Washington County High Point Trip Report

three small areas (1,030+ ft)

Date: February 11, 2002
Author: Jobe Wymore

completed together with Nowata County - two small areas (1,030+ ft))

It is best to combine these. The reason? One area that is needed is actually split by the Washington/Nowata County line where on one half, one of the Washington County spots and on the other half, a Nowata County spot. They're only about 20 feet apart from each other separated by a barbed wire fence.

To start your trip to the 2 counties get to the junction of OK169 and OK10. Set the odometer and head west on OK10 for 8 miles till you reach NS406. Set the odometer again and take a right (north) on NS406, a good dirt road. At mile 1.7 you'll reach a "T" intersection with EW05. Turn left here (west) and after going 0.6 mile, turn right at the junction with NS404/W4040 Road. Head north another 2.2 miles until the intersection with W280 Road is reached.

For the 2 areas of Nowata County and 2 of the 3 for Washington, you need to continue heading north but, remember this intersection. You have to get back to it to get to the 3rd and final area for Washington County.

We continued north a bit at this point and where the road started to gain elevation we stopped in at a white house on the right (east) side of the road to ask permission to access areas. No one was home but we were spotted and a guy in a pick-up truck came up to check us out. After explaining are quest, Bill Gallery (spelling?) gave us permission to continue on up the road to where it came to a bunch of sheds and pens. He said not to continue on through the fence any further. We said "thanks" and did just that, reaching the pens just 0.7 mile later from the previously mentioned junction with W280 Road.

From here we got out, passed through a gate in the fence and headed due north following a fence line off to are right that marked the Nowata/Washington County line. The route gently gained elevation and the terrain was easy to go across, since some cow paths were in the vicinity. About a quarter mile later, the fence line crested. Immediately to the west of this point was the grave site of Bill's grandfather (not on the HP). One of the areas for Washington county is at this point where the fence line crested on the right (west) side of the fence. The HP is obvious and one of the Nowata areas was simply reached by sliding under the barbed wire fence and immediately getting to another obvious little bump. The 2 areas are only about 20 - 25 feet apart.

For the final area of Nowata county we stayed on the Nowata side of the fence and headed in a north- northeast direction into a wooded area. There are a few bushes and stuff to bash through along the way. The route lost a tiny bit of elevation and then started to gain again. The HP area is in a brushy area and you might need to do some stomping around to get this faintly obvious 2nd area. That completes Nowata county for ya!

For the 2nd of the Washington County areas we simply headed due west from this point and got back to that barbed wire fence (previously mentioned) that headed north and south. There is a good cleared-out area that skirts both sides of the fence so the going was easy. We followed it north as it gained elevation again. You come to a point were in front of you a bit you'll see another fence that this one runs into. The second one runs east and west.This is the Kansas state line. We slipped under the fence again at this point so we could be on the Washington side and angled northwest to the obvious HP area on the slight ridge that is right there. This area felt highest out of all the Washington areas and we built a cairn on top. We had no way to prove it was, though. We returned back to the vehicle following the barbed wire fence to get the final area for Washington county.

Maps show that it is probably easiest to get the final area by following a dirt road that extends through the fence by where you parked. Bill said that the other area was not in his ownership and did not give us permission to trespass through his property. He said that a lady who lives in the house in the lower southeast corner of section 17 on the Topo would have to be contacted. We did that and found her and her dog not hospitable to HPers. Avoid this house, lady, and dog! We recommend getting the final area a different way.

For the final area get back to the intersection that I mentioned for you to remember earlier (W280 Road and N4040) that you passed along the way right before getting to Bill's property. Set the odometer here and head west on W280 for 2 miles till the road hits another "T" intersection with W100 Road. Turn right on W100 and head north 1.6 miles till you reach a road off to you right that skirts the Kansas state line. We turned right (east) here and a 1/2 mile later reached a yellow house with a red barn on the right. This house ended up belonging to Rose Burrows who at first was a little spooked to have us show up there. After some coaxing she warmed up and gave us some info about the 3rd and final spot. She said that her husband used to bulldoze when he was alive and had actually bulldozed a road up to the small pond found in northeast corner of Section 16 on the Topo. She said we could walk on up the road and then take off for the top of the wooded hill from there.

From her house we continued a short bit farther down the dirt road that we used to get to her house and parked in front of a old barbed wire gate (there sure is a lot of barbed wire in this part of Oklahoma!). Got out and walked about 250 yards till we had to go through another barbed wire gate. The road after this curves to your right as if it wraps around her field and then shortly after "Y's". Take the left road as it heads east and gently gains elevating. Stick to it and a few minutes later you will come to the small pond on the map that Rose talked about.

At this point take a look to the southeast and notice a ridge that appears to have less trees on it. This is what you have to aim for. We headed in that direction and immediately came to, yup, another barbed wire fence. It had an old ATV trail skirting it and we followed it about 100 feet south until we found a place to slip under the fence. At this point we were in some woods. Continue in the direction of the aforementioned ridge. About 250 feet later we ended up in some washes with steep banks on the sides. We found a spot to drop down into the main one that meandered east-west and followed it in the direction of the ridge. The going was lot easier to follow the wash than to avoid it. At a point where we felt we were getting close to the ridge we popped out of the wash and went uphill to our right (south) until again we hit a barbed wire fence. We followed it for just a bit east until it cornered on that cleared-out ridge. The fence at this point heads south and a old dirt road skirts the side of it. We followed the road and shortly it crested. We then slid under the tight, barbed wire fence and meandered southwest to where it topped out. The broad summit area has had some of the shrubbery removed and is a welcome change from the brushy surrounding area. On the west side of the summit area by 2 evergreen trees we put a register in a v-notch of a tree that is behind the northernmost of the 2 evergreens. These 2 evergreens are basically the only ones on top of the hill so keep you eye out. The HP is in the vicinity of the trees. It is sort of flat up there so have to stomp around a bit.

We returned the same way. Round trip on the final area was about 45 minutes.