At first, I thought this would be an easy one. Just a road intersection. Then I read David Olson's report, showing that the road intersection was built up above the surrounding terrain. I suspect that he is right, so I set off for all 7 areas, emphasizing the club rule of natural ground. I numbered the areas 1-7 from east to west. I visited there on November 13, 2004, just after completing Steele County's high point.
I came from the west along Minnesota State Highway 30. A similar approach from the east would also be convenient, as the Olmsted County High Point area is about 8 miles in that direction. I would have taken that route, but on the day I completed Olmsted, it was almost dark.
I drove 3 miles past Hayfield, turning right (south) on 230th Avenue for one mile. That brought me to High Point area 1. the intersection of sections 19-20-29-30 of Vernon township. Only the intersection itself and part of the road reached 1370 feet. Not worth visiting.
I turned right (west) at that intersection and drove for 0.2 miles and parked on the road near HP #2, in the SE corner of section 19. It was not a particularly noticeable hill, but was definitely there. It took me four minutes to walk to the highest ground in the area.
Area 3 is the largest 1370' contour in the county. It includes the 1381' built-up road intersection at the intersection of sections 19 and 30 of Vernon Township, and sections 24 and 25 of Hayfield Township. It extends north-west-west from the northwestern part of section 30 to the southwest part of section 24, a distance of about a mile, all of which is visible from the east-west gravel road that it straddles.
The ground in the northwest, northeast, and southwest corners of the intersection are all about as high, just lower than the road itself. When I was there, the northeast corner was plowed corn, the northwest area was partly standing, partly harvested corn. I walked around the area for about 10 minutes. That area is likely the highest in the county.
I got back in my truck and continued west. The contour diminishes at 1/4 mile past the intersection, and then broadens again. I walked around the highest apparent ground, also checking out area 4, taking 24 minutes.
I then got back in my truck, and continued west to the end of the contour, where it was only on the north side of the road. I walked around that area, a harvested soybean field, too, taking 6 minutes to walk that.
I visited area 4 while exploring area 3. It is a very low hill, obviously lower than the ground near the 1381' intersection and the part of area 3 nearest area 4.
From the western end of area 3, I continued west on the gravel road, then turned north, I think, for about 2.5 miles, and parked on the road 0.33 miles from the middle of area 5, where I had programmed my GPS to lead me. The field nearest the road was plowed, then became harvested soybeans. When I got to the center, however, I realized that the highest ground was in the northwestern bulge of the contour, so I continued to that point. While there, I looked toward area 6, which looked about as high, so I went there.
When I got to area 6, and looked back at area 5, I could see that area 5 was significantly higher than where I was. I also looked toward area 7, which appeared the same or slightly higher than area 6.
I was in a hurry, and a little cold, so I started running back to area 5 on my way back to my truck. Then a farmer came driving up behind me, wanting to know what I was doing there. I went on to explain how I was looking for the highest point in Dodge County, that the intersection one mile south of Highway 30 on County Road 9 was the highest, but was built up, so I was visiting the other areas. He was skeptical and had never heard of this hobby. He did, however, know that water flowed toward Austin and toward Rochester based on which side of that area it was. He also said that he could see as many as 8 water towers from that area. We talked for about 10 minutes before parting.
I got back to my truck after 31 minutes in the field.
I could see that area 7 was not the highest, so didn't go there.
The total time spent highpointing in Dodge County was 93 minutes.
I continued on S.H. 30 west through Dodge and Steele counties, to just inside Waseca County.
| Family Member | Count |
|---|---|
| Mark | 50 |
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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 |
| on: |