Texas's High Point - "Guadalupe Peak"

Texas's high point is Guadalupe Peak at 8,749 feet, and is located in the most northwest corner of Texas in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

After staying the night in Santa Rosa in New Mexico, we spent all Monday 16th June driving south through New Mexico (stopping in Roswell and watched all the tourists checking out the UFO Alien tourist traps, and also seeing the Carlsbad Caverns - a must do if you are down that way as the huge underground caverns were larger and more beautiful that I had ever experienced).

We arrived around 6pm at the Pine Springs Campground which is located next to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park visitor centre. The campground is also the trailhead for the hike to the summit of Guadalupe Peak. It was a beautiful warm night as we set up camp with the Guadalupe mountains looming above us, including El Capitain whose more famous rock face it viewable from the road (see last picture below). After a hot dog dinner, we packed our backpacks for the hike as we planned to be on the trail by 5am the next morning to beat the heat. This was when we noticed we were being stalked by a skunk who actually circled out tent and campsite obviously looking for food. Paranoid about being sprayed by the shunk, we keep following it with our torches trying to scare it away. The last thing I wanted was a tent sprayed with shunk which smelled horrible and probably wouldn't wash out. Luckily it went away so to be sure it wouldn't come back we put everything not in the tent in the car.

As we put the last of our things in the car at 9.30pm, Mark locked the door of the car. As soon as he closed the locked door and asked where his backpack was with the keys in it was (the backpack which I had just put in the car), we knew we were doomed. With no way to break into our rental car, and all the hiking and water in the car we couldn't go hiking at 5am tomorrow morning! So we made the hike to the camp host who luckily (but reluctantly!) made the call to the Park Ranger. He came and was able to break into the car for us and we were saved thankfully and for free! FYI - you don't tip Park Rangers as they aren't allowed to received money.

At 4am the next morning, Tuesday 17th June, we woke up and got ready for the hike. Our procrastinating and unorganized nature meant we weren't on the trail until 5.30am! From the trailhead at the parking lot, we hiked along a well marked trail which continuously switchbacked up the hill. At 6am, as we stopped for some breakfast bars, we were able to watch the sunrise over the other mountains. Quite stunning! Continuing on, the trail continued to switchback up the mountain slowly gaining in elevation, which made it easier than just climbing directly up. After a couple of hours we thought we spied the peak in front of us and thought we were making good time. It was just a false summit - the first of two before you get to the summit.

We finally arrived at the summit at 8.30am, which afforded us great views of the back of El Capitain, and other mountain ranges. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining across the blue sky though it was starting to get hot. The forecast was for the temperatures to be in the low 90's today. The summit was marked with a pointy moument which commemorates the 100th annivesary of the founding of American Airlines through the efforts of people who pioneered the mail services through the area. After a snack, signing the register and a few photos, we headed back down to beat the heat. We arrived back to the trailhead just after 11am. This was the highest high point we had climbed so far on our quest and one of the most interesting and beautiful.

Olkahoma's High Point - "Black Mesa"

Olkahoma's high point is Black Mesa at 4,973 feet. Located not far from the Colorado-Olkahoma border, we left the town of Lamar were we stayed the night and under bright blue skies and hot morning winds left that Saturday 15th June for the town of Kenton, OK. Following the GPS, we were led along unpaved dirt roads though the countryside - first through flat lands, and then eventually driving in the valley between some higher canyon like mountains before getting back to state road 325. The GPS said it would take us over an hour or so, it took us three!

Just before you arrive into the very small town of Kenton, you will see a sign for "Black Mesa Nature Preserve" and following the road which seems to go around the Black Mesa mountain, we arrived at the Black Mesa Summit Trailhead parking lot. It was a just before 1pm.

Keeping an eye out for rattlesnakes (we had read many stories of them in the area), we got ready and was on the trail by 1pm as the hot sun shone high above our heads. It was easily over 90 degrees Fahrenheit but luckily dry heat and not too humid.

