
Subject:
[cohp] Digest Number 5247
From:
cohp@yahoogroups.com
Date:
2/2/2016 2:49 AM
To:
cohp@yahoogroups.com

County High Pointing in all 50 states
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9 Messages
Digest #5247
1
Eastern NM TRs by cuber86
2a
Bordeaux Mtn - USVI NP HP by
2b
Re: Bordeaux Mtn - USVI NP HP by "Dave Huber" dave.huber65
3a
Cheaha Mtn question by "John Garner" gaengconsultants
3b
Re: Cheaha Mtn question by cuber86
3c
Re: Cheaha Mtn question by "Stonyburk1" stonyburk1
4
Bordeaux Mtn boundary marker. by
5a
Bordeaux Mtn revisit. by
5b
Re: Bordeaux Mtn revisit. by "John Garner" gaengconsultants

Messages
1
Eastern NM TRs
Mon Feb 1, 2016 9:45 am (PST) . Posted by:
cuber86
Here's some trip reports from over the weekend in east-central NM. Original plans had also potentially included Lea, Eddy, and Chaves counties, but I did not visit them due to an impending snowstorm, and for reasons you'll discover below...



Guadalupe County HP--Mesa Leon
January 30th, 2016

Good news and bad news here. The bad is that the south approach is now more heavily signed. The good is that you can drive right up to the base of the mesa, with no apparent fence or gate blocking your way.

I came in from Vaughn just after sunrise, aiming for the south approach as many others have done, surprised to find that the road quality of 4F actually substantially improved once a bit past the railroad tracks. At the point the main road bends left and the desired road continues straight, there is now a large, new sign stating "Absolutely no tresspassing for any reason whatsoever", though in my haste to climb the mesa, I thought it was on a gate for the road heading northeast leading into the fenced area. The road heading north appears fairly freshly graded and infrequently traveled, and while it'd be ill advised when wet, the damp soil posed no issue for my car. I could see a structure off to the west that may or may not be occupied (I didn't go check it out), and should one wish to be out of sight of this and the main road, you'd want to park at the low spot in the road at the creek bed. I decided to risk greater visibility for the tradeoff of a shorter hike, and parked just before the road junction in section 27. Heard a few coyotes as I headed out.

It took all of 20 minutes to top out on the mesa, after only a few easy class 3 moves at the caprock, and I quickly found the road. Visited the 2nd candidate area but it felt lower to me, and was closer to the road than my waypoint would indicate. While heading north from the road to the commonly accepted summit, I passed over ground that felt equally high. Reached the benchmark, didn't stay long, and returned to my car the same way for a 1:20 roundtrip. On my way out, passed someone in a pickup heading the other way at the railroad tracks, but otherwise encountered nobody. Nice, if limited views to the southern Sangres in the distance.


De Baca County HP--Loma Alta
January 30th, 2016

A small, compact mesa visible from near Vaughn. Came in via El Rancho Rd, which did have a small "no trespassing" sign at the initial cattle guard. I wasn't too worried about being accosted out here. No real change to prior reports. Got my car a bit past the water tanks but didn't want to risk the final steep bit gaining the mesa, so I just got out and walked. Windy, but warm enough it was nice.


Roosevelt County HP
January 30th, 2016

I was worried about this one. Road in from the bend in NM-89 was muddy. I first tried to search out the house that was "a mile east and a bit south" on N Roosevelt Rd Ba, but found nothing, and finally reached a bend in the road with a no trespassing sign, so I backtracked to Quay Rd 24. Noticed a pickup truck parked at a cattle feeding area a bit up Q R Bc, and stopped to talk with the guy, a friendly gentleman in his 50s or 60s. He advised me he didn't own the highpoint land, thought the owners mainly lived in Clovis or Texas somewhere, and said "he didn't think they'd mind much", especially after I reiterated it would just be a quick trip not very far off the road. Made a mad dash along the county line, where there's a faint two-track, ran out to some high ground a bit east of the county line, and ran back to the car in the space of five minutes. Left without incident.

Of note, I also attempted coming in from the west along Quay Rd 24. The road was blocked by several large dirt piles about two miles west of the highpoint, but there were no houses around...


