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| The Highest Point in Ohio! |
I haven’t been on a highpointing road trip since August! The problem is that I have already
highpointed most of the states that are relatively near to me in D.C., so
topping out in new states takes a bit more of planned effort. Looking over the map of the U.S., I saw a
swath of “unclimbed” states in the northern Midwest that I might be able to
reasonably cover in a 5-day trip. To
heighten the difficulty, I decided to go in December just before
Christmas. The plan? Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and
Iowa. Boy, was I in for an adventure…
The highpoint in Ohio is tellingly named: Campbell
Hill. Indeed, the highest mountain in
all of Ohio is just a hill. It is
located near Bellefontaine, about an hour east of the Indiana border and about
an hour northwest of Columbus. Coming in
from the east though, I had a nice leisurely drive across the entire state. Bucolic views abounded, save for a brief
stretch through Columbus where I was treated to a modest skyline and an amazing
Reuben sandwich (seriously, check out Katzinger’s Deli). I was fortunate enough to have cool, calm
weather most of the day and only a touch of rain. The roads were great!
Finding the highpoint was pretty straightforward. After following the main road out of Columbus
for a while, I only needed to leave this road for a mile to drive up to the
highpoint. It was well signed making for
a minimal detour, all in all.
On the way to the summit, I passed through the Ohio Hi-Point
Career Center, which is apparently collocated there. I just followed the signs to the highpoint,
and I eventually was able to park my car just short of it on top of the
hill. Being a weekday, the gate to the
property was open, so I was free to make my way straight to it.
It is a pretty small affair, really. There is a sign in the parking lot
proclaiming “Highest Point in Ohio” and giving the elevation.
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| This is a Well-Signed Highpoint! |
There is a brick column with a stone inlay
that also says “Highest Point in Ohio”.
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| View of the Summit from the Parking Lot. Note the Stone Inlay in the Column. |
Walking just past the column along the sidewalk will take you to a third
sign that says, you guessed it, “The Highest Point in Ohio”. This third sign (see top photo) actually says quite a bit
more giving some of the history of the site including its use in the Cold
War.
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| A Close-Up View of the Summit. |
Near the sign are two benches, a
flagpole, a stone marker in the ground, and, of course, the official U.S.G.S.
benchmark marker marking the true highpoint.
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| USGS Marker Marking the Highpoint and Giving the Exact Elevation. |
On the way out, I was sure to stop back at the brick
column. Along its side there were two
main compartments. One was for “Visitor
Registration”, and the other was for “Points of Interest”.
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| Be Sure to Sign the Register! |
The former houses the official summit
register along with complimentary certificates.
Seriously.
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| They Really Go All Out at this Highpoint. |
The latter includes
brochures for things to do in the nearby area.
I took one, but really was I hard pressed to keep moving so that I might
make the Indiana highpoint before sunset -- no mean feat given the very short
days of winter!
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| The View from the Top! Note the Presence of Snow. |