The hike took us along the flat trail which circled the Black Mesa mountain in terrain which seems more like a flat dry desert with a few random cows grazing. Under the hot sun, the heat was quite untolerable given the lack of shade and after an hour or so, I was starting to feel sick. My face was bright red and apparently I was getting heat exhaustion symptions so we took it slow (I was determined to make the summit!). A tip - don't wear a waterproof hat which doesn't breathe when hiking under the top sun! Over an hour and a half of hiking, we started to hike up the side of the Mesa, climbing in elevation before arriving to the top of the flat Mesa. After another half hour of hiking along the flat trail at the top, we arrived at the prominent 9 foot high native granite monument standing all by itself in the flat surroundings.

The monument highlighted the distances to major cities and areas. Texas was only 31miles away to the South, Kansas 53 miles to the East, Coloradio 4.7 miles to the North and New Mexico 1,299 feet to the West! New York was 1,605 miles away so we were far away from home! We took a few photos, signed the register and had a quick lunch in the shade of the monument before heading back towards the trailhead.

The hike back, whilst not the longest we had done, was tiring and "getting old" after the long hours under the direct hot sun and we were longing to see the car as we looked into the distance. That's the problem with walking on flat land - things just don't seem to get closer given there are no prominent landmarks to compare distance and everything around you looks the same. We luckily stumbled back to the car at 5pm tired as this was the first decent hike we had done in a while, espeically in the heat. We got in the car and headed to Texas.

Kansas's High Point - "Mount Sunflower"

So we were on another of our roadtrips, this time flying into Denver, Colorado from Newark to start a 17 day roadtrip through the Southwest and Great Plains. Arriving into Denver on the Saturday 14th June 2008, we picked up our little rental car (a bright blue Dodge Caliber) and stopped by the Flagship REI in Denver to stock up on camping items we weren't allow to carry on the plane (stove gas, extra food and odd sods) before heading East towards the border between Colorado and Kansas.

Kansas's high point in Mount Sunflower at 4,039 feet and located not too far from the state border. Driving along completely straight roads and staring out far into to horizon, the flat lands that surrounded us made is hard to believe we were heading to another high point. That was because we had flowin into the area (Denver is already at 5,280 feet and called the "mile high city") already at a high altitude and the areas we were visiting were already at higher elevations compared to other high points we had visited.

Driving along the very dusty unpaved road, I felt like we were in the middle on nowhere. We pulled up to the high point closer to 5pm. The high point is quite decorated compared to others, with a "Mount Sunflower" sign and monument. A few pictures and we were on our way as we tried to head as far south before it got too late on our way to Olkahoma.

Vermont's High Point - "Mount Mansfield"

Vermont's high point Mount Mansfield at 4,393 feet is located near Stowe, and operates as a ski resort in winter. We had seen the impressive mountain range and Mount Mansfield's white snow covered peak on our drive from the north down to Burlington where we had based ourselves for a few days (see last photo).

On the 27th March 2008, we drove to the Stowe Ski Resort on what was intially a sunny clear sky day. As we prepared for the hike in the car park, the clouds and darker sky rolled in and the flurries started! With the weather starting to look ominous (and no one who could tell us what the weather at the summit was like), we took the gondola to the Cliff House. From there, we started the steep icy hike to the Mt Mansfield summit which was very icy. Parts of the rockface was like a sheet of ice and we couldn't have done it without the crampons. It took us about an hour to reach the summit which gave us a decent view of the cloudy mountain range and the ski runs at the resort. We tried to find the USGS marker on the highest rock which Mark had visited previously, but after chipping away at the ice on the rock with our ice axes, we gave up. We headed back down, sometimes sinking into a feets of snow as we made our way back to the Gondola. It was a relatively quick but rewarding hike to the highest point in Vermont in winter.

