
Subject:
[cohp] Digest Number 5161
From:
cohp@yahoogroups.com
Date:
10/2/2015 1:42 AM
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County High Pointing in all 50 states
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Digest #5161
1
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP HP trip report by "Andy Martin" oldadit

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1
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP HP trip report
Thu Oct 1, 2015 9:15 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
"Andy Martin" oldadit
On September 13 I drove & hiked to Poison Spring Hill,
the highest point in Black Canyon of the Gunnison
National Park. En route I tagged the public lands
high point (details on this point at bottom).

I modified a driving route mentioned by Tim Worth in a TR
from 2006. It starts at 38.6164, -107.6371 and
continues for roughly 7 miles to a TH about
a mile east of the summit. This route is shown by
green dots on the attached Poison Spring Hill drive.jpg
(the last attachment)
For a better view go to http://caltopo.com/m/253H
and zoom in as needed.

Per Cal Topo this route is all on BLM lands, with
private lands to the east, west, and south.
The road was dry on my visit, as was the Fruitland Mesa
Ditch. In wet conditions things would be much tougher.
I drove a high clearance 4wd vehicle but never used 4wd.
The spot marked "Switchback Hill Descent" is a 200 foot
descent made when driving in. This would be very unpleasant
to drive if you were unsure your vehicle could
"reverse the move".

The hike from the TH is mostly in scrub oak, dense in
places, with some cow paths heading aimlessly this way
and that. The view from the crest of the hill (private land)
was hazy and not terribly scenic IMHO.

Thus I'd have to rate this as one of the poorer western
NP high points, and not particularly family friendly,
unless your spouse and kids actually like semi-stealth
bush wacks. On the bright side the views are better than
the Grand Canyon NP HP ;)

- Andy

Details on the location of the highest public lands point for
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

Attached are maps found online showing the private
land ownership near Poison Spring Hill. This hill
is the highest elevation inside the official park
borders.

These maps show all land in section 34 is private
except for the south half of the southeast quarter
of this section, which is owned by the Park.

This north border of this Park land is not marked on the
USGS Quad, but in the field a fence is found
running along this border.

I hiked to this fence and took two GPS readings on
it (see last map attachment), plus readings at a closed
contour and at the POISON SPRINGS HILL benchmark.
These GPS readings are mapped at
http://caltopo.com/m/253H
(may need to zoom in)

POI381 38.55110 107.63416 Public Land HP
POI382 38.55108 107.63336 3 Fence junction
POI383 38.55354 107.63596 Closed Contour
POI384 38.55532 107.64469 Benchmark
POI385 38.55532 107.64471 Benchmark

I believe my location for the Public Land HP
matches John Mitchler's:

http://www.cohp.org/natl_parks/Black_Canyon_Gunnison_1.html
"The liner HP is on the south ridge of Poison Spring Ridge, about a
quarter mile east of the 8,800 ft contour label on the topo. The
NP/in-holding boundary is not on the topo, but it is on the park map.
Luckily, it appears as a fence in the field. So as you descend off the
hill, watch for an east-west fence line. The HP of the ridge (and
presumably the liner HP) is 20 yards west of the junction of the
east-west fence and a north-south fence."

Note: If you can't see the attachments in the egroup email me
at oldadit @ gmail.com and I'll send this email directly to you.
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