line treading east/west.
From here we crawled under the fence and the veered to our right, heading east along the edge of the fence.
The fence line gained a little elevation and another 1/4 mile later, near where it topped off, we spotted
Witness BM Brick 1951 on the south side of the fence. The 3rd area from here is just off to the
north-northeast at small rise 120, or so, feet away. Easy walking on this one.