Richland Parish High Point Trip Report
two natural highpoints (105+ ft)
Date: May 22, 2001
Author: Fred Dale
Point #1 (website area 2)
From I-20 at Delhi, LA, go north on State Hwy. 17 six miles to the village of Warden. There, Route 855
departs to the west; but you turn right onto a gravel surfaced road, and go east 0.5 mile. This road, though
freshly extended to service the new Poverty Point Reservoir, becomes dirt after 0.1 mile and may actually be
planted in grass. For the present, it is easily driven to its terminus at a gate,
overlooking the levee of the as-yet-unfilled lake. Fortunately, the first hp hill is visible from here,
just north. A deep canal lies between the
road's end and the hp, paralleling the road's last bit. It is crossed on foot by a farm access tractor path by
way of a culvert-bridge within sight of the gate. Then the ridge, which is planted in grass, is easily gained.
Total walk including the round-about canal crossing is less than 1/2 mi.
point #1 topo chart (website area 2)
Point #2 (website area 1)
The second point is reached by continuing north a few miles on Hwy. 17 to the Parish line, where you turn
east onto Rte. 877. Go 1.85 mi. to a white gated road on the right marked "posted". (For permission, see
below.) Go south 0.55 mi. on this dirt farm lane to an irrigation well-head at an intersection of sorts in the
soybean field. You'll continue south; the grave marked on the topo quad is a 4-ft. obelisk nearby on the
weedy N side of the intersecting NE-bound lane, that of "Dr. John Lyon, born Columbia Co., Ga., died
1856". Another 0.25 mi. south from the well-head brings you to the brink of a descent to a bayou. Here,
turn off to the right and go SW on a grassy lane through the farm field to woods edge, a distance of 0.2 mi.
Enter the woods here (marked "crude oil pipeline") and drive 0.2 mi. Start walking about for the highest
ground on this hardwood knoll.
Permission to enter this 15,000 acre farm, owned by the Murphy family of "Murphy Oil" was granted by the
lady at the local field office, which is reached by continuing another mile or so NE on Rte. 877. It is in the
first house on the right after crossing the bayou bridge into East Carroll Parish.
Nearby is one of North America's oldest and most spectacular archaeological sites, Poverty Point.
point #2 topo chart (website area 1)
My GPS coordinates:
Point #1 - (32 deg 32.43' N, 91 deg 29.20' W)
Point #2 - (32 deg 34.45' N, 91 deg 27.43' W)