Knox County High Point Trip Report

Date: April 23, 2002
Author: Tim Worth

Of the four areas, one was eliminated as man made, another was eliminated based on hand-leveling.

HP1 (section 10-13N-4E): From Galva, IL head south on IL 17 for approximately 3 miles to 2800N, an unmarked gravel road. Turn left (east), you'll pass a fence line on the left (north), then encounter another fence line at the 0.7 mile mark. In high crop season, park here and hike north along unplowed line to an obvious rise. If crops are low, you can approach from the east by walking through a field, as I did. Drive past the fence line, make a left (north) at an unmarked, muddy 2200E, head uphill to a crest, and the HP is obvious on the left (west).

From the top of HP1, you can see HP2 (11-13N-4E) to the southeast. It is the site of a farmhouse with a radio tower nearby. HP1 leveled slightly higher than the house site. Getting to HP2 is easy, just head east up the ridge from the intersection of 2800N and 2200E. There are a bunch of barns and sheds, and a sign - "Lynnwood Farms" - in addition to the house. The owner gave me permission to look around. Back sighting to HP1 indicated HP1 was indeed higher.

HP3 (17-12N-4E) is noted as possibly man made but I went to check it out anyway. The land is on a former strip mine, and is now owned by the IL Department of Conservation. I hiked to where the HP should have been, but the contours shown were non-existent; the lay of the land barely resembled what was shown on the topo, obviously the land has been altered. Future HPers can skip this one.

HP4 (26-13N-2E) is Pilot Knob, one of only a handful of named HPs in Illinois. From Victoria, head west on IL 167 for approximately 8 miles, make a right (north) on 1000E. After approximately 2 miles, pass some RR tracks, turn onto US 34 northeast for a short ways, then rejoin 1000E heading north. Another couple miles you will get to a driveway which leads to a group of buildings on top of the knob. I found the HP to be at a tree in front of a blue silo at the end of the driveway.