Highpoint: Charles Mound
State: Illinois
Height: 1235 ft.
Highpoint #: 28
Date: 5/18/2003
Trails: N/A
Distance: About 3 miles roundtrip.
Vertical Gain: 250 feet
Time Taken: 1 hour.
Weather: Cool, sunny, 50’s
Group: JO, BC, Jay and Rick
Comments: We parked the truck at the gate and started up the Wuebbels’
driveway. Many cows curiously welcomed
us as we made our up the dirt road, and we eventually made our way to the top
of Charles Mound. The highpoint had a
surprisingly nice view of the surrounding hills and mounds, you could see a
higher hill only a few miles away, and we thought this weird until we realized
that the neighboring hill was in Wisconsin.
This is a very well kept highpoint, which is not surprising as it only a
couple hundred feet from the Wuebbels’ house.
They have recently restricted access to only 4 days a year, which is
unfortunate but understandable. We were
just happy that we were able to squeeze this HP in before this restriction, or
we would have had to plan this trip around it.
We walked back to the truck, accompanied by the family dog, who was very
friendly. We took off for Hawkeye Point
at about 10:00.
Left: BC at the top of Illinois, as Jay and Rick lounge in the provided chairs in the background. Right: The driveway leading up to the Wuebbel’s house and Charles Mound
Highpoint: Hawkeye Point
State: Iowa
Height: 1670 ft.
Highpoint #: 29
Date: 5/18/2003
Trails: N/A
Distance: N/A
Vertical Gain: N/A
Time Taken: N/A
Weather: Nice, sunny, 60’s
Group: JO, BC, Jay and Rick
Comments: The Iowa highpoint is at the end of a feed trough on the
Stirler Farm. This highpoint was extremely flat, with virtually no discernible
rise at all. We arrived at the Stirler's front door in the mid-afternoon, but
no one was home, so we just hit the highpoint and didn't loiter too long. Not
much of note here, except that as soon as we left Hawkeye Point, we lost the
muffler and the whole back half of the exhaust for good. There was no
reattaching this time, it was gone.
Left: An exhausted JO trying to recover from the interminable approach to the Iowa highpoint. Right: Trying to capture for you how flat Iowa is. The highpoint is not obvious at all.
We crossed into South Dakota just in time for dinner and stopped at a steakhouse in Sioux City. We also stopped at a movie theater and saw The Matrix: Reloaded. We had a full night of driving ahead of us. No sleep for the wicked!