State Highpoints

Sorted by Decreasing Altitude
From: alan.ritter##bausch.com (Alan Ritter) ( replace the ## with @ to get his address) You can also find out more about Alan at his website http://www.mtritter.org

"Highpointing", the process of visiting the geographic high point of each of the fifty states, is another passion, and an agreed-upon goal between my son, Nathan, and myself. To be precise, we will almost certainly settle for 49 of the 50 highpoints, as Mt. McKinley (20,320'), the highpoint of Alaska and of the North American continent, is likely to remain forever beyond our reach.

The table below lists the state highpoints in order of descending altitude. States whose highpoints we have visited appear as links to reports (some illustrated) of attaining those highpoints. Also included are the latitude and longitude of each highpoint, with references to the USGS topographic quadrangles containing the highpoints, and others, where required, to show the approach from the nearest road or trailhead.

Reaching many of the high points is merely a matter of driving to a well-maintained parking lot and meandering a few hundred yards along paved trails. Others require a bit of exploring, like Kansas, whose Mt. Sunflower lies an hour or more south of Interstate 70 near the Colorado border, after several obscure turns, none of which are documented on the state highway map.

Yet others are strenuous but straightforward hikes: Mt. Whitney in California and Mt. Elbert in Colorado have trails all the way to the summit, but getting there involves several miles and 4,000' to 5,000' of elevation gain.

A few are legitimate climbs. Mt. Hood in Oregon and Mt. Rainier in Washington require technical snow and ice climbing, with crampons. Granite Peak in Montana and Gannett Peak in Wyoming also involve snow, but require a degree of rock-climbing, as well.

State Highpoints, Sorted by Decreasing Altitude

Note: The first entry in the Topo Quad column for each state indicates the map which contains the highpoint. Additional entries are included where useful for approach hikes, and in cases where the particular highpoint is very close to the margin of the map on which it is found.
The links to trip reports point to the detail page for each state. In general, the "back" link in any of these detail pages will point to the overal trip report which includes that state, not this page. If you want to come back here, please use the "back" button on your browser.

To turn on the links on this page click here first

Abbr Date State Location Altitude Lat/Long GPS Coords Topo quad

AK Alaska Mount McKinley 20,320 63° 04'N,
151°W AK Mt. McKinley 1:62,500

CA 7/2/2001 California Mount Whitney 14,494 36° 35'N,
118° 17'W 36° 34.721'N,
118° 17.466'W CA Mt. Whitney 1:24,000, Mt. Langley 1:24,000

CO 8/13/2003 Colorado Mount Elbert 14,433 39° 07'N,
106° 27'W 39°7.065'N,
106°26.686'W CO Mt. Elbert 1:24,000, Mt. Massive 1:24,000

WA Washington Mount Rainier 14,410 46° 51'N,
121° 46'W WA Mt. Rainier West 1:24,000

WY Wyoming Gannett Peak 13,804 43° 11'N,
109° 39'W WY Gannett Peak 1:24,000

HI Hawaii Mauna Kea 13,796 19° 49'N,
155° 28'W HI Mauna Kea 1:24,000

UT Utah Kings Peak 13,528 40° 47'N,
110° 22'W UT Kings Peak 1:24,000

NM 8/11/2003 New Mexico Wheeler Peak 13,161 36° 33' N,
105° 25'W 36°33.409'N, 105°24.982'W NM Wheeler Peak 1:24,000

NV Nevada Boundary Peak 13,143 37° 51'N,
118° 21'W NV/CA Boundary Peak 1:24,000, Mt. Montgomery 1:24,000, Truman Meadows 1:24,000

MT Montana Granite Peak 12,799 45° 10'N,
109° 48'W MT Granite Peak 1:24,000

ID Idaho Borah Peak 12,662 44° 08'N,
113° 47'W ID Borah Peak 1:24,000

AZ Arizona Humphreys Peak 12,633 35° 20'N,
111° 41'W AZ Humphreys Peak 1:24,000

OR Oregon Mount Hood 11,239 45° 22'N,
121° 42'W OR Mt. Hood South 1:24,000

TX 10/20/2001 Texas Guadalupe Peak 8,749 31° 53'N,
104° 52'W 31° 53.480'N,
104° 51.615'W TX Guadalupe Peak 1:24,000

SD 8/4/1998 South Dakota Harney Peak 7,242 43° 52'N,
103° 32'W 43° 51.959'N,
103° 31.869'W SD Custer 1:24,000

NC 8/20/2000 North Carolina Mount Mitchell 6,684 35° 46'N,
82° 16'W 35° 45.881'N,
82° 15.914'W NC Mt. Mitchell 1:24,000

TN 7/26/1997 Tennessee Clingmans Dome 6,643 35° 33'N,
83° 30'W TN Silers Bald 1:24,000

NH 7/9/2002 New Hampshire Mount Washington 6,288 44° 16'N,
71° 18'W 44° 16.233'N,
71° 18.283'W NH Mt. Washington 1:25,000

VA 8/21/2000 Virginia Mount Rogers 5,729 36° 39'N,
81° 33'W 36° 39.599'N,
81° 32.701'W VA Whitetop Mountain 1:24,000

NE 8/4/1998 Nebraska Constable Mountain 5,426 41° 01(?)'N,
104° 02'W 41° 0.462'N,
104° 1.854' W CO Grover NE 1:24,000

