Lagrange County Highpoint Trip Report
Date: March 10, 2007
Author: John Hasch
Unzeroed mileages
36.9 - Leave Weston Chapel Cemetery road, driving east.
37.3 - Intersection with Noble CR 1100E - turn left (north).
38.2 - Intersection with Noble CR 1175N - continue north.
38.5 - Intersection with Noble CR 1200N / LaGrange CR 800S - the county line road
where both counties label the north-south road 1100E - continue north.
??.? - Intersection with LaGrange CR ???S - turn left (west).
43.9 - Intersection with LaGrange CR 950E - turn right (north).
47.0 - 5-Points Intersection; Charity Church included in Bob Schwab directions;
turn around and return south on LaGrange CR 950E.
47.8 - Arrive at the Northrop farm.
48.2 - Park at next road south, next to other cars.
I was approaching this destination from the south, in contrast to Bob Schwab who
had approached from the north. As I was driving north along LaGrange CR 950E,
I observed the high hill to my right but it did not register that this was the
high point I was seeking. However, I eventually came to the 5-Points
intersection and I knew where I was from the Bob Schwab trip report.
I turned around and followed his directions to the Northrop farm.
I parked in their driveway and knocked at the back and side doors before being
heard by a woman who told me she was Ms. Northrop. I asked for permission to
access the hill from her property. She told me she was sorry, but the absentee
owner didn’t even want their family back there. She did not give me permission.
I asked about the cars I spied south of her farm when I drove past on my way north.
I asked if they were hunting back there today. She told me the cars
belonged to the neighbors. They parked their cars near the road because the mud
was so difficult to traverse to reach their home 1/2 mile away and near the hill.
I then asked if she had any contact information for the owner.
She briefly looked but then returned without any information. She told me the
owner’s name, as she recalled, was Ms. Barbara (Showalter) Husselman, of Bryan OH.
I drove away thinking I would need to try to find this Bryan resident.
I drove away from the Northrop farm and headed south down CR 950E. As I came to
the next driveway with the cars, I decided to park and make the hike to the house.
Even if I didn’t receive access permission, the 1+ mile round trip would
be exercise. How would I be at peace if I didn’t give it a try? I noted that
two cars had Christian-related markings on them. One car had the magnetic fish
symbol on the back and the other car had a bumper sticker for Indiana Wesleyan
University. I was familiar with the conservative teachings of this school,
so I was hopeful that I would find some friendly folks at the house. Regardless of
your religious beliefs, I generally find faithful Christian believers to be
kind, friendly, and cooperative. Before I left, I took a relative altimeter
reading (RAR) of 926 feet at the car. I began hiking north up the driveway and
it became clear to me why the cars were near the road. The dirt (mud) driveway
was probably impassable to all passenger vehicles except for those having 4-wheel drive.
In 11 minutes, I reached the house after making a sharp 90-degree turn east near
the woods. I walked up to the door and knocked and I was greeted by a college-
aged woman (the IWU student, possibly?). When I asked for permission to hike
the hill, she told me she would have to ask her father. He was not home but she
was willing to call him. A few minutes later, she returned with a phone and her
father was on the line. He asked how he knew me. I told him we were not
acquainted but I was hiking in LaGrange County today. I had heard that the hill
behind his home was the high ground in the county. He confirmed that was true and,
after some other conversation, he freely offered his permission for me to hike.
I asked him if there was a preferred route to the summit.
(I had my topo map but why not ask the resident expert?)
The man then told me what I had already observed. At the 90-degree bend in the drive,
there was a trail leading up into the woods. He told me to follow the
trail until I obtained the ridgeline. Then he told me to head north to the
obvious high ground. He then told me about a saddle that was to the north of
the summit. If I wanted to have a nice panoramic view of the lower land to the north,
I should hike down the saddle and onto the adjacent property that was
owned by an absentee owner (confirming Ms. Northrop’s comments). I was
impressed with his use of mountain references and he told me to stay as long as
I like, to enjoy the hike. I thanked him for his kindness and gave the phone
back to the daughter. I asked her if she had ever hiked to the summit and she
told me she had been there many times. She was raised on this land, she said.
The daughter identified her father as John Carr. She told me their mailbox was
on the opposite side of the main road, north of their driveway. I thanked her
for her assistance and set off back down the driveway to the bend.
The RAR at the bend was 922 feet. In less than 10 minutes, I had left the trail.
Actually, the trail was narrow -- more of an ATV path than a regular
vehicle route. I bushwhacked toward the highest ground, following my shadow
northeast due to the favorable position of the sun. I eventually ran out of
ground to climb, so I proclaimed the HP "bagged". The RAR here was 1,037 feet.
After wandering around for a few minutes, I proceeded north as instructed by
John Carr. I dropped down to a saddle, reclaimed the adjacent high ground, and
crossed a beaten-down fence on my way to the panorama spot. As I emerged into
the clearing, I spied the old and poorly maintained sign erroneously proclaiming
the elevation to be 1,241 feet. The topo map shows the elevation at the HP to be
1,080+ feet and the elevation near this sign should be about 10 feet lower at
1,070+ feet.
I wandered around the clear high ground and agreed that the view was nice for
this area of the country. I took some RAR that showed this area to be 1031 feet
to 1,035 feet. I took a few pictures and headed back toward my car. I regained
the HP ground and then followed the sun southeast in the general direction I had
come from. I emerged at the foot of the woods a bit west of my starting point,
at a fence that bordered the farm field south of the woods. I hopped the fence
and crossed the field to the driveway that was followed back to my car.
The RAR I took along the way were pretty accurate for calculating the elevation
rise for this hike. The true topo elevation at the bend was 1070 feet,
making the hill 110+ feet high. This is consistent with the RAR readings taken.
Also, the two high grounds only vary by one 10-foot contour and the RAR reported
differences of 2-6 feet.
From my car, I hiked north along the road to the mailbox. There, I found some
numbers and letters were missing from the front but the name "J. Carr"
definitely fit the pattern. The address was 145S 950E, a reasonable address
remembering that CR 100S was seen farther north at the 5-Points intersection.
After the disappointing rejection in Noble County, I was pleased at the
acceptance of the Carr family. This is a definite improvement over the contact
identified in the Bob Schwab report and I encourage any future CoHPers to
consider this "trailhead" for their route access.
Statistics
Time In, Out: 3:45 pm, 4:46 pm
Temperature: mid 50’s
Wind: Mostly Calm
Tools/Aids: Pedometer, altimeter
Steps/Distance hiked: 3,228 steps - about 1.7 miles