Quay County HP--"Un-Luck-iano Mesa"
January 30th, 2016

This one turned into far more of an ordeal than I ever anticipated, even with past stories of rattler encounters and charging bulls...

I found the turnoff to Quay BK road as expected, which had a closed white gate with no lock on it. Driving in, the road was a dirt two-track with some muddy areas, and didn't appear to have seen any traffic in weeks. I powered through one particularly wet muddy stretch, and thought I was home free, as 99.9% of the mesa top was snow-free. However, about four miles from NM-156, I came over a bump to suddenly encounter a long, wet, muddy stretch being fed by a persistent snow patch, and sure enough, my car got stuck. After a few minutes of trying to extricate myself, I decided to give up for a while and just hike to the highpoint, because 1. I might as well get it while I was here, and 2. I'd have the best chance of getting a call out from the spot elevation on the mesa rim. It was about 2 pm.

Walked about two miles to the gate I needed (I saw earlier gates, but none looked particularly ornate), then headed northwest on the faint road to the highpoint area. It's indeed huge, vague, and nondescript, and one could spend hours up here gridding the area. I visited the three areas I'd heard were likely highest: the southeastern contour lobe (plausible), the area along the county line (plausible, though the north-south fence line I found seemed 100' or so west of the waypoint I'd had), and the spot elevation (felt the lowest to me, but I was able to get a call out).

Long story short: continued efforts to get myself out on my own with rocks, diverting water, etc proved unsuccessful. Got through to a local towing company, who was both unwilling to drive a tow truck out on the muddy road, and was completely useless when I tried to give them directions; they suggested I call 911. The dispatcher I spoke to was wonderful, and went above and beyond in trying to find somebody who might be willing to get my car out of the mud. It took a while, but she finally found some rural county volunteer firefighters who were willing to come out to get me. It took us a good hour and a half, and my car got stuck once more on the way out, but finally at 11:30 PM or so that night, we were back on pavement. I cannot express enough how grateful I am for these folks coming out there in the middle of the night to rescue me from my own stupidity...really don't know what I would have done without them. I'll certainly be making a nice donation to their fire station. Given the situation, things could have turned out far, far worse...

As for the ranch, I don't really know the deal now. There was no signage at the gate at 156, and only a blank white sign at the cattle guard near the first muddy area. I didn't see a single cow the entire time, though a water tank appeared filled. There was no evidence of recent tire tracks, but while I was trying to free my car, right before sunset, I saw a white pickup turn off toward a water tank half a mile away. He either didn't see me or didn't care, though he must have seen my fresh tire tracks. At any rate, don't do what I did...I would not recommend attempting this road unless it is bone dry, and/or you have 4WD.


Curry County HP
January 31st, 2016

No change. Slept in my car next to the highpoint as I was beat. Tagged it at dawn, then left. The road was rutted in spots but dry.


Capulin Volcano
January 31st, 2016

Not a county highpoint, but a cool and worthwhile side trip on my way home! Drove in, paid my seven bucks, and drove to the upper parking lot. Cloud ceiling was sitting at around 8000', limiting the views, and parts of the peak were covered in hoarfrost. It was quite beautiful, really...I hiked the paved trail counterclockwise around the rim while another couple hiked down into the crater. Reached the top and tagged high ground left of the trail; my views here were limited to just the base of the cinder cone. Encountered some hard snowy areas descending from the summit back to the car, but nothing horribly dangerous.

I hiked down into the crater, on a snowier trail that required a bit more care. Got back to the parking area to find the other couple had been locked out of their car by their husky! I stopped by the visitor center on my way out to let them know, then headed to Raton Pass and back toward the Denver area, hoping to beat the snowstorm. Made it to the Springs without incident, stopping for dinner and to find a car wash where I could spray the astounding amount of caked-on dried mud off of my car. By then, the snow had been falling in earnest, and I managed to hit a guardrail trying to turn out of the car wash...somehow, both myself and my car seemed unharmed. I was very glad to make it safely home that evening; it had just been one of those kind of weeks.




