United States State High Points (plus DC)

Showing Paul Michelson's first ascent dates for climbed peaks (39 out of 51, or 76.47%)

Front Runners List: Click here to see list completion progress by climbers that log their climbs using Peakbagger.com.

Multiple Ascents Grid: Click here for a grid showing all of Paul Michelson's ascents of peaks on this list (including up to 10 rounds of repeats).

Compare Climbers: Click here to compare ascents of up to 5 climbers working on this list.

List Description

The fifty state high points of the United States are an increasingly popular peakbagging pursuit. There is a club (the Highpointers) and several guidebooks to completing this diverse list of peaks.

Of the fifty high points, five require real mountaineering skills: Denali in Alaska; Washington's Mount Rainier and Oregon's Mount Hood in the Pacific Northwest; and Montana's Granite Peak and Wyoming's Gannett Peak in the Rockies. Another five or so (Rhode island, Illinois, Kentucky, and others) are on private land and require landowner permission.

Most of the remaining state summits are easy hikes or drive-ups. Hiking the cool forests of the Appalachians, exploring the windy, lonely high plains, and backpacking above treeline in the western mountains are all part of the great fun of this scavenger hunt.

This list includes the high point of the District of Columbia, which in many matters is a state equivalent.

Links

Selected Guidebook(s) for this List

  Fifty State Summits, Guide with Maps to State Highpoints (Zumwalt)

  Highpoints of the United States: A Guide to the Fifty State Summits (Holmes)

  Highpoint Adventures: The Complete Guide to the 50 State Highpoints (Winger)

Caution: These books feature many of the peaks on this list, but may not have information on all of them.