Oakland County Highpoint Trip Report
Date: July 24, 2006
Author: Andy Hatzos
Andy Martin's book lists four highpoints for Oakland County in three areas:
- Three areas 7/30/31-5N-11E Lake Orion Quadrangle (1,230+ ft) -- this is actually two regions
on opposite ends of the township.
- One small area in southwest 1/4 of southwest 1/4 9-4N-9E Ortonville Quadrangle (1,230+ feet)
In my examinations of the Topo maps and USGS "point" listings, I found these to
be accurate. They matched up with the four areas with the highest contour
reading for Oakland County; above 1230 feet. As such, with some great advice
from Bob Schwab, I went ahead and completed the points in Fall of 2005.
Fast forward the better part of a year and through a busy year of school, etc,
and not much attempt at highpointing. While browsing the internet I found
this article
from 2004 in a local newspaper - the Oakland Press.
To summarize, a 2004 topographic map produced by Oakland County itself labels
the following as the five highest points:
Pine Knob - 1,286 feet
Mount Holly - 1,244 feet
Private property in the northwest quadrant of Addison Township - 1,234 feet
Saint Benedict's monastery in Addison Township - 1,232 feet
Private property in Independence Township - 1,232 feet
While the "three regions" highlighted in the COHP guidebook are in 3rd through
5th place on that list, two new entrants took first and second. This obviously
constitutes a major shift from the USGS maps and Andy's book. Furthermore, the
Oakland County Map readings for the "three regions" matched up nearly exactly to
the USGS readings from the topo maps (as mentioned above, they were just inside
the 1,230 contour). However, using the USGS data from GNIS, Pine Knob's value
was raised from 1,204 feet to 1,286 feet, a difference of 82 feet. Even more
astounding was Mount Holly being raised from 1,115 feet to 1,244 feet, a change
of 129 feet!
To add fuel to the fire, Pine Knob and Mount Holly are Metro Detroit's biggest
ski attractions and are thus an important commercial interest for Oakland
County. Let the conspiracy theories begin.
Looking for a few answers, I stopped by the Oakland County mapping office about
a week ago to ask about this. They said that the map was generated by flying
airplanes over the county with radar mapping technologies -- and while I can't
remember exactly what form of the technology they used, I do know it was
something legit as I have seen other presentations on it. They said that the
discrepancy between the USGS readings and their readings were caused by the fact
that their readings were of much greater resolution (2 feet instead of 10) and
advances in technology. When I asked about why only two points were raised so greatly,
they sort of reverted back to the last question's response and didn't
really give a good explanation, as I don't think they had a good explanation to give.
Even with the factors that have led me to skepticism, the bottom line is that
Oakland County swears by their map, which names a new (and singular) highpoint
for Oakland County, unfortunately, one that appears to be laced with at least
moderate access issues. Pine Knob is one-part ski area, one-part golf course,
with a fairly exclusive banquet center (the Pine Knob Mansion) right near the top,
and Metro Detroit's biggest concert amphitheater at the base of what is
really a very prominent peak for the area.
Not to get too confusing but I think the "real" highest point in Oakland County
is a man-made landfill just north of I-75 Exit 81 and the Palace of Auburn Hills
on M-24. Of course, we don't care about those.