Grant County High Point Trip Report
Date: May 26, 2003
Author: Dean Molen
Following the report of Trapper Robbins and using a Metsker map, I found Columbia drive on the east side
of Quincy and found that this road quickly turned into becoming `P' N.W. I followed this road north out of
town and after about 3 miles, the paved road turned into a gravel road which I followed as it gained
elevation up into the hills outside of Quincy. The road curved around to the east as it passed an antenna hill
and continued easterly for a bit before it turned back north and became `L' NW. I just followed `L' NW until
it ran into Overen road (20th NW) and headed west on Overen. (You can also get to Overen by taking a left
on 19th NW and then making a right after coming to 'M' NW.) You will see the power lines to the west
when you make the turn onto Overen so just aim towards the power lines and once you pass under them,
start looking for a place to park. After I passed under the power lines, I drove up to near the top of the hill
where I found a jeep road on the left side of the road. I found a little later that another place to pull off
existed on the right side of the road but it wasn't much further in saving distance. Walking north across the road,
I climbed over a small barbed wire fence that indicated that hunting was allowed at certain times of the year.
The hill I walked up in a westerly direction was the one noted on the map as Devil BM 2885.
Upon reaching the top area, I started looking for a BM but was unsuccessful. Others had mentioned the
possibility of snakes so I had that in the back of my mind. Carefully covering most of the area that appeared
to be the highest area, I found one spot that seemed to be the highest spot. At this point I took a GPS reading.
As I looked west, I could see the area that contained the highest spot and headed for it. I had to crawl
through two barbed wire fences in order to set foot on what seemed to be the highest spot on this flat but
slightly-rounded area. I took another GPS reading and the elevation on both my GPS and altimeter
indicated that I had found the true high point by about ten feet over the Devil BM reading. While this
highpoint is not overly interesting, the views are expansive in all directions. Truly this area gives you a `Big
Sky' feeling. I also enjoyed the myriad of little flowers that were present all over the place.
Most of the land in the area is used for dry-land wheat farming and the wheat crops are tall and green at this point.
I did not see or hear any indication of snakes but I would not doubt that this is a fine habitat for them
so caution should be used in determining where you put feet or hands. No ticks were noticed either.
My car was parked 0.85 mile from the true highpoint and elevation gained was a little under 200 feet.
Barney Metz describes a route from Ephrata from the east and I recommend his trip report. It seems
probable that we both parked in the same area before heading up to Devil BM2885. This would be a hot
area to hike in during the summer so you'd be wise to take some water along and I'd recommend wearing
knee high gaiters. Time: 1.5 hours spent to cover both probable highpoint areas as thoroughly as I found it
possible to do. Going back to my car, I actually just cut back to the road and walked it back to my car.
When I got home that evening, I had spent twelve hours to do two large central Washington counties, an area the
size of Rhode Island. Five hours of driving time from my home in Kennewick. Ya gotta love Washington State.
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