Barton County High Point Trip Report
Date: April 28, 2001
Author: Ken Oeser
From the east side of the town of Pawnee Rock on Highway 56, drive north on a good gravel road 2.6 miles
and turn left onto a rougher gravel road and drive 2.5 miles. Park at an oil well up a dirt drive on the left
(south) directly across from a tall tower, or drive 100 yards farther and park at a grassy area. Hike south-
southwest up the grassy area or through the field to the highpoint, which has a nice view of the surrounding
area. The owner was plowing the field and is very nice. His dad thought the highpoint of the county was
near Boyd, but a check shows that to be lower. He offered to ride me to the highpoint in his tractor, saying
he had to plow that anyway, but I thanked him and walked the grassy area.
An interesting side note is that he has worked with plotting sites for radio towers, and says there is a GPS
that is accurate to about a foot or less, but costs about $3000. He is very familiar with the instruments, and
knows about the typical Garmand GPS units that do OK for lat./long. but not for elevation. Maybe the club
should invest in one of the $3000 units. Of course the field work would still have to be done once. I forgot
to get his name, but I would say feel free to park and hike this one if nobody is around. He also mentioned
that one could drive to the west side of the highpoint, drive up to an oil well there,
and take a slightly shorter hike.