Driskell Mountain: The Highest Point in Louisiana

 

Having stayed at my cousin's place in Fort Worth last night, I had a 4 & 1/2 hour drive to the trailhead of Driskell Mountain, the highest point in Louisiana.  After fueling my car at a QT just east of Dallas, and after fueling my body at Chick-fil-A, I drove the rest of the 3 plus hours straight through.  I was thankful I was going east on I-20, as a tractor trailer had managed to fling its trailer over the side of a bridge and the entire rig was precariously perched on the overpass, dangling, but somehow able to avoid complete disaster.  Westbound traffic was snarled for several miles and the only people having a worse day than the driver of the 18-wheeler were the poor souls stuck on the interstate for what I would imagine would have been hours.  

I arrived to the trailhead a few miles outside of Arcadia around 1:30 PM.  If you've ever been to the middle of nowhere, I was firmly in it.  The only thing close by was the Mount Zion Presbyterian Church and Cemetery.  It had rained earlier in the morning and so it wasn't as hot as a typical August day would be in northern Louisiana, but it was muggy and soupy.  I drank a couple of liters of water on the drive over and I'm sure I must have sweated out half of it.  

The trail was well marked and it only took me 15 minutes to climb up and over False Mountain and then up to the summit of Driskell Mountain.  False Mountain is aptly named, as it is a small hill and nothing close to a mountain.  Of course Driskell Mountain is not much higher, but since it is the highest point in the state, I guess we can let this misnomer slide.  At only 535 feet above sea level, it is the third lowest high point in the entire 50 states.  Only Florida's (345 feet) and Delaware's (448 feet) high points are lower.  

There was a pretty lookout a few feet from the summit.   

And there were scattered park benches around, placed there by the Highpointers Club (an organization that seeks to preserve and promote the highest points of all 50 US States).  This particular high point is on private land and has been made accessible through the generosity of the owners.  There was a log book attached to the sign and I was the 25th person to sign since the beginning of July.  I would imagine there have probably been other hikers who chose not to sign it, but I was surprised that the place gets so few visits.  I was the only hiker who had logged in over the past three weeks.  Most of the signees were from places close by, but there were two visitors from Vietnam who visited the site last month.  

I took an alternate trail back down to my car and was back on the road by 2:15 PM, only 45 minutes after arriving.  I drove 4 & 1/2 hours for a 45 minute experience.  I then drove another 4 &1/2 hours to get to Rogersville, Arkansas where I am staying tonight before I summit Signal Hill on Mount Magazine tomorrow morning.  The drive will be shorter, the hike will be longer, and the elevation will be higher (over 2,700 feet).  I'll fill you in later. - Shay