For reasons not entirely clear to me, I enjoy visiting states' highest and lowest points. I had a
streak of 13 months in a row of visiting either a state's highest or lowest
point, each time with a different group of people and taking a different vehicle, but it's over now.
However, I plan to continue my efforts to visit highest and lowest points.
(updated 10/25/2009)
| State | Highest Point (rank in height, rank in difficulty) | Feet above sea level | Notes |
| Cheaha Mountain (35,46) | 2407 | March 8, 2009 | |
| Alaska | Mount McKinley (1,1) | 20,320 | Who knows? It's in Denali National Park |
| Arizona | Humphreys Peak (12,10) | 12,633 | I have driven through Flagstaff and seen Humphreys Peak towering over the city, and so I am eager to return to the area and climb it. |
| Magazine Mountain (34,28) | 2,753 | July 15, 2007, on the Graduation Celebration/Occupation Anticipation Vacation | |
| California | Mt. Whitney (2,8) | 14,494 | Access is limited by a Permit Lottery every year in February |
| Mt. Elbert (3,9) | 14,433 | Probably the hardest thing I've ever done. July 10, 2007, on the Graduation Celebration/Occupation Anticipation Vacation | |
| Connecticut | South slope of Mt. Frissell (36,20) (the peak of Mt. Frissell is in Massachusetts) | 2,380 | On a side trail of the Appalachian Trail |
| Ebright Azimuth (49,49) | 448 | Streak Trip 12: February 21, 2004 | |
| Britton Hill (50,50) | 345 | July 5, 2008 Logically, my trip to San Diego included a stop in the Florida panhandle. | |
| Brasstown Bald (25,26) | 4,784 | October 14, 2004 Unfortunately, the summit was shrouded in clouds and I could barely see the top of the observation tower from the visitors center at the bottom of the observation tower. I was also very disappointed that the visitors center anamatronic forest rangers were temporarily removed. You must ask them to open the door to see the USGS marker. Nearby Helen, Georgia, is a faux Bavarian town and as such looks kinda silly as evidenced by Das Huddlehaus. | |
| Hawai`i | Mauna Kea (6,30) | 13,796 | Anybody know an observatory worker? |
| Idaho | Borah Peak (10,6) | 12,662 | It's getting tougher. An earthquake in 1983 made it 7 feet taller. |
| Illinois | Charles Mound (45,32) | 1,235 | On private property, and the owners only allow visits during first weekend of the months in May through August |
| Hoosier Hill (44,40) | 1,257 | May 22, 2005, on the Ann Arbor-Nashville Meandering | |
| Hawkeye Point (42,41) | 1,670 | October 24, 2009 with the lowest point in South Dakota and the USS South Dakota in Sioux Falls. | |
| Mount Sunflower (28,44) | 4,039 | July 7, 2007, on the Graduation Celebration/Occupation Anticipation Vacation | |
| Kentucky | Black Mountain (27,42) | 4,145 | The coal company that owns it requires a potential visitor to mail in a liablity waiver prior to visiting. |
| Louisiana | Driskill Mountain (48,25) | 535 | The Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Site and the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum are just down the road. |
| Maine | Katahdin, a.k.a. Baxter Peak (22,15) | 5,267 | Its summit is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. |
| Backbone Mountain (32,22) | 3,360 | April 15, 2006, on the Good Highday Trip | |
| Massachusetts | Mt. Greylock (31,39) | 3,491 | On a side trail off the Appalachian Trail |
| Michigan | Mount Arvon (38,24) | 1,979 | It's in the Upper Peninsula, and in nearby Chassell is a giant bear trap statue. |
| Eagle Mountain (37,18) | 2,301 | October 18, 2009, with the lowest point and a bunch of cool waterfalls | |
| Woodall Mountain (47,48) | 806 | Streak Trip 6: August 23, 2003 | |
| Taum Sauk (41,33) | 1,772 | July 17, 2004 on the July 2004 High- and Lowpointing Extravaganza | |
| Montana | Granite Peak (10,3) | 12,799 | ? |
| Nebraska | Panorama Point (20,43) | 5,424 | It's really sad that I have been to the farmer's property that contains the highest point on the Graduation Celebration/Occupation Anticipation Vacation but I found out after I got back that I went to the top of the wrong knobby hill. |
| Nevada | Boundary Peak (9,11) | 13,143 | As its name suggests, Boundary peak is almost on the California border. The other peak of the mountain is 200 feet higher but is on the California side. |
| New Hampshire | Mount Washington (18,38) | 6,288 | Worst weather in the world |
| High Point (40,36) | 1,803 | I first saw the obelisk at the top in 2001, but I did not actually visit the summit until nearly five years later on the Garden State Crisscrossing | |
| New Mexico | Wheeler Peak (8,12) | 13,161 | I've been to the trailhead, but I was too tired from climbing Mt. Elbert that I decided not to climb it. I do however look forward to returning because it looks like a pretty cool hike. |
