Category: High Points

Mount WashingtonNew HampshireSeptember  1986 / August  2013 On the way to our summit hike of the Granite State, we stop at the Mount Washington Observatory Museum in North Conway, New Hampshire.  They tell us that this is the largest museum in the world devoted exclusively to the weather. Think about that.  Weather is pretty big. … Continue reading Mount Washington Blows Me Away

Mount WashingtonNew HampshireAugust  2013 What’s that, up there in the clouds…?  N’wait, it disappeared.  Oh, there it is again.  Hey, it’s a building.  It’s the hut.  Y’know what?  Let’s take a break, get out of this wind for a bit.  Figure this out. The Appalachian Mountain Club was founded in 1876.  Their mission was and… Continue reading Up Mount Washington

BayardWest VirginiaJune  2011 & May  2014 Ordinarily, on the way to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia, we would drive right past the “Smallest Church in the Lower 48″ and the Maryland high point trailhead.  This is the route we took three years ago on our first summit trip to West Virginia.  Today… Continue reading The Railroad Stop

Brasstown BaldGeorgiaNovember  2012 Brasstown Bald.  In any event, it’s difficult these days to identify the highest point in Georgia as a bald because there is this large excrescence of a building right on top of it. After we hike past the information sign and a pleasant little grassy area (not bald) set up with a… Continue reading Mr Woody

Clingmans DomeTennesseeMay  2013 Foggy day for this summit hike, unfortunately obscuring our view of the mountains.  Instead, I look down.  I look for dog hobble.  Growing close to the ground, it shouldn’t be obscured by the fog. I remember dog hobble from another hike in the Smokies.  Dog hobble is a fast-growing evergreen shrub with… Continue reading Dog Hobble

Mount MagazineArkansasJune  2012 Fortunately, you don’t need to join a club to visit the highest point in Arkansas.  However, if you stay at the Lodge at Mount Magazine, as we do after our summit hike, and choose to imbibe an adult beverage here in this dry county, you must first apply to become a member… Continue reading Frog Leg

Humphreys PeakArizonaJune  2013 Over the past month, as Lisa and I drive home from various hikes, she is twice stopped by the police for speeding.  Both times she is ticketed.  By my standards Lisa is a safe driver, but she just doesn’t seem to be able to slog along slow enough not to attract the… Continue reading Cops on Top

Humphreys PeakArizonaJune  2013 Y’know, this Highpointing adventure of ours is full of conflict for me.  I fight my demons so that I can scale these sometimes soaring places.  I grapple with my altitude anxiety, my discomfort with travel including the terror I feel when on an airborne craft and a bunch of other personal obstacles… Continue reading Heroes

Cheaha MountainAlabamaNovember  2013 Hiking boots are an incredible invention.  The amount of pounding and impact that you put on your feet while hiking is hard to fathom.  What the heck, let’s try.  The average hiker, whatever that is, puts about eight psi, or pounds per square inch of pressure on the boots with every step.… Continue reading Boots I — Hiking Boots

Mount GreylockMassachusettsMay  2014 We think we are very close to the summit of Mount Greylock.  We think we are close because we’ve been climbing for half the day, but we don’t know how close because it’s so foggy that we can’t see a damned thing.  There is a big tower out there, they tell us,… Continue reading Oh Sam Peabody