Franklin County High Point Trip Report

Date: August 5, 2003
Author: Dean Molen

Dale Ross, the owner of the land upon which the highpoint of Franklin county resides, was home when I visited his farm early Friday morning. I explained who I was and why county highpointing was important to a few of us. I asked him if it was alright for others to visit the highpoint on his land and he was amenable to it. He did ask that a phone call be made to him prior to any visits since there are times of the year when it's not ideal to have people driving around on his property. He is giving thought to putting up some type of marker and a register at the high point and said he may build a small house on the next hill over. He was very friendly and somewhat amused that people would drive from all over creation to visit a spot of cheatgrass and weeds on his property.

I drove out on the road that leads to the highpoint and found that weeds that my car had to drive through were as high as the hood on my Honda, and sometimes higher. There was never a doubt about the road itself but occasionally I couldn't see it at all. I finally parked about a half mile shy of the highpoint and hoofed it cross country through the most nasty weeds and cheatgrass I've ever trod. The highpoint was pretty obvious but I walked the whole thing to make sure. When I made it back to the car, I spent a fair amount of time picking the barbs out of my shoes and socks.

I have the phone number for Mr. Ross and should you desire to do Franklin county, email me and I'll pass the number along to you. I'd prefer not putting it out on the net. The road you take is obvious, just stay to the left at the fork and plan on about 2 miles of driving through the weeds on a road you can barely see - kind of like a safari. Take it slow and if my Honda Accord can do it, so can any vehicle you care to drive. You could actually drive clear up to a saddle and then hike just a short distance to the HP.