Buchanan County Highpoint Trip Report
twelve unnamed areas (1,160+ ft)
Date: March 21, 2005
Author: Mark Ness
Buchanan's 12 areas are located in Section 28 of Madison Township
and Sections 3,4,6,7,8,10,18 of Buffalo Township.
I numbered those areas in the order in which I visited them.
areas 1 and 2
From the intersection of State Highway 187 and 150th St (2 miles south of Lamont),
I drove west on 150th for about 1.6 miles, and parked on the roadside nearest
the highpoint pair, which was 0.47 mile away, with a particularly steep ditch to cross.
It was a typical field. I arrived at the northern hill of the pair
in about 12 minutes, then another 3 minutes to the southern and larger hill,
but I couldn't tell which one was higher. Total hiking time--about 27 minutes.
From here, I continued west on 150th St, and turned right onto C.R. W45 (3.7 miles west of S.H. 187).
I drove north on W45 for 3.6 miles, and turned left onto C.R. C57.
I drove west on C57 for 2.0 miles and turned left onto Quinn Ave.
I drove south on Quinn for 0.3 mile and turned into driveway 1181.
area 3
I knocked on the door to the house, but there was no response.
I walked around the farmplace and then westward along the property line.
I arrived at the highpoint on the east side of the barbed wire fence in 5 minutes.
I turned around here, and returned north on Quinn to the Fayette-Buchanan County line road.
I turned left there on 100th St (10th St) and drove west for 1.35 miles to driveway 2468.
I knocked on the door, but received no response. Areas 4-7 are on a ridge,
whose Buchanan part is about 3/4 mile long.
area 4
The farmplace was located on the southern part of a large contour that lies
mostly in Fayette County. The highest point appeared to me to be behind the house.
From here, it was 0.2 mile to the middle of area 5.
area 5
The high ground on area 5 appeared to me to be in the southeast part of it.
From here it was 0.3 mile to area 6.
area 6
From area 6 is about 0.23 mile to area 7.
area 7
It took me 25 minutes to get from the house to this last hill on the ridge.
I got back to my car, and continued west on the county line road for 1.75 miles,
and turned left onto Nathan Bethel Ave.
I drove south on Nathan Bethel for 0.7 mile, and turned right onto 108th St.
I drove west on 108th for 0.3 mile and parked on an approach near an old-style working windmill.
Areas 8-11 are on a 1+ mile long ridge, all within an 1150-foot contour.
Area 12 is in that same contour, but branches off to the southwest.
area 8
I arrived at the highest ground in 8 minutes. It is on the western bulge of the contour.
The northern bulge looks as high, but it is lower.
I turned around here, and turned right onto Nathan Bethel.
I drove south on Nathan Bethel, drove 0.3 mile, and parked on the road near area 9.
area 9
I arrived at area 9 in 4 minutes, 9 minutes total hiking time.
I got back in my car and continued south 0.7 mile, and parked on an approach near area 10.
area 10
Area 10 is a grassy area, containing a small fenced area that may be used to hold horses.
It was empty when I visited, possibly abandoned. 2 minutes to the top.
I left my car there, and walked north on the road toward area 11.
area 11
My first impression of area 11 is that it was going to take a long time to walk.
But, when I got on top of the westernmost bulge, after 15 minutes from leaving area 10,
I realized that it was likely the highest in the contour,
and that the rest of it need not be explored.
My suspicion was confirmed when I later drove to the southern end of the area
and could plainly see that the northwest part was the highest.
This is a good candidate for the county high point, just because it is so clearly higher
than the rest of the area. None of the other areas had this kind of rise.
I continued south on Nathan Bethel for about 0.4 mile and turned right onto C.R. C57.
I drove west on C57 for about 0.3 mile (0.72 mile from my parking spot at area 10),
and parked on an approach 0.25 mile from the top.
area 12
There were a storage shed and grain bins at the approach. I arrived at the top in 9 minutes.
Total time for this county was 3 hours 38 minutes.