Traveling by car, foot, and plane to the highest places
Taum Sauk Mountain, Missouri, lies at 1,772 feet MSL and is ranked #41 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 22nd highpoint of 2004, and my 25th US Highpoint overall. Taum Sauk is a easy stroll along a paved trail in the woods and is located in Taum Sauk Mountain State Park in … Read more
Tahoma (Mount Rainier), Washington, lies at 14,411 feet MSL and is ranked #4 in elevation among US Highpoints after Alaska, California, and Colorado. This was my second attempt on Tahoma and I led my friend and amateur mountaineer “Derp” to the top. We spent a day practicing self-rescue and reasoned, quite foolishly, that there were … Read more
Borah Peak, Idaho, lies at 12,662 feet MSL and is ranked #11 in elevation among US Highpoints. This was my second attempt on the mountain after being thwarted without crampons or snow protection earlier this year in May. This is the only US Highpoint I’ve climbed with my brothers, and Mikey and I had a … Read more
Black Mesa, Oklahoma, lies at 4,975 feet MSL and is ranked #23 in elevation among US Highpoints. Black Mesa is one of the highpoints along with CT, MD, AND NV whose feature continues higher in the adjacent state. In this, Black Mesa rises higher into neighboring Colorado. One of my favorite places on this drive from … Read more
Timms Hill, Wisconsin, lies at 1,951 feet MSL and is ranked #39 in elevation among US Highpoints. This was my first business trip that resulted in a US Highpoint. I was working in Denver at a job that sent me to GE headquarters in Waukesha for a week of training. The hotel I was staying … Read more
Britton Hill, Florida, lies at 345 feet MSL and is ranked #50 in elevation among US Highpoints. This was the fourth US Highpoint I reached as part of a work trip after WI, TX, and HI. My job at Columbia Memorial in Astoria, Oregon sent me to Mobile, Alabama to train at CPSI for the … Read more
Mount Sunflower, Kansas, lies at 4,039 feet MSL and is ranked #28 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 25th and last highpoint of 2004. In hindsight it was pretty amazing to do half of the states in a single year, and its bonkers to me that this was over 20 years ago … Read more
Panorama Point, Nebraska, lies at 5,424 feet MSL and is ranked #20 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 23rd highpoint of 2004. Most folks don’t realize that the Great Plains slope up to the mountains, which is how bone-flat Nebraska can be over a mile high near its border with Colorado. One … Read more
Cheaha Mountain, Alabama lies at 2,407 feet MSL and is ranked #35 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 20th highpoint of 2004. Cheaha is unique as it has a campground and restaurant near the summit. The stone summit house is gorgeous. I remember this highpoint because I met a fellow camper that … Read more
Brasstown Bald, Georgia lies at 4,784 feet MSL and is ranked #25 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 19th highpoint of 2004. Brasstown Bald is the southern end of the Appalachin Trail and contains a visitor’s center at the top replete with lookout tower. I would find out later that there’s a … Read more
Kuwohi, previously named Clingman’s Dome, Tennessee lies at 6,643 feet MSL and is ranked #17 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 18th highpoint of 2004. At the time of my visit, the road to the summit was closed at Newfound Gap in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so I first decided to … Read more
Sassafras Mountain, South Carolina lies at 3,533 feet MSL and is ranked #29 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 17th highpoint of 2004. Sassafras was my third highpoint of the day and another drive-up. Located on the border with North Carolina, the summit is the highest point on the ridge and now … Read more
Mount Mitchell, North Carolina lies at 6,684 feet MSL and is ranked #16 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 16th highpoint of 2004. Mitchell has the distinction of being the highest peak *in the conterminous US* east of the Rockies. At the time of my visit there was a summit lookout tower … Read more
Black Mountain, Kentucky lies at 4,145 feet MSL and is ranked #27 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 15th highpoint of 2004. At the time of my visit, folks were supposed to have filed a liability waiver with the mining company that owns the land. However, my plan was to simply “poach” … Read more
Mount Rogers, Virginia lies at 5,729 feet MSL and is ranked #19 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 14th highpoint of 2004. Not a walk-up, Mount Rogers lies just off the Appalachin Trail (The “AT”) and requires a few miles of hiking to access. I parked at a nearby trailhead after spending … Read more
Spruce Knob, West Virginia lies at 4,863 feet MSL and is ranked #24 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 13th highpoint of 2004. This was a memorable trip because I got to drive unplowed snowy roads for miles and miles before I got to the parking lot where I slept in my … Read more
Hoye Crest on Backbone Mountain, Maryland lies at 3,360 feet MSL and is ranked #32 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 12th highpoint of 2004, and the third of the day after Ebright Azimuth DE and Mount Davis PA. This was the start of an epic week of highpointing my way down … Read more
Woodall Mountain, Mississippi, lies at 806 feet MSL and is ranked #47 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 21st highpoint of 2004. Woodall is a drive-up and since I was packing my mountaineering gear, I decided to make a bid on the north face. It was tough but I made it! From … Read more
Mount Davis, Pennsylvania lies at 3,213 feet MSL and is ranked #33 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 11th highpoint of 2004. Mount Davis despite being over 3k feet is also a drive-up to a lookout tower deep in Amish country. Davis would be my second high point of the day after … Read more
Ebright Azimuth, Delaware (Hey Joe!) lies at 448 feet MSL and is ranked #49 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 10th highpoint of 2004. Although in Delaware, Ebright is really in SW Philly. I spent a few days in upstate in Little Meadows, Pennsylvania where we lived on a century farm in … Read more