Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises?

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden

For me highpointing is a form of hiking, and hence driving to a highpoint is pointless. Hence I have absolutely no interest in the vast majority of the state highpoints, which are either a drive-up or a short walk from the parking lot.

Since I have no interest in reaching most of the highpoints you might argue that, even though I am a card-carrying member of the Highpointers Club, I am not a highpointer. I suppose that I must agree; highpointers desire (whatever their ability) to reach all of the highpoints. So let us say that I am a hiker who enjoys adding highpoints to diversify his hiking diet.

My Current Approach

It is very possible that my attitudes will evolve over time, so let me note that this is written in June 2003.

I view myself primarily as a hiker, with a very secondary interest in various lists. Please note that a secondary interest, even a very secondary one, does not mean no interest! I believe that lists add some spice to the mix, and certainly enjoy updating a spreadsheet (or county highpoint map) after a trip. But unless the hike itself was worthwhile I will not consider the trip to have been a success.

My initial approach was to develop a criterion, or set of criteria, for a "worthwhile highpoint". Clearly it had to be a "real hike", with a "reasonable elevation gain". The easiest 4,000 footers in New England require about 2,000 feet of elevation gain, so I decided to go with a minimum of "about 1,500 feet". At one point I had started making a list of those state highpoints which qualified by this definition.

On further thought that criterion seemed too mechanical for my current mood, which is not very tolerant of lists of things I have to do (including peakbagging lists). Now that I am retired I enjoy hiking away from my home base, and highpointing is as good a way as any for choosing between possible destinations.

At about this time I discovered county highpointing. Since the two activities have very different costs, they need different approaches.

State Highpointing

The highpoints of New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont are all major (by our eastern standards) peaks that I had climbed as part of my peakbagging. They were obviously worthwhile peaks!

I consider all of New England, plus the mountains of New York State, to be within "local driving distance", reasonably easy to access with the possible need to stay overnight. Of the remaining highpoints in this region New York obviously qualifies (I hiked Mount Marcy in August 2004).

Connecticut and Massachusetts seemed borderline at first glance. I had little respect for Mount Greylock, below the minimal 3,500 foot mark, and much less for Mount Frissell. What prompted me to do them was the combination of an AMC trip led by friends, and the possibility of expanding it to add four county highpoints. Looking more carefully at the maps it was clear that Mount Greylock could be a good hike if done as a traverse by the AT, and that an excellent circuit could be made over Mounts Frissell, Alander and Brace. Together they added up to a wonderful four day trip to the Berkshires.

At first it seemed to me that Rhode Island could not provide an interesting hike. Parking on the highway a few miles from the "trailhead" does not qualify, in my mind, as an interesting hike! In October 2003, however, John Satterlee posted a note on LEGAL Hiking Extensions to Jerimoth, suggesting an interesting hike of about four miles each way on Rhode Island's North/South Trail.

Beyond New York all highpoints will involve trips out of the region (by plane). I have no interest in doing such trips for a single peak, they must be part of a worthwhile hiking vacation (one or two weeks). Here are some trips that appeal to me (note that I have already done both Colorado and California, though I expect to return to both states).

The Southern Appalachians

This is something I really want to do. In northern New England spring is Mud Season, a period when hiking is both unpleasant and damaging to trails. Going south would allow me to hike at higher elevations without snow much earlier in the season. I am planning a trip for the spring of 2004 (now postponed o the 2006 Konvention), probably staying in or near Asheville, NC, and hiking the highpoints of the four adjacent states, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia, as well as some other 6,000 footers in the area. I may also do the highpoints of Virginia and West Virginia, or leave them for another year.

Western Highpoints

I have no mountaineering skills, so Oregon, Washington, Montana and Wyoming are beyond my ability, and so, I suspect, is Idaho, given my fear of exposure. That leaves Utah, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona as highpoints that I am able to climb.

I plan to return to Mount Whitney (no concrete dates yet), doing a weeklong backpack along the John Muir Trail, and hope to climb Boundary Peak (Nevada) as an acclimatization hike.

I very much hope to return to Colorado in 2004 (for the fourth time), and plan on including a trip to the Sangre de Cristo range. From there it is a short side trip to Wheeler Peak, in the New Mexico part of that range.

At present I have no concrete plans for Utah or Arizona, but intend to start reading about hiking in those states.

Other Regions

Friends have spent some time in South Dakota and told me they enjoyed that trip very much, it is possible that I will at some time go there.

Texas also has a highpoint that is certainly worth climbing, and it is therefore on the list of possible destinations.

County Highpoints

The cost of these is very much less (I only plan on doing county highpoints that I can drive to, either from home or from a vacation destination chosen for some other reason). Hence the criteria for a "worthwhile highpoint" are much more relaxed.

Still, it has to be a hike, and should last at least an hour, preferably quite a bit more. I am very happy to extend the hike beyond the highpoint, so if it is close to the road but part of a network of trails I will happily do it. For two examples of how I made short ascents more interesting see my notes on Holt Hill in Massachusetts and on Pack Monadnock in New Hampshire.

Vermont is the one New England state that has some county highpoints I have not climbed that are real mountains (at least by New England standards), I obviously hope to do those. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire there are several hills that barely qualify as "worthwhile", but they do qualify, either because they are close by or because the hike can be extended. I have not looked at the map of Maine very carefully, but right now it seems that Cadillac Mountain, in Acadia, is the only one I will do.

Just beyond the borders of New England I am planning to add a few highpoints in the Catskills, another area that I had previously ignored.

When traveling far from home the quality of the hikes will play a much greater role. But I have no doubt that when selecting which Fourteeners to climb in Colorado I will have the list of county highpoints handy. It will, of course, be only one factor in deciding what to climb, but it will play a role.

What do I Get Out of Highpointing?

Why do I attempt to call myself a highpointer? Because, even with the limits I impose on highpointing, they have added a lot of pleasure to my hiking.

I initially wrote this about a week after returning from a four day highpointing trip to the Berkshires. During that trip I explored both ends of the Taconic Range, the northern end of the Hoosac Range, and did a traverse of Mount Greylock between the two ranges. Four days spent hiking in a part of New England I had never hiked in before!

The Adirondacks and Catskills are not really very far from where I live, I have never explored them. Now I have plans to visit both areas soon.

For years I had been complaining about Mud Season here, until I became interested in highpointing I had never thought of going south in the early spring.

So, stepping to the beat of a distant drummer, I intend to "keep klimbin" up those highpoints that appeal to me.


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