At long last, the slacker's guide to highpointing has arrived. In keeping with tradition, I have attempted to create a bare-bones website that soon will contain the stories and sights from all the state summits I've reached so far.
What is highpointing? Simply put, it is the hobby in which you try to visit the highest point of each state. (Highpointing alternatives are the summits of each county in a state, each continent's highest point, every 14,000 ft peak in Colorado, every 8,000 meter peak in the world, etc.) It seems a little obsessive-compulsive, I suppose. It's one of those somewhat arbitrary lifetime achievement checklists. To be sure, there are elements of the ridiculous involved. Why take a five hour car trip to visit a street corner in a suburban Delaware neighborhood? I like to think of it as my way of seeing different parts of my country.
I'm not sure where I first heard about highpointing. The first time I thought I might give it a try was when my friend Mike Dehaye told me that he was becoming interested in mountain climbing. I mentioned this quirky hobby I had heard of. Mike thought it would be great fun, and I've tagged along.
The Successes
High points completed: 13
Tennessee -- October 27, 2001
Illinois -- August 2, 2003
Massachusetts -- August 23, 2004
West Virginia -- August 26, 2004
Georgia -- July 8, 2005
South Carolina -- July 8, 2005
North Carolina -- July 8, 2005
Virginia -- July 9, 2005
Mississippi -- August 31, 2005
The "Failures"
Wisconsin -- August 3, 2003
South Carolina -- August , 2003