Box Butte County High Point Trip Report
two areas on west county line (4,630+ ft)
Date: October 13, 2002
Authors: Jobe Wymore and Julie Kawa
From looking at the maps beforehand, this one looked like it was going to be an easy one. The maps didn't
let me down. We awoke early to perfect weather in Alliance, Nebraska and then was off to the Box Butte
County HP areas. The areas lie in the western fringes of the "sand hills" of Nebraska and from the looks of it,
the wind has mangled this one quite a bit.
From the junction of NE2 and NE71, set the odometer and head west on NE2 for 6.9 miles to the
Sioux/Box Butte County line that has a dirt road intersection. Set the odometer once more and head
southward on this great dirt road for 1.3 miles to where the road crests and park to the side,
out of the way of traffic.
In Andy Martin's book, this county reads that there are 2 areas on the county line. Immediately to the east
of you, right off the side of the road in a field, is the southernmost area. If you look to the north of you on
the same side of the road about 0.2 of a mile away, the northern most area is right there. It is obviously
lower and not even worth visiting, in my book. From strolling out in the field, you will notice that the
ground is quite soft and really has the potential to be blown around.
We were about to call it good and head out when we looked southward and noticed what appeared to be
higher ground so we got back in the truck and drove south for another 0.7 mile to a "T" intersection and
parked on the south side of the road. This intersection is marked as CR89 and Franklin Road. There is a
fence line that heads southward separating Sioux and Box Butte Counties with Box Butte being on the east side.
Posted only for No Hunting. We walked this fence line on the east side to where it crested about 100
yards later. From there, stomped around the ground off to the side and near the fence. The ground here
appears to not have been plowed as much and is quite overgrown with weeds here and there. Hand-leveling
shows it may be at least a foot higher with 2 1/2 magnification. Might be worth checking out.