I'm a highpointer, though I haven't been able to tackle many new state highpoints recently.

It started when I was about 12, sitting in my dad's car one rainy April day, and when the idea suddenly popped into my head: hey, I bet climbing to Connecticut's highest point would be neat! From there, my dad and I completed most of the eastern seaboard and a few Midwestern states, bringing our total to 21 after climbing Charles Mound in late 2001.

It was nearly six years before I climbed another. I still kept (and keep) active with hiking and peakbagging, and am an occasional county highpointer, but until recently I just didn't have the means or the money to travel to even the closest unclimbed state highpoints. That changed when my mother moved to Arizona 1 1/2 years ago, and I proceeded to climb Humphreys Peak with her (she made it to the saddle) the first summer I was there.

Nothing planned for the immediate future, but being out West opens up a whole world of amazing hiking and highpointing, so I'm sure more will come in the future. Vague plans for a multi-state Western highpoint tour two years from now are floating around in my head at this very moment...

Puma concolor wrote:Way to go, Patrick B. At the rate you're going, you'll have them all done by the time you graduate from High School.

And sorry, TLP, but I've got the edge back on you now - no tiebreakers needed. Added Borah on Friday and Kings yesterday to push my total to 43. Two absolutely awesome peaks by the way!!!

Way to go man. I'll have to wait until next year to take the lead from you again.

Puma concolor wrote:Hey Kathy -

It took me two days and change. I was back to camp by about 3:30 yesterday which gave me time to pack out if I had wanted. But I was kinda diggin' it back there so I stayed the extra night and headed out this morning.

I had toyed with the idea of day-hiking it but am glad I didn't try. I can't cover that kind of mileage in a day at altitude and an attempt would have had me kind of high up during the late afternoon. Not real comfortable with that.

Congrats on Borah by the way. I saw your name in the summit log.

Thanks, I think I'll go ahead and plan Kings as an overnighter for next year. It's nice to hear that you not only summited, but also enjoyed the climb and the area.

I'm making the 14-hour drive to Gannett in an hour...it will be my 16th highpoint (OR, WA, ID, ME, NH, VT, MA, NY, PA, NJ, MD, WV, DE, CT, RI). We're going down to knock of CA and NV later in the summer. All the Northeast states were done over four days last October (took about 48 hours of driving in those four days).

Gannett and Granite look well worth the trip

Gannett or Granite along with Kings are on the list for me for the summer of 2009.

I am a State Highpointer, as well...

I have currently reached 24 HPs, in just over one year's time. If all goes well this weekend, I should be able to reach both the #25 & #30 milestones, on another of my "weekend loop" road trips. Living in the Northwest (Washington State), it requires a little extra planning to travel cross-country and reach multiple highpoints during these short trips.

I have met a lot of interesting people, experienced a lot of great things, and have a lot of good stories from my highpointing trips, thus far. I can't wait to see what happens during the second-half of my State Highpointing journey.

Summitpost provides a great resource for highpointers to obtain information. Some things have proven to occasionally need updates, which SPers welcome additions and corrections, but for the most part the website has been a great tool.

I started state highpointing with my daughter in 1985. Together we hit between 35 and 40, including TX with Jack Longacres group in their 1990 club Highpointers climb. I'm now at 45, missing AK, NB, IA, MN, and VA.

I'm heading to the NE in early September, and I have a small question re: Jerimoth Hill in Rhode Island. Is it open every day, from 8-4? The main page on summitpost reads a little funny, and I can't quite tell for sure that it's open every day now. Is this the case? We're hoping to hit that, Mt Washington, Mt Mansfield, Greylock, and the CT and PA highpoints on our trip.

Also, has anyone hung out in Stowe, VT? Any ideas on other things to do there, like the Ben&Jerry's HQ, etc?

maddie77777 wrote:I'm heading to the NE in early September, and I have a small question re: Jerimoth Hill in Rhode Island. Is it open every day, from 8-4? The main page on summitpost reads a little funny, and I can't quite tell for sure that it's open every day now. Is this the case? We're hoping to hit that, Mt Washington, Mt Mansfield, Greylock, and the CT and PA highpoints on our trip.

Also, has anyone hung out in Stowe, VT? Any ideas on other things to do there, like the Ben&Jerry's HQ, etc?

You'll never run out of things to do there. They have great hiking along the notch by Mt Mansfield and you can take the gondola up Stowe (although I have not tried it yet). Also, we saw a ski museum up there to. It's a great town with a bunch of shops. Also, sometihng really close is the Cabbot Cheese place.

maddie77777 wrote:I'm heading to the NE in early September, and I have a small question re: Jerimoth Hill in Rhode Island. Is it open every day, from 8-4? The main page on summitpost reads a little funny, and I can't quite tell for sure that it's open every day now. Is this the case? We're hoping to hit that, Mt Washington, Mt Mansfield, Greylock, and the CT and PA highpoints on our trip.

Yes. I was just there for the first time, this past weekend. The property owners (at least for now) allow highpointers to visit the Jerimoth Hill highpoint from 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, EVERY DAY. Just make certain to use the trail (it will be obvious, to the left of the driveway), so you will not disturb the property owners. We want to keep this highpoint open to the public as long as possible, hopefully forever, which should happen as long as highpointers obey the property owner's wishes for using the trail and only coming during the specified hours.

In regards to my trip this past weekend, which I have named my "Mid-Atlantic Loop Trip", I reached seven State Highpoints (WV, MD, PA, CT, RI, NJ, DE) in less than two days' time, and then added a "bonus" highpoint in Washington, D.C. (Point Reno).

I haven't been seeking the State Highpoints as long as some of you (such as "Alpinist", "Puma concolor", "hgrapid", "Holsti97", etc.), but I must have had determination on my side. Thus far, I have reached 31 State Highpoints (plus Washington D.C.) in only 1 year 2 months. I'm shocked to discover that I have already caught up to "hgrapid"!!! Perhaps it's time for me to slow down my efforts???

I keep intending to post some trip reports from the State Highpointing weekend "loop" trips I have taken, because there have been some great stories.

Congrats on your recent string of HP's!

I really haven't been highpointing that long. I didn't even know what highpointing was until after I'd already climbed a bunch of the western state highpoints. I discovered highpointing about 4 years ago and then started to visit some of the lower elevation HP's. My goal is to hit 4-6 HPs per year now. It'll never happen if you don't set a goal and stick to it...!

I just started highpointing in February, and so far, I've got 8 down, and I'll knock out another 5-6 with my trip to the NE in September. It's one thing to get the eastern ones, where you can hop out of the car and hike for an hour or two (or more), and then you're done, but these western ones are probably going to be one a year for me once I get going on those.

I need to attend the IMCS mountaineering school in NH to learn the basic mountaineering skills I need before I'll feel comfortable on some of the bigger mountains (as well as work on my skinny weak bird-legs).

And you should definitely do a TR on your "Loop" trip!

IMCS is a great spot with experienced people, they will get you up to speed in no time. I used them to learn rock and ice they have been great.