New York's High Point - "Mount Marcy"

New York's high point in Mount Marcy at 5,344 feet. The highest peak in the Adirondacks, this would be my most challenging hike as it would be done in winter and many foots of snow! We arrived at the Adirondack Loj at 3.30pm on the 24th March 2008 on a beautiful clear blue sky day and hiked an hour or so to Marcy Dam and camped the night in a lean to and hitched tent inside. The temperatures that night were near 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius!!) and relatively clear. My minus 40 degree sleeping bag was a godsend!

The next morning in near freezing temperatures, we left Marcy Dam at 9am for the summit hike on what seems like a decent part sunny part cloudy day with some flurries. Following the Van Hoevenberg Trail, it was a strenuous hike (given we had heavy backpacks on) and it was mostly uphill with some steep areas along the way. The trail looked well used which made it easier as the 6 feet plus of snow was well packed down though we still needed snow shoes. It was a pain navigating past all the tree branches weighed down with ice and snow, but the view was beautiful. After three hours we rounded little Marcy mountain thinking we had reached the top only to get our first view of the true Mount Marcy and the summit. The clouds and rolled in over the summit, and the huge mountain ahead of us was very ominous and seems so far away from where we were.

Unperturbed, we pressed on determined to summit and passed frozen ice sculpture trees (given looked very short given they were buried under feets of snow and ice). This was my first winter snow/ice summit above treeline and it was both exciting though a little tiring. Just under the summit, we changed our snow shoes for crampons as the mountain face became a sheet of ice on the steep last section. We didn't reach summit til 1.30pm in very cloudy and windy conditions. A few photos and we headed back keen to get to the car before dark. An hour after summiting and back on Little Marcy mountain again, we looked back at Mount Marcy and the weather cleared! We reached Marcy Dam at 5.30pm to collect our camp belongings and started the torturous hike out to the Loj car park at 6pm...arriving just as it was about to get dark at about 7.30pm.

Maine's High Point - "Mount Katahdin"

It was the 31st August 2007 and we made the long 10 hour road trip north to Maine and Baxter State Park. We had reservations at Katahfin Stream campground at the base on Mount Katahdin, which at 5,267 feet would be the most challenging high point we would do so far. As we looked up from our campsite, Mount Katahdin loomed ominously above with its grey rock face touching the light clouds (see last picture from campsite).

It was a decent day (09.01.07) as we started the hike at 8am from our tent to the Hunt trail trailhead. Starting out hiking through the trees, above treeline the hike became a climb as we scrambled over lots of large rocks, some particuarly steep rock areas and faced some very windy conditions. We definately needed the gloves to protect the hands from the rocks, and the windproof gear. Once at the top, the walk along the ridge was a welcoming relatively flat hike before the final climb to the top. It was a busy day full of hikers. It was a fantastic view from the top as we enjoyed lunch. We met 2 brothers in their late 70's hiking which very impressive. The hike/climb took us 4 hours up, and 4 and a half hours back (1/2 hr at top) as we arrived back at the trailhead at 5pm. The next day, and barely able to walk as we suffered the side effects of our efforts on Katahdin, we headed south to the famous Acadia National Park and some Maine lobster bake.

Illinois's High Point - "Charles Mound"

Illinois's high point is Charles Mound at 1,235 feet. Located on private property, the owners only allow visitors to the high point on the first weekend of June, July, August and September, which meant we had to make a special trip to Chicago to make this high point. We flew into Chicago on the Saturday 2nd June 2007, rented a car and drove straight to the highpoint which is located in the northwest corner of the state, near the town of Galena. As the highpoint is on private property and only open 2 weekends a year, we expected signs. Arriving at lunchtime, the driveway to the property was fenced off so we parked by the roadside and had to walk through the property along the road. We arrived at the top which was marked with a sign and a couple of chairs laid out for people to enjoy the view. The view was ok, but there was a lot of annoying flies. The flies made us take our photos and run. The return trip was about an hour and half.