Lincoln County's 7 areas are in an almost straight line about a mile and a half long. The ridge extends into South Dakota. I visited there on November 14, 2004, but I did not visit the two end points. I used Bob Packard's numbering scheme, counting from southeast to northwest.
From Lake Benton at the junction of U.S. Highways 14 and 75, I drove west on U.S. 14 for 7 miles, then turned north on C.R. 1 for 4 miles to the junction with C.R. 13.
I drove by area 1. It is on a farmplace, and does not show significant rise above the surrounding terrain.
Area 2 is labeled with a 1992' Spot Elevation, but it is signicantly built up above the surrounding ground, hence it is not natural.
From area 2, I drove north on C.R. 1 looking for the access road for area 3, but did not find it (it wasn't until much later that I saw the driveway from the south on the topo map), then set off looking for area 4's windmill maintenance road. I kept driving counterclockwise around the block, even passing the benchmark for area 6 without realizing it, until I finally came to the maintenance road, 3 and 1/2 miles around the block. A pickup truck was partially blocking the road, but I got around it and headed for the HP. I arrived at a windmill that was near the HP, and parked.
There was standing corn and harvested soybeans in the HP area, so it took some walking, about 6 minutes worth.
I continued driving on the maintenance road to its end at area 5, also standing corn, but not too difficult, about 6 minutes of walking around the highest ground. Although the road ends at this windmill, a combine had cut a 6-row swath through the corn straight west of Area 5 to the road south of area 6.
I walked that swath and came to the bench mark just inside the wood line. I could see that the northwestern part of the contour line, which extended across the road into section 13, held higher ground. I proceeded through the harvested corn field to the highest ground in that area, and probably the highest ground in the county, very nearly 2000'.
From the highest ground in area 6 I looked toward area 7 and could see that it was lower, so I did not go there.
I returned the same route back to my truck, still parked at area 5, and returned to the gravel road, heading east toward area 3's access road.
Area 3's access road is about half way between area 4's maintenance road and area 2's road intersection. The grove and buildings shown on the topo map are gone--only a steel drying bin remains. I parked at the end of the driveway and walked to HP #3 in about one minute, then returned to area 2.
I was planning to take C.R. 1 north to S.H. 271 toward Yellow Medicine County, but C.R. 1 was blocked off for construction between C.R. 15 and S.H. 19, so I took 130th Avenue (gravel) north, paralleling C.R. 1 for the construction distance.
| Family Member | Count |
|---|---|
| Mark | 65 |
Take the same route to areas 1 & 2,
then turn west on 190th Street for 1/4 mile to the access road for area 3,
then back to 190th,
then west for 1/4 mile,
then take the maintenance road to areas 4 & 5, turn around,
and go back to 190th.
Turn right at the next gravel road going north.
Park by benchmark for area 6.
It will save you some driving and walking time.
.
http://www.topozone.com
Minnesota Atlas & Gazeteer by Delorme, 3rd Edition, 2001.
| File Name: | |
| Written by: | Mark Ness |
| Last Revised by: | Mark Ness |
| on: |