Lauderdale County High Point Trip Report

Date: March 23, 2002
Author: Ken Oeser

With 24 contours, only highlights and what we believe are the highest of contours will be detailed.

From Dry Hill, the southernmost contour, on the east side of the road 1 mile south of Dry Hill, is the highest of 4 together, with about 8 feet of gain. A pullover on the right just north of it provides a good parking spot. The large contour on the west side of the road, 0.25 mile north, is a landfill. We pulled uphill to the gate entrance, which seemed to be as high as any possible natural ground here. Jon Mann recognized white pipes sticking out of the ground as methane release pipes for the waste below.

A dirt road leads to the area 0.5 mile southeast of Dry Hill, which has about 6 feet of gain. A short walk into a radish field attains the summit.

For the 3 areas just northwest of Dry Hill, we parked at a pull-over at the junction of the two roads just north of the cemetery and knocked at a white house, but nobody was home. We walked up the field to the top of the hill, then northwest to the second contour. The middle contour of these 3 is highest here.

The next contour 0.8 mile west has a mobile home on it, and we got permission to walk around. Hand-leveling eliminates the next 3 areas just west.

Two large areas are another 2 miles west. The houses on each of the two largest contours seemed to be on the highest areas, possibly from years of plowing the fields, and hand-leveling indicates that the northwest large area is slightly higher, with about 4 feet of gain. Hand-leveling from these two eliminate the area 0.7 mile east and 0.1 mile west. The area at the fire tower doesn't have much gain, and levels out lower than the large area southwest.

The contour just northwest of Edith has at least 5 feet of gain, measured thanks to the saddle in the contour. Mr. Parnell Webb here was quite friendly and mentioned some high areas in the county, one of which is the westernmost contour.

The area 1 mile west of Edith has 3 - 4 feet of gain, and has a house on it. The owner was out washing her car when we pulled in, so I quickly explained our purpose and we were on our way.

The westernmost 3 areas near the radio tower were checked last. We parked northeast of the radio tower and hiked up through a field to the highpoint at a fence line about 200 feet east of the tower. Hand-leveling showed the areas southeast to be lower, and the area north to be about the same level. We pulled into the house next to this westernmost contour, but nobody was home. Mr. Webb had told us it would be OK to walk up, so we did. This area is the only one with a view, and it looks out over the Mississippi River flood plain to the west and northwest, with the river and some bridges visible in the distance.