My Experiences Climbing the High Points of the Fifty States......(or at least 25 of them so far)

In 1999 I retired from the Texas prison system and spent the better part of a month just traveling and camping around the borders of Texas--mostly in remote areas in an attempt to just get away from people and be alone. At one point I was camping in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park just south of the border of New Mexico and one day I decided to hike a trail to what was described as the "highest point in Texas." It was a tough hike but during the course of ascending I ran across two hikers who were members of an organization called "Highpointers of the Fifty States." I found the organization interesting and after bagging my first high point here in Texas, I decided to climb as many myself as I was able. I joined the organization--and they have a very interesting web site at http://highpointers.org/and to date I have climbed the highest points of twenty-five states--from the lowest in Florida (345 feet) to the third highest in the U.S. in Colorado (14,466 feet). Most are very remote but some, like in Delaware are in housing subdivisions. The high point in Iowa is on a farm and the owner encourages visitors. In my travels I have come across dinosaur tracks, the marker where Bonnie and Clyde were killed, Native American prayer cairns, and camped in the coldest, most bitter site I've ever known.

There's a saying within the organization that "the higher you climb, the nicer the people." I have found this to be true--some of these remote high points have people living nearby who maintain them and they have been some of the nicest, and most interesting, people I've met. They are usually "characters" but that only makes the experiences more interesting. Although it's been nearly five years since I "bagged" my last highpoint, I still plan to add to the list whenever I can.

Here is the journal I've maintained since that first high point here in Texas. I have arranged it from the first high point to the last--in other words, in reverse order from most blogs--so when you get to the end of the page it will be necessary to click on "older posts" to continue the journal.