Clay County's 6 highpoint areas are located in Sections 1 and 2 of Tansem Township. I visited them on November 26, 2004, during a snow fall near the height of the full moon, shortly after completing Becker County.
I numbered the areas 1-6 from west to east. Areas 1-5 were in fields of 2-foot high wild grass. It could have been a crop, though.
From the intersection of U.S. Highway 10 and Minnesota State Highway 34 in Detroit Lakes, I drove west on U.S. 10 (4 lanes, divided) for 20 miles to a left turn onto S.H. 32. I went south on S.H. 32 for 12.5 miles, and turned left onto 130th Avenue south (which was 1 mile south of Clay County Road 6). At 1 mile, 130th Avenue became "Minimum Maintenance". It seemed true enough. Up to that point there were a few tire tracks in the snow, but none after that. 0.35 miles on that road brought me to the summit ridge, where the road crested.
I parked on the road crest. Due to the darkness, I did not take any photographs of this effort. It was then that I noticed the two radio towers to the southwest. The northern one was a standard red light tower. The southern one was a blinking blue-white light. These helped me keep my bearings throughout the hike.
I hiked the summit ridge north-northwest to the obvious (even in near darkness) HP. From area 1, I walked east (to avoid the depression), then northeast toward area 2. At about the mid-section line, I encountered an extremely thick row of evergreen trees, 3-4 trees thick. I looked for a break in the tree line but did not see one, so I plunged through.
From there I crossed through the grass to area 2, fairly obvious, but not especially prominent, a 19-minute walk from area 1, which could have been cut shorter, as I could see a break in the trees after I arrived at area 2.
Area 3 was just a few hundred feet from area 2, and about the same. 4 minutes walk
Area 4 is a large area and took some time to traverse, 10 minutes.
Area 5 is also large and fairly flat, 11 minutes. From there I walked east toward area 6, crossed a barbed-wire fence to a field road on the section line.
Area 6 was an insignificant bump in the woods, just over the line in Section 1. While walking in the area I looked toward the south and noticed that the road rose significantly, and seemed substantially higher than area 6.
I followed the field road, which went straight south toward the "Minimum Maintenance" Road. About 100 yards south of Area 6, the road did rose significantly, seeming to me to be above area 6. I should go back in the daytime and check again.
The walk back on the road is almost 3/4 mile. For those of you with fellow traveler who does not like to hike, this would be a good place for them to drive to area 6 and pick you up. The total time for me was 1 hour and 21 minutes.
At this point, it was getting late, about 8:30, and I still had one more county I wanted to finish before settling down for the night, so I got back onto S.H. 32, south for 3 miles, then right (west) onto S.H. 34 about 7.5 miles to I-94. This was not the most efficient way to Wilkin County's High Point, but I was looking for a Rest Area on I-94, and hoped I would see a sign for one on the way to Rothsay. As it turns out, there was such a sign. I took note of it and continued on my way.
| Family Member | Count |
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| Mark | 79 |
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http://www.topozone.com
Minnesota Atlas & Gazeteer by Delorme, 3rd Edition, 2001.
| File Name: | |
| Written by: | Mark Ness |
| Last Revised by: | Mark Ness |
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