"DIA Ridge" 5,665' (Adams County Highpoint)Without a good left knee to take me to places more exciting, I thought I'd at least bag some highpoints and make a drive out of it. The day began at 10:00 a.m. eastbound on I-70. After the E-470 exit, finding the junction with Colfax to Powhaton Road was probably the crux of this highpoint. It was a fairly easy to identify where to stop on 26th, since the east side of the road slopes down pretty well. On the right, a view toward the Front Range is obscured by morning showers. It was off to Arapahoe County next.
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"Smoky Hill Ridge" 6,215' (Arapahoe County Highpoint)
The drive south on E-470 to Smoky Hill Road was shorter than I expected. I was soon pulling a U-turn to park on the east shoulder near Otero Drive. I was somewhat confused because of the barbed wire fence blocking off the higher ground. There was no mention of this in the Covill & Mitchler book, but I squeezed through anyway. Sure enough, there was the benchmark (photo on left). The return through the fence left a good gash on my shin - Who says Plains highpointing doesn't have its moments?
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"President's Hill" 5,420' (Washington County Highpoint)Now the real driving began - out to Limon to find Highway 71 North. This wasn't as easy as just taking exit 361 and going north. Why do I bother to mention this? It is difficult to fill up a paragraph of space with drive-ups. I should have brought a "real" hand-level, but instead I layed down on the road in two areas and used a 4x4 tilt angle level against a book spine. I couldn't tell from the area that was more to the east if it was higher, but going back west on the road confirmed it. The photo on the right shows the sloping road west of the true highpoint.
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"Yuma Corner" 4,440' (Yuma County Highpoint)
I debated with myself about whether it was worth it to continue on to Yuma County, as the drive would not be short ~ 50 miles one-way. Then I thought...What would ever bring me out this far toward Kansas again? Highway 36 is interesting, however, because of the multitude of cultivated sunflower fields. The driving route is straightforward enough, and I arrived at County Road 0, the same road President's Hill is located on at 2:00 p.m. A couple more miles, and the fenceline appeared. I kept trying to figure out why the terrain was higher to northeast if the highpoint is supposed to be in the southwest corner of Yuma County. The I realized I was at the wrong end of the fence - the eastern corner was where I wanted to be. The windmill should be to the left, not right - I got it right (photo on right), right?. If nothing else, my orienting skills were challenged this day.
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