| New York | Mount Marcy (21,14) | 5,344 | Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was highpointing on Mount Marcy when word arrived that President McKinley had died. A trail marks the descent that TR took to go become president. |
| Mount Mitchell (16,35) | 6684 | Streak Trip 5: July 21, 2003 | |
| North Dakota | White Butte (30,23) | 3,506 | ? |
| Campbell Hill (43,47) | 1,550 | May 23, 2005, on the Ann Arbor-Nashville Meandering | |
| Black Mesa (23,17) | 4,973 | July 14, 2007, on the Graduation Celebration/Occupation Anticipation Vacation | |
| Oregon | Mount Hood (13,5) | 11,239 | ? |
| Mount Davis (33,45) | 3,213 | Streak Trip 8: October 12, 2003 | |
| Rhode Island | Jerimoth Hill (46,29) | 812 | On private property and the new owners recently increased public access to more than just five or six holiday weekends per year that the previous owners allowed. |
| Sassafras Mountain (29,37) | 3,560 | Streak Trip 7: September 27, 2003 | |
| South Dakota | Harney Peak (15,19) | 7,242 | It's near Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands National Park |
| Clingman's Dome (17,27) | 6,643 | Streak Trip 3: May 15, 2003, plus I think I went years ago with my family. | |
| Texas | Guadelupe Peak (14,13) | 8,749 | In Guadelupe Mountains National Park and close to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It should be teamed up with the lowest point in New Mexico |
| Utah | Kings Peak (7,7) | 13,528 | ? |
| Vermont | Mount Mansfield (26,21) | 2,407 | ? |
| Mt. Rogers (19,16) | 5,729 | Streak Trip 4: June 26, 2003 | |
| Washington | Mount Rainier (4,4) | 14,411 | I would have seen Mt. Rainier on my trip to Seattle, but the gloomy weather prevented it. |
| Spruce Knob (24,34) | 4,863 | April 14, 2006, on the Good Highday Trip | |
| Wisconsin | Timms Hill (39,31) | 1,951 | ? |
| Wyoming | Gannett Peak (5,2) | 13,804 | ? |
| State | Lowest Point | Feet above sea level | Notes | |
| Gulf of Mexico | 0 | In March of 1994, a bunch of friends and I went to Gulf Shores for spring break. | ||
| Alaska | Pacific Ocean | 0 | Cruise Ship? Float plane? I think there may be a lake somewhere that it a couple of feet below sea level. Must do more research before my trip. | |
| Arizona | Colorado River--Mexican Border | 70 | It is my understanding that the Colorado River is actually dry at the Mexican border with the bulk of the water in the river drawn off for irrigation and the little that flows into Mexico flowing through a nearby canal. | |
| Arkansas | Ouachita River--Louisiana border, near Felsenthal | 55 | ? | |
| California | Badwater | -282 | In Death Valley National Park | |
| Colorado | Arikaree River--Kansas border near Nebraska border | 3320 | ? | |
| Long Island Sound | 0 | John and I went to Mystic Seaport in June, 2001, on our way to Quebec. | ||
| Atlantic Ocean | 0 | Streak Trip 13: March 27, 2004 | ||
| Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic Ocean | 0 | We went to the Atlantic Ocean when we went to Disney World in March of 1988, I think. | ||
| Atlantic Ocean | 0 | June 6, 2004. I had a couple of extra hours to kill before meeting my parents in Hilton Head, SC, and so I headed off to Savannah and then to Tybee Island. On my way back through Savannah, I noticed several military vehicles and police officers blocking off part of the historic district. Later I found out that it was for the G8 summit down the coast at Sea Island. | ||
| Hawai`i | Pacific Ocean | 0 | ? | |
| Idaho | Snake River on the Washington border near Lewiston | 710 | ? | |
| Confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers near Cairo | 279 | July 17, 2004 on the July 2004 High- and Lowpointing Extravaganza | ||
| Indiana | Confluence of the Wabash and Ohio Rivers near Mount Vernon | 320 | ? | |
| Iowa | Confluence of the Des Moines and Mississippi Rivers near Keokuk | 480 | ? | |
| Kansas | Verdigris River at the Oklahoma border | 679 | ? | |
| Kentucky | Mississippi River at the Tennessee border | 257 | Read the sad story--July 18, 2004 It should be more easily accessable by boat, and so I'd like to build a raft and put it in the river at Hannibal, MO, and float down the Mississippi River the lowest points in either Kentucky or Tennessee, or maybe even New Orleans, but that's probably too far. | |
| Louisiana | Ponchartrain Park, New Orleans | -8 | I am unsure how Hurricane Katrina affected this. | |
