"On my way to visit family in WI. Found myself not far during this open access weekend, so I stopped by. Met Matt, the new owner, who was very gracious! Nicely maintained grounds at the High Point area and found all three USGS summit markers on this bluebird day. Everyone out today was in high spirits (well except for a couple of small ones!)" — SteveM_StickMan • Jul 6, 2024

"The summit and trail is located entirely on a private farm. The owners open the property to high-pointers the first weekend of each month in the summer. The "trailhead" is the entrance to a long private dirt road off W Charles Mound Rd, and you are immediately met with a sign informing hikers to continue on food. The hike was a quick mile and a quarter with only a few moderately steep sections up a gravely dirt road. The hike offered decent views of the surrounding corn fields, and the summit offered a view to the north of a large flat expanse of Wisconsin farmland." — JCalautti • Aug 5, 2023

"Quick out and back trip for us from MI. Camped close by through Hip-Camp, then parked at private driveway and walked in. Very busy for the morning already.. awesome that the owner allows this. The peak is right by their house. " — CravinoCrew • Sep 4, 2021

"As part of a 16 or 17 state highpoint blitz of the Northeast this August while working remotely 8 hrs a day from various Starbucks. This was a last minute, leave on 15 minutes notice, 28hr 1976km mission to get Charles Mound in on a rare weekend opening when I was anywhere in the region. I fully intended upon obeying the private land owner instructions to not visit at dark. I waited until literally the last possible minute (4:20am) to begin the walk in the 1.25 miles and then depart for a 10h 6m drive across a border (Canada) to catch a flight (spoiler: which I did with <15 min to spare). I walked with a headlamp and stayed to the path and tried to be as quiet as possible. Morning light was appearing as I reached my car. Thanks for the opportunity. ______________ A sick daughter returning from Mexico changed the schedule and caused me to depart on a moment's notice from Thunder Bay for a brief Timm's Hill (Wisconsin) and Charles Mound (Illinois) quick 28 hr blitz. I considered adding Akron (Michigan) but there simply weren't enough hours never mind any sleep. Departed Thunder Bay 11am EST and arrived at Timm's Hill at around 6pm CST. Then off to Charles Mound on the ..." — alexjoseph • Aug 3, 2019

"State highpoint #23 for me! It was exciting to be with Kevin and Amber as they crossed this one off as #47 for them! This is the one with access issues as the private landowners only allow highpointers to visit on select weekends each year - which was part of what inspired this trip in the first place! We walked up the road as requested. A muggy day, but a good day, and the chairs at the summit were cute. :) Yes - this was an "open" weekend where people could visit - and *so* many people had visited based on the summit register entry! " — psychikingjes • Jul 7, 2019

"Thanks to the good relations of the Highpointers Club working with owners and managers of state highpoints, the owners of Charles Mound agreed to allow an unprecedented winter access over Presidents Day Weekend this year on February 13th and 14th. I've wanted to add this summit to my winter climbs of the state highpoints for quite a few years and was able to do it yesterday after driving from New Hampshire. Although I've been to Charles Mound several times since the early 90's, it was only in summer months. It's a little over a mile from the gate at the road to the summit. The road generally follows a tree line and winds around a field near a barn and where an old homestead used to be. Years ago we could park there and walk the sort distance to the summit. When the new owners took over the property they built their home just yards from the actual summit, not realizing people wanted to visit the highpoint all hours of the day so they had to restrict access to a few weekend days during the summer months. It's worked out pretty well for everyone but adding the winter dates will help with those that don't want to use valuable vacation time in the summer. It was 7 degrees on the summit ..." — StoneMan • Feb 13, 2016

"Parked at N42 29.353' W90 14.280'. The property owners had thoughtfully provided a sign at the gate, informing highpointers to park and walk. NOTE: Access is limited to first weekend of June, July, August, and September. The climb up on a gravel road was gradual with the first third of a mile in the shade. Beautiful corn and soy fields with about 75 degree temperature. About halfway we reached a gate with many cows who were still friendly, not having been jaded by the many highpointers that pass their way. Finally we reached high point #9 and enjoyed the view out to Wisconsin and Iowa. Even though this was not challenging, it was quite beautiful and peaceful." — wbrouhaha • Sep 5, 2009

"27th Highpoint(day6) of 30 in 7 days - Arrived around 7 PM just in time. Had to plan the entire trip around arriving here on Saturday before dark on the first weekend of a summer month... Nice to know that after 27 highpoints and 6 days we were pretty much right on in scheduling." — ClimbingRandy • Aug 1, 2009

"with Kate Eifler. date approximate. we are at a Eifler golf reunion near Galena, Illinois. I am convinced to go golfing. required to have a motorized cart... wonder why I find gold ridiculous. we do the short walk on a nice sunny day toward the home. views to the north most likely see into Wisconsin. " — rhudedog • Jul 14, 1996

"At midnight on July 1, 1991, 5 climbers, Pete Allard, Jim Grace, Shaun Lacher, David Sandway and myself, Dennis Stewart, took their first step off the summit of Mount Rainier and began a climbing marathon to reach the highest point in each of the 48 contiguous states in one calendar month. During the month of July in 1991, the team hiked over 250 miles, climbed over 14 vertical miles and drove over 14,000 miles. Their total time (summit to summit) was 30 days, 10 hours and 52 minutes. All 5 members of the climbing team reached every summit during the month long expedition. Charles Mound was the 33rd peak climbed on this record breaking trip, which got the team recognition in Guinness Book of Records." — Stewy • Jul 16, 1991