2024-04-20: Santa Rosa County Highpoint

Santa Rosa County Highpoint, elevation 290'. Florida county highpoints 3/67.

Inspired by my recent completion of the Escambia County highpoint, and with a rare Saturday to myself at college (while Audrey was busy jumping out of a plane), I decided to head west of my Pensacola campus to the highest point of Santa Rosa County.

Like Escambia County, Santa Rosa's Floridian flatness makes the exact highest point unknown, but dedicated highpointers have narrowed it down to three locations. The Peakbagger site has designated them Areas 1, 2, and 3, designations that I'll be using in this report. Area 1, past the dead-end Jody Lane in Fidelis, is the easternmost of the three, and my first destination.

There's a house at the end of Jody Lane and a gated trail that heads north of the house to the highpoint coordinates, although the house and lane are also in the 290' elevation contour. Previous trip reports found that house empty and, trusting the owner's grace, parked there and hiked the short trail to the coordinates.

Arriving late on a Saturday morning, I found the house occupied, and decided to formally ask the homeowner's permission to park there. I parked by the house, climbed up on the porch, and knocked on the door. After what seemed like a very long time, he answered, and asked me what I wanted.

Before I could respond, he revealed a loaded handgun, and I took a few steps back. I gave a ten-second summary of highpointing as a sport, and before I could fully finish that, he informed me that he didn't own the land north of his house, so he couldn't give me permission. I thanked him for his time and returned to the car.

The gate to the trail was open, and it looked like my car might be able to make it, but I didn't want to push the homeowner's grace or risk getting stuck.

Jody Lane connects with Route 87 to the east, and my contingency plan was to park at a nearby cell tower and bushwhack through open pine forests from FL-87 to the coordinates. However, active logging in that section of woods made that impossible, and its leftovers may make that approach impractical for the forseeable future, with lots of leftover branches, brush, and easy visibility from a major road.

Since Jody Lane itself climbs into the 290' contour, and no clearly visible elevation difference to the north, I decided to call this area good, although I would like to return if conditions change in the future.

Areas 1 and 2, the most likely 'true' highpoints, are located a bit to the west, near the FL-AL state line off Belandville Road. I drove a series of sand and dirt roads towards the northern border through some very pleasant pine forests. The land on the Alabama side of the border is part of Conecuh National Forest.

Pine trees along Belandville Road near the highpoint.

Area 1 is located in a field just east of the road. This area has been accessible in the past, but there was ongoing construction at the property west of the road. The field with the candidate point was surrounded with barbed wire, and several cameras were pointed towards the field itself. It seems like the Santa Rosa highpoints in particular are becoming more difficult to access over time. 

Once again, however, Belandville Road passes right through the 290' contour, albeit slightly west of the coordinates, so after a brief stop, I called it good and continued northward.

The field with the Area 1 coordinates.

The final candidate spot, Area 2, was also the most straightforward. At the state line, located at the south end of a field, is the Alaflora Benchmark, a USGS benchmark designating the border. Area 2 is some distance to the east of this.

The Alaflora Benchmark at the state line near Area 2.

Tracking east from here, I followed a linear clearing (possibly an old trail) just inside of the treeline on the Florida side of the border, just south of the field. Area 2 is at the southeastern corner of the field, and there actually seems to be some noticeable elevation change between there and the road. The forest here has some thick underbrush, but wasn't too challenging to get to.

Looking north into Alabama from the state line.

I was still disappointed by my inability to get to Area 3, but with the three areas completed to at least my satisfaction, and an exciting story to tell, I headed back towards Pensacola for lunch and a haircut, another county highpoint behind me.