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2a
Bordeaux Mtn - USVI NP HP
Mon Feb 1, 2016 4:20 pm (PST) . Posted by:
Bordeaux Mountain
USVI National Park HP
February 1, 2016
Jobe Wymore

Not where I had originally planned to be but with cheap airfares Pat, Libby and I booked flights into San Juan, hung out for a couple of days and eventually made our way to Bordeaux Mountain on St. John.

Previous reports on Peakbagger.com will suffice in getting you to the trailhead located across the road near power pole ES38. Surprisingly, the trail starts as a steep dirt step/pitch needed to surmount the road embankment but once up this minor obstacle you're on your way down a trail that is in desperate need of some attention. Years of fallen leaves have masked its presence in several spots but with marginal navigation skills it can still be followed to the high point. Or, what others in TRs have presumed to be the high point....

Once on top we found a viewless, treed in summit with scattered rocks and yes, the hermit crabs that others have described in previous report were there to keep us company. What wasn't expected was my Gaia app showed that we weren't on the true summit(?).

This app has more than impressed me for the 1+ years I've had it so under its advice we aimed into the woods in the direction that it showed the HP to be. Besides, our ferry back to St Thomas wasn't due to leave for 4 hours so we had plenty of time to explore.

Now be warned - once in the woods on Bordeaux Mountain, "little creepy crawly things" are to be found in abundance and once you get off the trail they turn into "big creepy crawly things". Huge spiders, massive black glossy millipedes, little scorpion looking things and other stuff that I just don't like to encounter at face height during my hikes. Regardless, we continued on following Gaia's lead towards Bordeaux Mountain and the center of the high contour.

About the same hiking distance into the woods that was needed to originally reach the "HP" we came to another bump. En route we decended a tad and regained the lost elevation, topping out on another deep woods bump, this one minus the rocks. What was interesting is on top of this second bump I discovered a tiny pyramid of cement barely sticking out of the soil. I got a branch and dug around it and unearthed the top portion of a 4 sided boundary marker with U chiseled in on one side and S on another. Basically, just an old US Boundary Marker.

Is this other bump the true summit of Bordeaux Mtn? I'm not sure since unfortunately I didn't take elevation readings between the two areas. Maybe another adventurous highpointer can check this out in the future? Just remember to bring a sturdy stick to clear out the webs en route.
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2b
Re: Bordeaux Mtn - USVI NP HP
Mon Feb 1, 2016 4:27 pm (PST) . Posted by:
"Dave Huber" dave.huber65
I've never been to this highpoint, but if Gaia says that's the highpoint,
then I'd listen to Gaia. That app is truly amazing.

Dave

On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 7:20 PM, lunasoars@aol.com [cohp] <
cohp@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

>
>
> Bordeaux Mountain
> USVI National Park HP
> February 1, 2016
> Jobe Wymore
>
> Not where I had originally planned to be but with cheap airfares Pat,
> Libby and I booked flights into San Juan, hung out for a couple of days and
> eventually made our way to Bordeaux Mountain on St. John.
>
> Previous reports on Peakbagger.com will suffice in getting you to the
> trailhead located across the road near power pole ES38. Surprisingly, the
> trail starts as a steep dirt step/pitch needed to surmount the road
> embankment but once up this minor obstacle you're on your way down a trail
> that is in desperate need of some attention. Years of fallen leaves have
> masked its presence in several spots but with marginal navigation skills it
> can still be followed to the high point. Or, what others in TRs have
> presumed to be the high point....
>
> Once on top we found a viewless, treed in summit with scattered rocks and
> yes, the hermit crabs that others have described in previous report were
> there to keep us company. What wasn't expected was my Gaia app showed that
> we weren't on the true summit(?).
>
> This app has more than impressed me for the 1+ years I've had it so under
> its advice we aimed into the woods in the direction that it showed the HP
> to be. Besides, our ferry back to St Thomas wasn't due to leave for 4 hours
> so we had plenty of time to explore.
>
> Now be warned - once in the woods on Bordeaux Mountain, "little creepy
> crawly things" are to be found in abundance and once you get off the trail
> they turn into "big creepy crawly things". Huge spiders, massive black
> glossy millipedes, little scorpion looking things and other stuff that I
> just don't like to encounter at face height during my hikes. Regardless, we
> continued on following Gaia's lead towards Bordeaux Mountain and the center
> of the high contour.
>
> About the same hiking distance into the woods that was needed to
> originally reach the "HP" we came to another bump. En route we decended a
> tad and regained the lost elevation, topping out on another deep woods
> bump, this one minus the rocks. What was interesting is on top of this
> second bump I discovered a tiny pyramid of cement barely sticking out of
> the soil. I got a branch and dug around it and unearthed the top portion of
> a 4 sided boundary marker with U chiseled in on one side and S on another.
> Basically, just an old US Boundary Marker.
>
> Is this other bump the true summit of Bordeaux Mtn? I'm not sure since
> unfortunately I didn't take elevation readings between the two areas. Maybe
> another adventurous highpointer can check this out in the future? Just
> remember to bring a sturdy stick to clear out the webs en route.
>
>
>
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3a
Cheaha Mtn question
Mon Feb 1, 2016 4:31 pm (PST) . Posted by:
"John Garner" gaengconsultants
Was driving through Alabama today, and just for the hell of it I turned off and went to Cheaha Mountain for a second visit.

