Britton Hill, Lakewood Park, Florida 345 feet

Climbed 3/31/2008

When we plan a highpoint adventure, we have contingency plans for various possible complications: bad weather, difficulty finding the trailhead, private property boundaries, equipment failures, rough roads. However, we never considered what we would do if the highpoint had been taken over by prison convicts. We had to improvise.

The Florida highpoint is in a county park about a quarter mile south of the Alabama state line. We drove through Alabama to reach it, after conquering Cheaha Mountain. From the sleepy town of Florala, AL, we turned right down a two-lane road and almost immediately saw a road sign welcoming us to Florida. After another quarter mile, we saw Lakewood County Park on our right.

Crossing into Florida from Alabama

There was only one vehicle in the parking lot: a Florida State Police pickup truck with one of those trailers for roadside clean-up tools. There were four men lounging in the small park, all dressed in striped pants and wearing orange safety vests. One of the men was walking towards us and waved at Evelyn as we pulled into the lot. Evelyn nodded her head to acknowledge the wave, while Mike drove right out the other end of the parking lot and headed back toward Florala.

Was there a guard around? We didn't see him.

Back in Florala, we bought ourselves milkshakes and strolled along the banks of Lake Jackson, which straddles the Alabama-Florida state line. We sat under a gazebo on the fishing pier, listening to the birds chirp and the far-off whine of a Jet-Ski on the Florida side of the lake. We relaxed and gave the fine gentlemen an hour to finish cleaning the park or to steal someone else's car for their getaway.

We returned to find Lakewood Park empty. We visted the elaborate summit marker and took our official highpoint photos. We looked to the southeast to confirm that we were in fact on a hill.

Approximately the same elevation as our home in Pleasanton
The view from the top

We spent the night in nearby Enterprise, Alabama. In the center of town stands their Boll Weevil Monument. Yes, a monument celebrating the boll weevil. In 1916, the boll weevil came through Enterprise and devastated the cotton crop. To avoid bankruptcy, the local farmers planted peanuts, which were mainly grown farther north at the time. The peanut crop was a fantastic success, and is credited with leading an economic turnaround for the entire region. In less than three years, they became the largest peanut producers in the country. The monument was built in 1919, with the boll weevil added to the top in 1949.

The incription on the monument reads:
In profound appreciation of The Boll Weevil
And What It Has Done
As The Herald of Prosperity