Benton County Highpoint Trip Report
one area - Round Top (680+ ft)
Date: April 16, 2005
Author: Bob Schwab
This is an update to Ken Oeser’s original trip report.
From Exit 116 on I-40, drive north 1.5 miles and turn right on Hester-Pecan Tree Road.
Drive east for 1 mile, turn right on Cavia Road, and continue east
another 2 miles to a gravel access road on the left. This gravel road has been
altered since Ken used it. It leaves the paved road about 0.1 mile west of the
Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church and runs north off the highway, just west of
some gravel piles. Drive down the track and in just 0.1 mile you will come to
an open gate with two white posts, indicating the property is used by the 29
Pines Hunting Club. Continue north for 0.3 mile and note a sign on the left for
14th Avenue. You really have to look carefully because this grassy path is all
that’s left of Ken’s old gravel road that drops down into the hollow on the
left. Stay right (don’t take the grassy path) and continue on the main track
which stays high on the ridge. The path becomes increasingly narrow and rutted
in another 0.6 mile (about 1 mile off the paved road), so look for a place to
turn around and park along the path.
Continue, now hiking, north on this ATV path as it drops, then branch to the
left as it ascends to the boulders that crown Round Top. There is a large 6x6
concrete block base right at the top, which suggests they’re getting ready to
build a tower or something up there.
I got faked out by Ken’s original report when I drove in -- I simply stopped 0.9
mile in and started hiking like his report suggested but the terrain didn’t
match his report. My GPS confirmed that I wasn’t going to need to bushwhack up
a hollow but simply had to follow the ridge. This site is much easier to visit
today except I wouldn’t want to be in here during hunting season.