Price County Highpoint Trip Report

Timm’s Hill (1,951 ft)

Date: January 14, 2007
Author: John Hasch

It was 9:38 am when I drove away from James Lake Ski Lift in Taylor County, WI. The maps showed that I was within miles of the Timm’s Hill area. I followed my maps and arrived at the Timm’s Hill region a short time later.

The main roads were clear. There was snow on the side roads in the area but all roads were plowed and easily passable. I arrived in the area on WI-86, approaching from the west. I turned right onto County Road C and a short while later I turned left onto Ring School Road. I drove along for a bit, climbing a hill and making a sharp right turn in the road. I passed a church on the left and I stopped on a hill on Ring School Road in the area where the maps indicated I was near Timm’s Hill. I pulled over and got out of my car in front of a white house on the hill to my left. Looking around, I could not determine that I was in the right place. So I got in my car and drove along a bit more. I eventually came to the Rustic Road T-intersection and I turned left for the 1/2 mile trip back to WI-86.

Eventually, I got my bearings. Familiar with the area the second time through, I came past the same point where I had stopped moments before. I drove down the road a bit farther, dropping downhill several feet and then spying a road that took an acute right off the main road I was on. Comparing this to my map, I realized this was the road to Timm’s Hill. It was narrow, steep and snow-covered, basically a snowmobile trail during this time of the year. I decided to turn around and return to the top of the hill to park and make my summit assault from there.

At 10:21 am, I stopped my car on the side of the road, drafted a note to place on my windshield, and changed into my winter waterproof hunting boots for the hike. I grabbed my camera and a few other things. I rolled down my windows a bit as an experiment to hold down the condensation from steam when I would reenter the car. I locked the doors and set off for the conquest at 10:44 am.

This was a short and pleasant hike. I was joined on the trip to the summit by two neighboring dogs. As I took off toward the Timm’s Hill road, the first dog ran ahead and then abruptly stopped in his tracks. He looked back at me as if to say, "Come on, I’ll show you the way." We three hiked along basically together, the two dogs running ahead on a trip they had undoubtedly made numerous times before. I felt like I was in the company of 2 alpine rescue dogs that were sent to assure safe passage through this wilderness area.

We dropped down off the ridge where the dogs lived and strode down the acute road. A short while later, we crossed a bridge over a brook. This bridge was on my map, so I now knew I was on the right path. The bridge was the low point of the journey. The route was uphill from here. A little later, I came to a fancy red-and-white-striped gate that was open. Following the dogs, I took that route and headed up the road to the summit. The route was steep but easily hiked.

At 10:57 am, my short trip was over; I arrived at the summit. The summit area looked just like the pictures I had seen posted by recent peak baggers. I found the BM in the center of the old, tall fire tower that was behind the wooden A-frame observation tower. The observation tower had a slight variation compared to the other wooden decks I had seen in WI. This one had only 11 sets of 8 steps to the top (vs the 12 set standard). At the top, the deck only extended around 3 sides of the stairs rather than making a complete loop around. It was about 1,938 feet at the base of the tower and 1,996 feet at the top.

The weather was near perfect: still, cold (in the mid 20’s), and overcast. I took several pictures including one of the two dogs. I did not stay long. At 11:11 am, I began the trip back, this time by myself. The dogs had left me behind, or so I thought. At the foot of the hill, as I crossed the bridge, I spied the first, friendliest dog. He rejoined me and we finished the trip together. Back at my car at 11:23 am, I petted the dog liberally and praised him and thanked him for his company. Little things like this sure go along way!

A Boy Scout is taught to be prepared. And I thought I was. However, if you don’t deploy your "preparedness", having the goods doesn’t help if you can’t use them. I learned this lesson the shocking way when I arrived back at my car. Reaching in my pocket, I did not find my keys! Had I lost them? Had I left them in one of the locks? Had I left them inside the car? Were they still in the ignition? I did not know. I only knew that I was outside the locked car, without any keys to get in! Now, I had brought extra keys with me. I even had a magnet so that I could attach a key outside the car in case I ever got locked out but that key was still inside the car. I had not taken the time to deploy it before I began my hike. What a foolish Boy Scout!

I considered retracing my steps to see if I had dropped the keys somewhere but my jeans pockets are pretty secure. If I had put them there, the chances of losing them from the pocket were pretty remote. I walked around the car scouting the best way to break in. I was pretty certain the keys were inside the hatch door or in the ignition area of the car.

It was another blessing at that time when I found the way to break into my car. I will not divulge the secret here but I was pleased when I was able to get inside the car without breaking anything. As expected the keys were laughing at me from the ignition! I paused and thanked God for His provision.

At 11:35 am, I drove away in search of the nearby Pearson Hill after bagging state highpoint #4.