Defiance County High Point Trip Report
eight areas (880+ ft)
Date: June 21, 2002
Author: Bob Schwab
four areas south of Zion Church (880+ ft)
From the center of Edgerton, drive east on US 6 for 2 miles and turn right on County Road 6. Drive south
for 1.5 miles to the county line and the Zion Church. Continue south on Cicero Road for 0.35 mile to a
crest in the road with woods to your left. Look for a small field access pull-off on the right, at the southern
edge of the woods, and park here. You have just crossed over a portion of area 1, a large contour that
extends northeast into the field, and west into the woods. There is a relatively high spot just west of the
road along the edge of the woods, but there are also at least two other high spots within this contour out in
the winter wheat field to the east; one close to the road, and the other about 0.25 mile to the northeast.
>From your parking spot, hike west along the southern edge of the woods, then southwest across the corner
of a cornfield to where the woods jogs south and then west. Re-enter the woods and continue west a short
distance to find the contour of area 2. Return to your car and walk south on the road to a drive that goes off
to the left (mailbox for the Courtney's and Vollmer Farms). Walk east along the drive for about 200 yards
then head north into the winter wheat field for a short distance to area 3. Finally, from your parking spot,
hike south on Cicero Road for 0.15 mile to another slight crest in the road. Go west into the cornfield just a
short distance to the high ground of area 4. You will see bits of brick in the soil; remnants of buildings
which used to sit on this site.
two tiny areas (880+ ft)
From your parking spot on Cicero Road, continue south for 2.6 miles to a stop sign and Route 249.
Turn right and proceed west for 2 miles to Route 49. Turn left on Route 49 and watch very carefully to the right
for two tiny contour areas out in the fields. The more northerly one (area 5) is less than 0.25 mile south,
is easily spotted and is relatively close to the road, while the second minuscule spot (area 6) is southwest
another 0.3 mile in an overgrown/brushy/woodsy field. There are no convenient parking areas along this highway,
so I'd suggest you park your car back at the corner of Routes 249 and 49 (near the old barn which
has farm machinery stored in it). You can then hike down the road, cross the fence and visit area 5, which is
out in the field near the edge of a wheat/corn planting. Stay in the field and head southwest to the
overgrown/brushy area to visit area 6 which is at the head of a slight depression that runs to the southeast.
Both of these contours are quite small, and I'd suggest you take your GPS to be sure you've visited the right locations.
two areas north of Seevers Road (880+ ft)
From the corner of Routes 249 and 49, go south on Route 49 for 1 mile to Seevers Road. Turn right and go
west for about 0.6 mile to Chris Miller's Farm (mailbox 3419). He farms the land where areas 7 and 8 are
located, but do not try to visit on Sundays, because he is likely to be involved in his church activities.
When I finally made contact with him, Mr. Miller was cordial and freely granted me permission to wander in his
back pasture. He allowed me to drive north along the fence that separates his pasture from a large cornfield
(about 300 feet west of his driveway) so I could get closer to areas 7 and 8. Cross under the electric fence
and head east into the pasture to a small spot on the pipeline right-of-way. Area 7 is actually a bit west of a
"cow path" that Mr. Miller has created with his fences. The high spot is somewhat northwest of where it
appears on the topo map, probably due to re-grading of the soil when the pipeline was previously dug up.
Area 8 is about 300 yards farther north, with the highest spot just east of the pasture fence in an adjacent cornfield.
Hand-leveling and back-sighting checks confirm that area 8 is at least 3 feet higher than area 7,
and I think it is probably much higher than areas 5 and 6 as well. A word of caution from an old farm boy:
don't scare, spook or be intimidated by Mr. Miller's dairy cows. The cattle may crowd around you in curiosity,
but don't waive your arms at them. It would undoubtedly upset Mr. Miller if you were to cause
them to run back to the barn. If you move slowly and deliberately, everything should be fine and we can
maintain the current good-will Mr. Miller has toward CoHPers.