{"id":80411,"date":"2019-10-01T00:01:49","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T07:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=80411"},"modified":"2020-07-06T14:09:44","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T21:09:44","slug":"highs-and-lows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/highs-and-lows","title":{"rendered":"Highs and Lows"},"content":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the fall 2019 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Reaching the high point in every state makes you a legend. Some states are easier than others.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

Though some say Kansas is flatter than a pancake, Dorothy\u2019s home state isn\u2019t even among the five lowest high points in the U.S. Florida<\/strong> has the lowest natural high point: Britton Hill rises just 345 feet above sea level, but dozens of buildings in the state soar much higher. The tallest, Miami\u2019s Panorama Tower, is 85 stories.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

Colorado<\/strong> has the highest low point: At 3,315 feet, its lowest elevation tops the apex of 18 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

Which state\u2019s high point is not even found on the summit of the mountain it\u2019s located on? That would be Connecticut<\/strong>\u2019s side-of-the-hill apex on Mount Frissell. It\u2019s set at 2,380 feet in the southern Berkshires, near the state boundary Connecticut shares with Massachusetts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

One county in California<\/strong>, Inyo, has bragging rights to both the highest point and the lowest low point in the lower 48. (They are, respectively, 14,494-foot Mount Whitney and Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, 282 feet below sea level.) You can go from the depths of desert salt flats to snowcapped peaks without ever crossing the county line.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

For years, Delaware<\/strong> didn\u2019t have a defined high point, just a sign near Ebright Azimuth saying that it was \u201cin the vicinity of the highest natural elevation.\u201d People decided that a speed bump in the middle of the road must be the highest point in the state. \u201cSummiting\u201d it required rushing out into traffic, making it possibly the most dangerous high point of all.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

With an elevation of 20,310 feet, Alaska<\/strong>\u2019s Denali is the highest peak in the United States. But if you measure from base to summit instead of from sea level, Hawaii\u2019s Mauna Kea volcano becomes the tallest mountain in the world, beginning nearly 20,000 feet underwater and rising more than 33,000 feet, 13,000 feet above it.<\/p>\n

Up There<\/h4>\n

In 1986, Jack Longacre founded the Highpointers Club<\/a>, a group of people interested in reaching the highest point in each of the 50 states and whose membership has since swelled to 2,357. Since Jack\u2019s death in 2002 near his home at Taum Sauk (the highest point in Missouri), highpointers have carried a small amount of his ashes to all the highest elevations in the U.S. and to mountain-tops around the world. Only about 317 people have reached all 50 U.S. high points. Vin Hoeman was the first in 1966. Matt Moniz, 12, was the youngest, and Cal Dunwoody was the oldest at 77. Colin O\u2019Brady did it the fastest, in 21 days.<\/p>\n

Illustrations by Aleesha Nandhra<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the fall 2019 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path.\u00a0 Reaching the high point in every state makes you a legend. Some states are easier than others. Though some say Kansas is flatter than a pancake, Dorothy\u2019s home state isn\u2019t even among the five lowest high points in the U.S. Florida has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":80453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,160,87,1529,1941,1575,181,1935,407,1540,1528,1541,1934,2024],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-80411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climb","tag-alaska","tag-california","tag-colorado","tag-connecticut","tag-delaware","tag-denali","tag-florida","tag-issue-1","tag-massachusetts","tag-mountain-west","tag-northeast","tag-pacific-west","tag-uncommon-path","tag-uncommon-path-issues"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/climb\/highs-and-lows","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Highs and Lows","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/highs-and-lows","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/highs-and-lows"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/09\/AKD_042018_83579.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/09\/AKD_042018_83579.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Climb","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["alaska","california","colorado","connecticut","delaware","denali","florida","issue 1","massachusetts","mountain west","northeast","pacific west","uncommon path","uncommon path issues"],"dateCreated":"2019-10-01T07:01:49Z","datePublished":"2019-10-01T07:01:49Z","dateModified":"2020-07-06T21:09:44Z"},"rendered":"