It was only a matter of time that Meeker County should be summited. It is not difficult to get to, certainly less so than others around it, like Renville, for instance. Nevertheless, I claimed first ascent in Meeker on September 25, 2004, just after sunset, the last stop in my 5-county tour. It was about a third of a mile from the nearest road in a soybean field, about one week before harvest time.
One could approach this field from either east or west. It is about 10 miles straight line distance from the McLeod County High Point, so is a logical two-fer. I had just come from Kandiyohi County, and was in a hurry to get there while there was still light.
From the junction of U.S. Highway 12 and Kandiyohi County Road 4, I turned left onto U.S. 12 for 3 miles and turned right onto C.R. 2 for 3 miles, then left onto C.R. 23 (gravel) for one mile (where it became paved at the Kandiyohi-Meeker county line), then 3.2 miles on Meeker C.R. 23, then right onto Minnesota State Highway 4 for 1.5 miles, then turned left onto 220th Street for 1.8 miles to the point on the road closest to the high point (0.37 miles). As I parked, the sun was partially set.
Like many soybean fields, this one had 24 end rows, which ran parallel to the road. I did a kind of step that I used since I was a kid to avoid stepping on the rows. The main rows were oriented north-south, so I was able to pretty much stay in one row all the way to the top area. Although most of the field was within a week of harvest, there was a large irregularly shaped area of immature beans, probably having been replanted after a drown out in June. Those rows were planted according to the angle of the drowned-out area.
Behind the hill is a slightly higher hill. I did have to shift several rows to my right (north) to approach it exactly. I made it to the top in 11 minutes
There is no Geological marker nor registration book, just beans. A summit photo here would be pointless, but here it is anyway:
The picture on the left is of the highest ground in the county. The one on the right is the 2nd highest hill as seen from the saddle between the two.
I got back to my truck in 8 minutes, 21 minutes total in the field.
Although I wanted to get home, I also wanted to see what the McLeod county high point areas looked like, even though it would be too dark to ascend them, so I drove off in that direction, taking back roads there.
| Family Member | Total County Count | Minnesota County Count |
|---|---|---|
| Mark | 34 | 17 |
No trip reports have been posted. Meeker is listed as a virgin county.
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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: |