Magazine Mountain - The Highpoint of Arkansas

Magazine Mountain, Mount Magazine State Park, Arkansas
November 25, 2011

The trail head to the highpoint of Arkansas

After recently checking off #44 of the states’ highest points, I wanted to continue to get higher and higher with my highpoints. I continued the trend of bagging the lower highpoints by detouring from here to there. This time the here was Texas and the there I was going to was Indiana. Arkansas was on the way and the highpoint of The Natural State was not too far from the interstate. Driving in from the north, at least I was able to see the highpoint from afar although the particular spot did not stand out. Magazine Mountain is a flat-topped plateau which looms above the surrounding terrain.

A Tripoint on Water

Fort Defiance Park, Cairo, Illinois   

November 19, 2011

Some tripoints aren’t easy to get to because they are on water (or is it underwater). The Connecticut-New York-Rhode Island tripoint is actually on saltwater of the Long Island Sound. Nonetheless, most water tripoints can be spotted from land, and I was satisfied with this approach for my first water tripoint experience. The tripoint of Illinois-Kentucky-Missouri is in the middle of the Mississippi River where the Ohio River joins it. From the southern tip of Illinois in Cairo, the tripoint can be easily seen from Fort Defiance Park (when the Mississippi and Ohio rivers are not flooding). You point southeast and somewhere within a half-mile of your finger is the meeting point of Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri. And I say you can check that tripoint off your list :)

The confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers as viewed from Fort Defiance Park
The tripoint of Illinois - Kentucky - Missouri is somewhere in the middle right of the photo

Web Links

Wikipedia - Tripoint  

Hoosier Hill - The Highpoint of Indiana

Hoosier Hill, Franklin Township, Wayne County, Indiana
October 21, 2011

Although 912 feet higher in natural elevation than Britton Hill in Florida, the trek to the highest point in Indiana is as blasé as Florida's high point when it comes to mountain climbing. Hoosier Hill is one of the highpoints that is privately owned, but thanks to the property owners and a county road, it is easily accessible. I came to Hoosier Hill by way of a scenic detour on my way back to Nappanee, Indiana from a conference in Dayton, Ohio. North of Richmond near the northern border of Wayne County, the hill is really just a slight rise in the undulating countryside, but I guess you need to name these highpoints and Mole Hill just won’t do.

The Devils Punchbowl

Dianas Punchbowl
aka Devils Punchbowl
Nye County, Nevada

Los Angeles County, California   May 29, 2000
Nye County, Nevada   May 24, 2009
Montgomery County, Indiana   July 3, 2011

The Devil has quite a number of punchbowls in the United States. Over 20 places in more than a dozen states have been called the Devil's Punchbowl or Punch Bowl. The Devils Punchbowl is also found in other English-speaking countries including Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, England, and Wales. Since the devil is known in other languages, his punchbowls are also found elsewhere in the world. In Ecuador at the Rio Verde it is called La Ponchera del Diablo.

We are not talking about a large bowl from which a beverage such as punch is served. Rather, these punchbowls are unique geologic or topographic features which to an explorer's eye may look like a bowl-like depression. These features include basins, springs, lakes, and waterfalls. The devil's ownership to the punchbowls has been usurped by man, but the devil's presence at one time or another engulfed these places. The anxiety of a placenamer who came upon one of these punchbowls may have spawned a fright that only the devil can bring. A legend telling of the devil haunting, causing mischief, or bargaining for a soul at the punchbowl may have evoked anxiety and fright in the placenamer. Or it may have just been a shiver down the back of the placenamer as the punchbowl brought visions of the devil's dwelling.