CHARLES MOUND - 1,235 FT.
Highest Point in Illinois
September 3, 2005 (My 32nd Highpoint)

Charles Mound is on the property of Wayne and Jean Wuebbels. Until about two years ago, the Wuebbels permitted access freely, when some jerkoff(s) were unruly and disrespectful. Since then, the Wuebbels have only permitted people on their property during the first weekends of June, July, August and September. So, I decided that I needed to get this highpoint out of the way soon, hence, my trip on Labor Day weekend. Fortunately, my dad had recently moved to Minnesota, so he rode down from Pequot Lakes, MN to join me on the trip.

We spent the night at the Exel Inn in Madison, WI after flying into Madison on Friday night. From the motel, we took an assortment of roads to get to US 151 and then to SR 23 and SR 11 which led us to Shullsburg, WI. From there we took County Road O into Illinois which changes to Elizabeth-Scales Mound Road and then picked up Charles Mound Road on the north side of Scales Mound, IL. Going about 1.5 miles on Charles Mound Road will get you the Wuebbels's.

The hike to the summit is about 2.5 miles roundtrip on the two-tire-track lane that runs through the Wuebbels's property. As my dad and I were starting our walk to the top, we were joined by a gentleman named R.C. from California who had completed 33 highpoints. He had completed some of the ones in the west, which I hadn't finished, at the time, so it was nice to have some face-to-face Q&A, for which R.C. was quite helpful. The roundtrip took a little over an hour with a mid-walk gab session with a guy coming down (Don?) and ten minutes checking out the view from the top.



My first non-solo highpoint - hopefully, the first of many with my dad.

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