I did this one first probably close to 20 years ago, and back then I just went up in the CCC tower and left.

This time I started poking around, and I found that the highest current land is a big rock that is behind the building. The top of the Rock is about four feet above the level of the floor in the tower, and well above the benchmark in front of the tower.

A question: what are we considering to be the highest actual spot there? The summit has obviously been altered substantially with the construction of the tower, but the rock behind appears to be natural, and it's higher than the tower floor slab.

Just wondering.

John Garner
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3b
Re: Cheaha Mtn question
Mon Feb 1, 2016 5:34 pm (PST) . Posted by:
cuber86
I've always understood the rock you mention to be true highest ground. I made sure to visit it, and it seemed the unquestionably highest natural ground in the area. Case closed :)
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3c
Re: Cheaha Mtn question
Mon Feb 1, 2016 6:51 pm (PST) . Posted by:
"Stonyburk1" stonyburk1
Agreed. That rock has been the accepted spot.

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Smartphone

---- cuber86@yahoo.com [cohp] wrote ----

> 
>
>I've always understood the rock you mention to be true highest ground. I made sure to visit it, and it seemed the unquestionably highest natural ground in the area. Case closed :)
>
>
>
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4
Bordeaux Mtn boundary marker.
Mon Feb 1, 2016 6:02 pm (PST) . Posted by:
David,

No GPS track was taken but if your friend had the Gaia app coupled with the directions found on Peakbagger.com he'd have no issues getting to this spot. Attached are 2 photos of the HP marker.

I may return there tomorrow. TBD.

Jobe Wymore

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5a
Bordeaux Mtn revisit.
Mon Feb 1, 2016 6:55 pm (PST) . Posted by:
After going into the USVI website and reading about their "creepy crawlies" (their words, not mine) I've decided not to inject myself into that situation again. A 1/2 dozen face-to-face encounters with the Golden Orb spider is enough for me. I'm out!

I need to save my nerves for a future attempt on Lata Mountain, in American Samoa. I'll make sure not(!) to visit the National Park of American Samoa web-site before I leave.

<div>Jobe Wymore
<div>

</div></div>
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5b
Re: Bordeaux Mtn revisit.
Mon Feb 1, 2016 9:41 pm (PST) . Posted by:
"John Garner" gaengconsultants
I ran into a few of those as well!

John Garner

> On Feb 1, 2016, at 8:55 PM, lunasoars@aol.com [cohp] <cohp@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
> After going into the USVI website and reading about their "creepy crawlies" (their words, not mine) I've decided not to inject myself into that situation again. A 1/2 dozen face-to-face encounters with the Golden Orb spider is enough for me. I'm out!
>
>
> I need to save my nerves for a future attempt on Lata Mountain, in American Samoa. I'll make sure not(!) to visit the National Park of American Samoa web-site before I leave.
>
> Jobe Wymore
>
>
>
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