Saline County High Point Trip Report

North Slope of Smith Pinnacle on Nimrod SE quadrangle

Date: March 24, 2001
Author: Hans Haustein

Saline County's highpoint is located in the west-southwest area of Saline County, on the Garland County Line. To reach the highpoint, go about seven miles south of Hollis on State Highway 7 and head east on National Forest Road (NFR) 132 for about three miles to NFR 963. Go southeast on NFR 963 until it intersects with NFR 964. Follow NFR 964 south for about 1.5 miles until it becomes NFR 762 and heads east. NFR 762 soon ends at a turn around. It is still about 1 mile to Smith Pinnacle but there is a fire break that is passable by a small 4WD vehicle (in my case a Bronco II).

If you decide to walk or drive, follow the fire break east to the USGS survey marker on Smith Pinnacle (located in Garland County). Once at the survey marker head north-northeast for about 250 feet, there is no exact way to determine where the highpoint is located, unless you are using survey grade GPS equipment. I spent the better part of 45 minutes moving about the area, making sure that at some point I reached the highpoint. I placed a symbolic rock cairn where I thought the highpoint could be located. I used my hand held Garmin GPS receiver to get me in the general vicinity from the coordinates that I derived from the USGS Quad Sheet.