Cleveland County High Point Trip Report

on Kingsland and Tinsman quadrangles

Date: May 18, 2002
Author: Hans Haustein

Allow 3 to 4 Hours to complete this county.

To reach the highpoints in section 17, turn off of Highway 8 heading south at the Mt. Lebanon Road and go west. The Mt. Lebanon Road is near a sign for New Edinburg. (New Edinburg is fairly neat little place, it has several old store fronts and a general store with a skylight and pot bellied stove; check it out if it is open.) Going west on Mt. Lebanon Road (paved) for 1.6 miles, the road turns south. Stay on the paved road and it soon passes a house on the east side of the road with the address 1730 Mt. Lebanon Road. Ask for permission here to access the largest of the highpoint areas in section 17 just east of the Crain Cemetery. Continue south on the paved road until it turns west, and a gravel road continues south, total mileage from the Highway is 1.8 miles to this point. Proceed south on the gravel road for about 0.1 mile to an open gate area that accesses the Crain Cemetery to the east, park inside the gate. There is a large hay field/pasture with a deer hunting stand on the eastern edge of the field and the cemetery on the western edge. The grass in the field was about 3 to 4 feet tall so hand leveling was somewhat difficult. The southwest corner of the cemetery is the highest area in the cemetery. Another area of similar height is across the field near the deer stand. I tramped around the southern edge of the field and hand leveled some but could not discern any highest area. This area crosses a small barbed wire fence to the south through a wooded area about 40 feet to another pasture (I think this property has another owner). Continue southeast from the largest contour about 0.25 mile, crossing the pasture and entering a somewhat open wooded area. The highest area seemed to be near a decent sized dogwood tree. Continue southeast another 0.2 mile to an edge of a clear cut, follow the north edge of the clear cut to the obvious highest area. I hand-leveled toward the final area in section 17 to the south and it appeared to be the same height. To reach the final area in section 17 continue south about 0.2 mile. I back-sighted from the final area and it appeared to be the same height as the previous area. Return the way you came.

Before leaving the cemetery, walk south to the highest crest of the gravel road on the east side of the road is a large oak tree and to the west is a pine thicket. The highest area seemed to be by the oak tree, the land between the oak tree and cemetery had been excavated. To hit the eastern most highpoint area in section 18 walk the west edge of the road. To hit the other areas in section 18 return to Mt. Lebanon Road and continue west about 0.1 mile from its intersection with the gravel road. The highpoint area is in a very dense pine thicket (posted) across the road from the Burger Brothers Hunting Club trailer. The next area is reached by continuing west on the Mt. Lebanon Road for about 0.1 mile to a white house (Dunlap is the name on mail box) on the north side of the road. Knock on the door and ask for permission to stroll around the yard. The final area in section 18 is reached by continuing west-southwest on Mt. Lebanon Road for another 0.1 mile to a cleared right of way (ROW) to the south, follow this ROW for about 0.15 mile southeast passing a deer stand and then southwest for about 0.05 mile to a crest with a deer stand on it, this the final area in section 18.

To reach the areas in section 20 go east on Mt. Lebanon Road from the white house (Dunlap) about 1.5 miles to Adell Road to the south. Go south on Adell Road (gravel) 1 mile to a 90 degree turn in the road, to the east. A lesser gravel road leaves to the west at this corner, there is a sign for 'King 410 Adell Ln'. Go west on this unnamed road 0.7 mile to a large turn-around. This is the first highpoint area reached in section 20. To reach the next area go north-northeast of the turnaround about 0.12 mile to the edge of a clear cut, this is the same clear cut that was visited in section 17. The highpoint is in a somewhat open wooded area at the edge of the clear cut. Return to the turn around and follow the logging road/trail to the southwest it soon branches of to the south follow this branch. The road/trail progressively gets overgrown as you continue south. Soon there is another fork. Stay to the right follow this to the south-southwest to the edge of a pine thicket. Go west along the edge of the pine thicket to the slight crest of the ridge. Traverse this northwest/southeast trending ridge until you are satisfied. The southern edge of the ridge is in the dense pine thicket. A GPS is really useful in getting to this area. The center most point of this area is about 1/3 mile from the turn around.

To get to the final area in Cleveland County and section 20 return to Adell Road and continue east to Banks Road (unsigned, paved) and turn south. After 0.9 mile on Banks Road the pavement ends. Continue another 0.4 mile to a pullout on the south side of the road to an abandoned house. An ATV trail intersects Banks Road from the north about 0.1 mile east of the pullout for the house. Follow this ATV trail until it turns west 0.2 mile from the road, then follow this small ridge line back to the road. The woods are pretty dense at times.

Finally, it is probably wise to avoid Cleveland County Highpoints during hunting seasons.