| Atlantic Ocean | 0 | Oct 9-11, 2006--Most of my time in Portland was spent at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Society of Rheology, but there were a couple of times where I sneaked down to the wharf for lunch and there was also a dinner cruise sponsored by some company that makes rheometers but I can't recall the name of right now. | ||
| Atlantic Ocean | 0 | We went there on the way to the lowest point in Delaware for the Streak on March 27, 2004 | ||
| Massachusetts | Atlantic Ocean | 0 | Whaling ship to Nantucket? Cape Cod? I could befriend a Kennedy and go to Martha's Vineyard or a Kennedy enemy and go to Chappaquiddick? | |
| Lake Erie | 571 | May 22, 2005, on the Ann Arbor-Nashville Meandering | ||
| Lake Superior | 602 | October 17-18, 2009, with the highest point and a bunch of cool waterfalls. | ||
| Gulf of Mexico | 0 | Streak Trip 11: January 2, 2004 | ||
| St. Francis River on the Arkansas border near Kennett | 230 | July 18, 2004 on the July 2004 High- and Lowpointing Extravaganza | ||
| Montana | Kootenai River on the Idaho border near Troy | 1800 | I would not have thought the lowest point in Montana would be on the Idaho border. | |
| Nebraska | Missouri River on the Kansas border | 840 | ? | |
| Colorado River at the California border | 479 | Streak Trip 10: December 23, 2003 | ||
| New Hampshire | Atlantic Ocean | 0 | ? | |
| Atlantic Ocean | 0 | March 16, 2005. While Liberty Island and Ellis Island are in New York, they actually lie on the New Jersey side of the state line that goes through the middle of the bay based on an agreement between the two states signed in 1834. So the ferry ride from Battery Park passes through New Jersey waters before arriving at Liberty Island, and then through more New Jersey waters to Ellis Island. In the 1990s, New Jersey claimed that since Ellis Island has be expanded with landfill four times since 1834, the added land came out of New Jersey waters, and should therefore belong to the Garden State. The Supreme Court agreed and so the Immigration Museum on Ellis Island is in New York (the border was taken to be the original outline of the island shifted so that the state border would not pass through any building), most of the island, including the tax revenue generating parts and the state's lowest point, are in New Jersey. A year later, I returned to the lowest point of New Jersey, this time in Atlantic City and Cape May, during the Garden State Crisscrossing | ||
| New Mexico | Pecos River on the Texas border | 2,840 | Near Carlsbad Caverns, combine with Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas | |
| Atlantic Ocean | 0 | March 16, 2005. I took the ferry from Battery Park at the souther tip of Manhattan out to Liberty Island and then over to Ellis Island. See note for New Jersey lowest point. | ||
| Atlantic Ocean | 0 | Streak Trip 2: April 12, 2003 was the first time. I have been a couple of times since then, including nights camping just on the other side of the dunes on Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke Island. | ||
| North Dakota | Red River at the Canadian border | 750 | Snowmobiles in winter? | |
| Ohio | Confluence of the Great Miami and Ohio Rivers | 455 | Near Cincinnati. | |
| Oklahoma | Little River on the Arkansas border | 289 | ? | |
| Oregon | Pacific Ocean | 0 | ? | |
| Delaware River near the Delaware border | 0 | March 11, 2006. The Delaware River is still tidal for a few miles past the Pennsylvania-Delaware border, but I am unsure how far. I stopped just across the border at a small park in the town of Marcus Hook | ||
| Rhode Island | Atlantic Ocean | 0 | ? | |
| Atlantic Ocean | 0 | Streak Trip 9: November 30, 2003 plus two or three trips to Hilton Head Island with my family, and a trip to Patriots Point in Charleston | ||
| Minnesota River at Big Stone Lake on Minnesota border | 966 | October 24, 2009, with the USS South Dakota in Sioux Falls, and the highest point in Iowa | ||
| Tennessee | Mississippi River at Mississippi border | 178 | ? | |
| Texas | Gulf of Mexico or Lake near where Rio Grande enters Gulf of Mexico | 0 or -2 | I've seen conflicting information about the Texas nadir | |
| Utah | Beaver Dam Wash at the Arizona border | 2000 | ? | |
| Vermont | Lake Champlain | 75 | I may have been there, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure we stopped at Lake Champlain, but I believe it was on the New York side. | |
| Atlantic Ocean | 0 | We went there on the way to the lowest point in Delaware for the Streak on March 27, 2004 | ||
| Pacific Ocean | 0 | Streak Trip 1: March 8-9, 2003 | ||
| West Virginia | Potomac River at the Virginia border near Harpers Ferry | 240 | ? | |
| Wisconsin | Lake Michigan | 579 | ? | |
| Wyoming | Belle Fourche River on the South Dakota border | 3099 | ? |
