Saint Croix County Highpoint Trip Report
five unnamed areas (1,320+ ft)
Date: April 17, 2005
Author: Mark Ness
Saint Croix County's High Point areas are located in Sections 22 and 23 of Springfield Township.
When I left home that morning, it was in a dense fog. I drove east on I-94 to exit 28,
and turned left onto State Highway 128.
I drove north on S.H. 128 for 2.85 miles, and turned right onto 80th.
I drove east on 80th for 1.0 mile and turned left onto 310th St.
I drove north on 310th for 0.5 mile, overshooting the first area.
I turned around and parked just north of the nearest point to the first area,
and a little farther north of a farm place on the east side of the road.
area 1
I walked uphill from the roadside.
There are a number of rolling hills in this area -- 4 minutes round trip.
From here, I drove south on 310th to the T-intersection.
As shown on the topo map, a field road goes off northeast of the intersection,
and is the access road for the remaining areas.
I parked on that road just off the intersection.
It was a grassy road, well mowed and smooth.
area 2
Area 2 is just off the road on the southeast side, 2 minutes from the parking spot.
area 3
Area 3 is shorter than area 2. I arrived there in 2 minutes, and continued along the grass road.
area 4 (western part)
Area 4 is an elongated, multi-bulge area, and required some extra walking.
I left the road and explored the northwestern bulges.
I arrived at the westernmost one in 5 minutes. The northeastern spur of the western bulge
had a woods road on its ridge, 2 more minutes.
I returned to the grass road and continued on it.
I saw another road off to the left with a gate across it,
but decided that it was not the road I wanted, so I continued walking on the grass road.
I was getting farther and farther away from my destination and decided to go cross country,
through a chopped corn field and the woods to area 5.
area 5
Area 5 is heavily wooded and thorny. I arrived there in 15 minutes.
Shortly after that, I found a woods road that went in the direction
of the eastern bulge of area 4, and hiked that.
area 4 (eastern part)
The woods road rode the crest of high ground all along area 4.
Although it was still foggy, I could see the northern and southern ends
of the eastern part of the contour, and visited those places, too.
I stayed on the woods road, looking for any high ground, but it was quite obvious
that it was on the road the whole way. I walked through the gate I had seen earlier,
and it is definitely the way to go while traversing area 4 and going to area 5.
Hiking time for these 4 areas was 41 minutes, which included getting lost.