NY 7/8/2002 New York Mount Marcy 5,344 44° 07'N,
73° 55'W 44° 6.771'N,
73° 55.451'W NY Mt. Marcy 1:25,000

ME 7/11/2002 Maine Mount Katahdin 5,268 45° 54'N,
68° 55'W 45° 54.265'N,
68° 55.315'W ME Mt. Katahdin 1:24,000

OK 8/10/2003 Oklahoma Black Mesa 4,973 36° 56'N,
103° 00'W 36°55.911'N, 102°59.842'W OK,CO Kenton 1:24,000

WV 8/22/2000 West Virginia Spruce Knob 4,853 38° 42'N,
79° 32'W 38° 41.997'N,
79° 31.978'W WV Spruce Knob 1:24,000

GA 6/25/1997 Georgia Brasstown Bald 4,784 34° 52'N,
83° 49'W GA Jacks Gap 1:24,000

VT 7/9/2002 Vermont Mount Mansfield 4,393 44° 33'N,
72° 49'W 44° 32.639'N,
72° 48.888'W VT Mt. Mansfield 1:24,000

KY 8/19/2000 Kentucky Black Mountain 4,145 36° 55'N,
82° 54'W 36° 54.855'N,
82° 53.648'W KY,VA Benham 1:24,000

KS 7/1/1995 Kansas Mount Sunflower 4,039 39° 01'N,
102° 02'W CO,KS Mt. Sunflower 1:24,000

SC 6/25/1997 South Carolina Sassafras Mountain 3,560 35° 04'N,
82° 47'W SC,NC Estatoe Gap 1:24,000

ND 8/5/1998 North Dakota White Butte 3,506 46° 23'N,
103° 18'W 46° 23.228'N,
103° 18.121'W ND Amidon 1:24,000

MA 7/5/2002 Massachusetts Mount Greylock 3,491 42° 38'N,
73° 10'W 42° 38.236'N,
73° 9.997'W MA North Adams 1:25,000

MD 8/22/2000 Maryland Backbone Mountain 3,360 39° 14'N,
79° 29'W 38° 41.728'N,
79° 29.483'W WV,MD Davis 1:24,000

PA 8/23/2000 Pennsylvania Mount Davis 3,213 39° 47'N,
79° 11'W 39° 47.157'N,
79° 10.623'W PA Markleton 1:24,000

AR 12/25/1998 Arkansas Magazine Mountain 2,753 35° 10'N,
93° 39'W AR Blue Mountain 1:24,000

AL 6/13/1997 Alabama Cheaha Mountain 2,407 33° 29'N,
85° 49'W AL Cheaha Mountain 1:24,000

CT 7/5/2002 Connecticut Mount Frissell 2,380 42° 03'N,
73° 29'W 42° 2.982'N,
73° 28.990'W MA,CT,NY Ashley Falls 1:25,000

MN 6/14/1999 Minnesota Eagle Mountain 2,301 47° 54'N,
90° 34'W 47° 53.849'N,
90° 33.599'W MN Eagle Mountain 1:24,000

MI 6/16/1999 Michigan Mount Arvon 1,979 46° 45'N,
89° 09'W 46° 45.330'N,
88° 9.325'W MI Skanee South 1:24,000

WI 6/13/1999 Wisconsin Timms Hill 1,951 45° 27'N,
90° 12'W 45° 27.045'N,
90° 11.757'W WI Timms Hill 1:24,000

NJ 7/6/2002 New Jersey High Point 1,803 41° 19'N,
74° 38'W 41° 19.233'N,
74° 39.717'W NJ Port Jervis South 1:24000

MO 9/24/1995 Missouri Taum Sauk Mountain 1,772 37° 34'N,
90° 44'W 37° 34.253'N,
90° 43.746'W MO Ironton 1:24,000

IA 8/1/1998 Iowa Hawkeye Point 1,670 43° 25(?)'N,
95° 42'W 43° 27.608'N,
95° 42.523'W MN Reading 1:24,000

OH 6/19/1999 Ohio Campbell Hill 1,550 40° 21'N,
83° 44'W 40° 22.242'N,
83° 43.202'W OH Zanesfield 1:24,000

IN 6/19/1999 Indiana Hoosier Hill 1,257 40° 00'N,
84° 51'W 40° 0.060'N,
84° 50.932'W IN,OH Spartanburg 1:24,000

IL 6/12/1998 Illinois Charles Mound 1,235 42° 30'N,
90° 14'W 42° 30.213'N,
90° 14.381'W WI,IL Shullburg 1:24,000
IL Scales Mound East 1:24,000

RI 7/6/2002 Rhode Island Jerimoth Hill 812 41° 51'N,
71° 47'W 41° 50.953'N, 71° 46.790'W CT,MA,RI East Killingly 1:24,000

MS 6/12/1997 Mississippi Woodall Mountain 806 34° 46'N,
88° 15'W MS Burnsville 1:24,000

LA 12/31/1998 Louisiana Driskill Mountain 535 32° 25'N,
92° 54'W 32° 25.481'N,
92° 53.776'W LA Bryceland 1:24,000

DE 8/24/2000 Delaware unnamed 448 39° 50'N,
75° 31'W 39° 50.149'N,
75° 31.164'W DE Wilmington North 1:24,000

FL 6/13/1997 Florida Britton Hill 345 30° 59'N,
86° 17'W FL,AL Paxton 1:24,000

Home