My 50 State Highpoint Journey

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, just 90 minutes from the mountains and 2 hours from the ocean. Throughout my childhood, my family spent nearly every free weekend camping, cross-country skiing, or hiking. It’s no surprise that as an adult, my passion for the mountains continued—driving me to pursue goals like reaching the highest point in all 50 states.

My parents on Mt. St Helens (before the top blew off) in 1958

Oddly enough, the real climbing didn’t start until I moved across the country to Illinois. I was invited by my youngest sister to go with her and her husband to climb Kilimanjaro. From there it was sort of a “If you can do Kili, then you should try …” situation.

Mt. Kilimanjaro at 19,341 ft with my brother-in-law and youngest sister

After returning from Kilimanjaro, I took a 6-day Glacier mountaineering course on the Kahiltna Glacier in Alaska. Then, I decided to tackle Mt. Rainier, my first US highpoint at 14,411 ft.

My First US State Highpoint – Mt. Rainier in Washington State at 14,411 ft

In 1962, my dad was a member of the Century 21 Mt. McKinley Expedition, which successfully sent two climbers to the summit. In 1971, he was the leader of the Pioneer Traverse Expedition, the first expedition to complete a new route that included a traverse of the north and south summits of Denali via Pioneer Ridge.

Years later in 2007, my husband and I met while training for Denali – I guess that is a lot of motivation to see the summit! Denali was my second US highpoint.

Highest US State Highpoint – Alaska’s Denali (formerly Mt. McKinley) at 20,320 ft

I then heard that one of my Denali teammates had completed all 50 state highpoints. I had no idea that “State Highpointer” was such a thing – but as it turns out, it’s a big deal! There are also county highpoints, state lowpoints and everything in between!

My husband said, “Well, you’ve got the two hardest completed. Why don’t you try for them all?” Moving to Utah made it easier to travel to highpoints of the Western states, and my husband was a willing participant – he completed 26 of the 50. I am a goal-oriented person, so it was fun to slowly cross each summit off my list.

Coming down from the summit of Gannett Peak, WY at 13,804 ft – probably the second hardest state highpoint due to the 50-mile roundtrip approach

Several epic road trips (Utah to Florida, Utah to Michigan, and Utah to Texas) added to the tally. I was also really lucky to be employed in a job (Quality and Food Safety Systems Auditor) where my company unwittingly sent me to all corners of the US on travel.

Because of this, I was able to get to almost ½ of the US highpoints (mostly East Coast) with ease and at minimal cost. The last long road trip I took was in 2017 with my dad – we flew to PA to get the PA, MD, DE and WV highpoints.

Florida’s Britton Hill – a short walk from the parking lot, this is the state with the lowest “Highpoint” at 345 ft above sea level

In 2017, I climbed my 50th state highpoint and accomplished the goal I had set out to achieve. It took a total of 12 years to finish this quest, and there were no records for fastest, slowest, oldest, youngest or otherwise. A couple of failed summits and do-overs (Humphrey’s in AZ and Gannett in WY) due to weather and/or sickness added to the timeline.

It takes time and money to attain this goal! Some of the summits were simple drives to a parking lot and then a couple of hundred feet walk to a sign or marker while others were multi-day or week full-on expeditions (Denali was 21 days). The majority were somewhere in-between.

Mauna Kea in HI was the last of my state highpoints, and we actually ended up on the summit three times during the trip: once to look at the telescopes/observatories, once for a sunset/stargazing tour, and lastly for the actual 12-mile roundtrip hike from the visitor’s center. I didn’t want my last highpoint to be a drive up, like in Florida!

Last US State Highpoint – Mauna Kea in Hawaii at 13,803 ft

In the Highpointer’s Club record book, I am #27 female to complete the 50 States Highpoint and the #290 combined male/female.

It was truly a great way to see the US and experience a lot of surprises along the way, from the wild ponies on Virginia’s Mt. Rogers, to beautiful blooming cactus on Guadalupe Peak in TX in the spring, to discovering how pleasant the Deep South is in the fall and discovering that all my new rain gear was neither waterproof, nor water repellent nor water resistant in a downpour on Maine’s Mt. Katahdin.

Resources for Completing the 50 State Highpoints

You have to train hard, plan well, and expect the unexpected … all in all a great experience! If you are at all interested in more state highpoint information, there is actually a lot available online:

• Highpointer’s Club
• Highpointer’s Club Facebook Page

There are also annual conventions, additional Facebook pages and websites as well as written books and maps. Also, feel free to contact me here if you have questions. I’d be glad to help!

 

Looking for other adventure ideas? Check out these blogs:

• Hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc
• Backpacking the Alice-Toxaway Trail

Alison Schenk

Wine Hiker & Highpointer