Day 3 - 7/2/2005 -  #36 - DONE...

A pretty day outside -  I spent the morning getting all of the design for the 2005 website finished.  Yes - it was something I could have done weeks ago, but hey, it was better than forgetting my sleeping bag!   We started down the road to Charles Mound about 10:00 am CDT.  The drive was fairly easy and we reached the "trailhead" about 1:45.

Charles Mound is a bit unusual for a highpoint.  It was one of just a few that is on private property, and as such visits from highpointers can really disrupt things.  For this reason, they set aside one weekend a month in the summer for visiting.  They also ask that you park on the road and walk up the driveway/trail.  These are very reasonable requests.  The total length of the trail is about 2.5 miles (roundtrip).

When we reached the parking area (driveway) it was full with three cars.  After driving up and down the road for a while we found a spot on the side of the road to park.  We pulled in, got our gear, and double-timed it to the summit.  On the way (up and down) we met about a dozen fellow highpointers.  One (named Greg) was marking his 50th highpoint at Charles Mound.  (For a description and pics of our hike to Charles Mound click HERE)   We had some great discussions on the best routes and advice for some of the other HP's we have planned for the trip.  We double-timed it back down the trail and reached the car about 3:30 pm CDT.  He "fooded and fueled", discussed options for the direction west, and cruised toward I-80 and Nebraska, and then Rocky Mountain National Park.  By 10:15pm  it was dark and we found a very nice state park south of Anita, IA (Lake Anita SP).  In the morning we may have time to take a short bike ride around the lake.  Maybe there will be some good pics!