Hi, my name is Diane, and I'm a Highpointer.

Is there a 14 step program for that too?

I am still trying to find one for my gear addiction.

I admit it. I'm a highpointer too. I've been trying to hit 4-6 state HPs per year, but it's not easy to manage with a busy schedule and other non-HP trips. I'm also looking to climb some of the 7-summits. Those require quite a bit of vacation time.

One thing my wife and I noticed while driving to State Highpoints was how close many of the highpoints were to State lines. We started calling these "Cheater Highpoints." Quite often these highpoints were significantly lower than the highpoint of the closest neighboring state. If the state line was moved just a few miles or less they would not be highpoints. Here is a list of the 19 Cheater Highpoints:

Cheater HP...........State.....Elevation......Neighbor....Elevation........Difference

Mt. Sunflower..............KS.........4039.............CO...........14433...........-10394
Black Mesa.................OK.........4973.............CO...........14433.............-9460
Panorama Point...........NE.........5424.............CO...........14433.............-9009
Guadalupe Peak..........TX.........8749.............NM............13161.............-4412
High Point...................NJ..........1803.............NY.............5344..............-3541
Sassafras Mtn.............SC.........3560.............NC.............6684..............-3124
Ebright Azimuth...........DE...........448.............PA.............3213..............-2765
Britton Hill...................FL...........345..............AL.............2407..............-2062
Woodall Mtn................MS..........806..............AL.............2407..............-1601
Black Mtn....................KY.........4145.............VA.............5729..............-1584
Jerimoth Hill.................RI...........812.............CT.............2380..............-1568
Backbone Mtn..............MD.........3360............WV.............4863..............-1503
Boundary Peak............NV........13143............CA............14494..............-1351
Mt. Frissell...................CT..........2380.............MA.............3491..............-1111
Charles Mound..............IL..........1235.............WI.............1951................-716
Hawkeye Point..............IA..........1670.............MN.............2301................-631
Hoosier High Pt.............IN..........1257.............OH.............1550................-293
Mount Davis.................PA..........3213.............MD.............3360................-147
Clingmans Dome..........TN..........6643.............NC..............6684.................-41

There is your list of useless information for the day!

Edited to add Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee and Delaware. There are 19 cheaters! (More than I thought.)

The state highpoint for CT must be the oddest of all the state HPs. It is located on the shoulder of Mt Frissell. The summitt is actually located in Massachussets. You'd think they would move the state line a few feet so that the state HP could be located on the actual summit, rather than half way up the ridge.

Holsti97 wrote:One thing my wife and I noticed while driving to State Highpoints was how close many of the highpoints were to State lines. We started calling these "Cheater Highpoints." Quite often these highpoints were significantly lower than the highpoint of the closest neighboring state. If the state line was moved just a few miles or less they would not be highpoints. Here is a list of the 16 Cheater Highpoints:

Cheater HP...........State.....Elevation......Neighbor....Elevation........Difference

Mt. Sunflower..............KS.........4039.............CO...........14433...........-10394
Black Mesa.................OK.........4973.............CO...........14433.............-9460
Panorama Point...........NE.........5424.............CO...........14433.............-9009
Guadalupe Peak..........TX.........8749.............NM............13161.............-4412
High Point...................NJ..........1803.............NY.............5344..............-3541
Sassafras Mtn.............SC.........3560.............NC.............6684..............-3124
Britton Hill...................FL...........345..............AL.............2407..............-2062
Black Mtn....................KY.........4145.............VA.............5729..............-1584
Jerimoth Hill.................RI...........812.............CT.............2380..............-1568
Backbone Mtn..............MD.........3360............WV.............4863..............-1503
Boundary Peak............NV........13143............CA............14494..............-1351
Mt. Frissell...................CT..........2380.............MA.............3491..............-1111
Charles Mound..............IL..........1235.............WI.............1951................-716
Hawkeye Point..............IA..........1670.............MN.............2301................-631
Hoosier High Pt.............IN..........1257.............OH.............1550................-293
Mount Davis.................PA..........3213.............MD.............3360................-147

There is your list of useless information for the day!

Edited to add Maryland. There are 16 cheaters!

Im not sure that Hawkeye Point and Eagle Mountain can be considered on this chart. I mean, they are on the other side of the planet from each other. Eagle mountain is on the top of MN and Hawkeye Point is on the North West corner of Iowa. They are close to 400 Air miles from each other. Is it on this chart just because its close to the MN border?

I love High Points!

