Last Updated on April 1, 2024 by James Dziezynski
Like many adventurous people, it’s not unusual for my long-range goals to go dormant for a while. There’s so much to do in the world. It’s easy to “back-burner” adventures, usually for other adventures. That’s the case with my U.S. State Highpoints quest.
I’ve been stalled at 43 for a while until I recently knocked out Hawaii’s Mauna Kea in September 2023 (you can read my Mauna Kea Hike guide over on Backpacker). So that’s up to #44.
I’ve written about a few other state highpoints here on Mountain Air—Borah Peak in Idaho and Mount Frissell in my birth state of Connecticut. I wrote about Japan’s National highpoint, Mount Fuji, for National Geographic.
I haven’t been super driven to wrap up the state highpoints because there’s been a lot of life along the way. Some good things, some quite bad, and some just different, but all of them real time sinks.
But I’m getting the urge to get rolling on those highpoints in 2024. What’s left? A pocket of the midwest, designated the “Farmageddon” tour. Three big guys: Denali in Alaska, Granite Peak in Montana (which I got within 300 vertical feet of years ago), and Mount Hood in Oregon. And California’s big walk-up, Mount Whitney.
Part of the fun of highpoints is the planning. As soon as we set the clocks back, I tend to go into map-making, researching, and plotting mode. So we’ll see – maybe I’ll get a few more in the mid-west before 2023 is out. Stay tuned.