Here's a decent site. I like some of their features:

http://www.americasroof.com/


Can't say enough thanks for the private land owners of the High Points in IL and IA. Very cool to let people park and walk on their land. Never met them, but did talk to them on the phone. We call the IA folks said "come by anytime." "Well, we might be there at 6am Sunday morning..." "Okay, that's fine." Very cool.


Jake

Mad Max:

Distance to the other State HP has nothing to do with my Cheater HP list. It's all about the location of the border. Like I said....it's interesting (to me), but totally useless.

It has been suggested to me that I should add Delaware and Mississippi to this list as well. I'm not sure how close the state border is to these. What do you think? Should I have a limit on miles from the border for the list? Less than 10 miles? Less than 5 miles?

More useless trivia (stuff HPers love.)

Ebright Azimuth is virtually on the border with Pennsylvania and Woodall "Mountain" is within 10 miles as the crow flies of Alabama. Interesting list!

Bump for county highpointing! (www.cohp.org)

State highpointing has been fun so far...but they've mostly been highpoints of opportunity.
For the record, the highpoints of Ohio and Indiana were better experiences more from a perspective of seeing places I've never been to (and will likely never go to again) than from any kind of mountain climbing thing.

Mt. Hood
Ohio HP
Indiana HP
Kings Peak

Been up a few on the west coast, Started with RAinier (WA) in the 1980's, then Hood (OR), then Whitney (CA), then Denali. Went on vacation to Hawaii and went up Mauna Loa (strangely barren when you usually think of how lush Hawaii usually is), then bagged Boundry Pk (NV) as a day hike. Was going to do Mt. Humphreys (AZ) this past spring until the forest around it was closed due to fire danger. Might try it again (along with NM's Wheeler) next spring, maybe throw in King Peak (UT), too.

If I ever get around to the rest, it will be hikes/climbs of opportunity, not planning

Boundry Peak: A 'cheaters' peak if I ever there was one!. Its only about 200 yds from the California border. In fact, its commonly climber (hiked) from the California side.

Alpinist wrote:The state highpoint for CT must be the oddest of all the state HPs. It is located on the shoulder of Mt Frissell. The summitt is actually located in Massachussets. You'd think they would move the state line a few feet so that the state HP could be located on the actual summit, rather than half way up the ridge.

I don't agree, Boundry Peak, NV; is next to another peak that is actually higher. But the border between CA/NV goes through the saddle of the two peaks. The taller peak is actually in CA, but is higher than Boundry in NV...If the line was moved a few hundred feet, same story as CT/MA

phydeux wrote:Boundry Peak: A 'cheaters' peak if I ever there was one!. Its only about 200 yds from the California border. In fact, its commonly climber (hiked) from the California side.

Well, about 500 yds from the CA border... hence the name "Boundary". The top of Boundary is only about 280' above the col, so by many definitions, it wouldn't qualify as a separate peak. Montgomery in CA (on the same ridge) is a much more interesting climb.

The climb of Boundary from the CA side is really quite hard, so I guess I'm puzzled where the "cheating" comes in.

NV's other 13er, Wheeler Peak, is on the very opposite side of the state, near Utah (which is flat and low in that area).

GEM Trail wrote:Winglady- I have your book- it is our guide for all our highpoint climbs! It is a great guidebook. Especially appreciated are the nonclimbing points of interest near each highpoint. My only quibble is that I wish you listed a climb for each mountain. Maybe highpointers count driving up the mountain as a climb, but a lot of people, including me, don't! I wonder Diane if you have any plans of completing your list and climbing Denali?

Thanks! You're right -- we describe drive-ups when they are possible rather than hikes. The theme of our book, based on lots of discussion with our editor, was to describe the "easiest" path to each highpoint. We don't try to claim that means someone has "climbed" to the highpoint; simply that they have visited it. Naturally, we don't mean for our book to limit the goals or imagination of those who want more of a challenge. On the other hand, how does one "climb" Mt. Sunflower in Kansas (hike across the plains?) or Ebright Azimuth in Delaware (climb out of the gutter onto the sidewalk)?

As for Denali, I encountered a handfull of fellow-highpointers at the last annual Convention who had also completed 49, but had no desire to climb Denali. We've been talking about forming the "49ers Club". Our motto: "Just say No to Denali".

(Let the wimp comments begin. That's OK -- I've already heard them all!)

---------------
D. Winger

Highpoint Adventures

WingLady wrote:As for Denali, I encountered a handfull of fellow-highpointers at the last annual Convention who had also completed 49, but had no desire to climb Denali. We've been talking about forming the "49ers Club". Our motto: "Just say No to Denali".

(Let the wimp comments begin. That's OK -- I've already heard them all!)

---------------
D. Winger

Highpoint Adventures

Sounds like Denali denial.