How Many Of The 50 State Highpoints Have You Been To?
If you’re looking for a popular peak bagging pursuit, the 50 state highpoints is certainly an excellent challenge. The state highpoints range in elevation from 345′ (Britton Hill, Florida) to 20,310′ (Denali, Alaska). In reality it’s a collection of unique places that includes towering summits, drive up peaks, private land, and both remote and urban objectives.
Check out this map of the state highpoints:
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FYI – All Pins In Map Are Approximate Locations.
The first person to successfully climb all 50 high points was Vin Hoeman in 1966. It is estimated that only 273 people have tagged the summit of all of the state high points as of 2016. One cool challenge is to climb all 50 highpoints in 50 days, aka the 50 Peaks Challenge. The current record for this is held by Maddie Miller who completed this challenge in 41 days, 16 hours, and 10 minutes in August 2016.
If highpointing is something that excites you, join the Highpointers Club. This club is dedicated to climbing all of the US state highpoints – using the USGS as the official source for their “summit list”. Whether you want to climb them all or bag a few, it’s a lofty goal that you will enjoy pursuing.
Below you will find a list of all of the 50 state highpoints plus DC:
US State Highpoints - 50 Peaks Challenge
| Rank | State | Peak | Elevation in Feet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | Denali | 20,310 |
| 2 | California | Mount Whitney | 14495 |
| 3 | Colorado | Mount Elbert | 14,433 |
| 4 | Washington | Mount Rainier | 14,411 |
| 5 | Wyoming | Gannett Peak | 13,804 |
| 6 | Hawaii | Mauna Kea | 13,796 |
| 7 | Utah | Kings Peak | 13,528 |
| 8 | New Mexico | Wheeler Peak | 13,161 |
| 9 | Nevada | Boundary Peak | 13,140 |
| 10 | Montana | Granite Peak | 12,799 |
| 11 | Idaho | Borah Peak | 12,662 |
| 12 | Arizona | Humphreys Peak | 12,633 |
| 13 | Oregon | Mount hood | 11,239 |
| 14 | Texas | Guadalupe Peak | 8,749 |
| 15 | South Dakota | Harney Peak | 7,242 |
| 16 | North Carolina | Mount Mitchell | 6,684 |
| 17 | Tennessee | Clingmans Dome | 6,643 |
| 18 | New Hampshire | Mount Washington | 6,288 |
| 19 | Virginia | Mount Rogers | 5,729 |
| 20 | Nebraska | Panorama Point | 5,426 |
| 21 | New York | Mount Marcy | 5,344 |
| 22 | Maine | Katahdin | 5268 |
| 23 | Oklahoma | Black Mesa | 4,973 |
| 24 | West Virginia | Spruce Know | 4,861 |
| 25 | Georgia | Brasstown Bald | 4,784 |
| 26 | Vermont | Mount Mansfield | 4,393 |
| 27 | Kentucky | Black Mountain | 4,139 |
| 28 | Kansas | Mount Sunflower | 4,039 |
| 29 | South Carolina | Sassafras Mountain | 3,554 |
| 30 | North Dakota | White Butte | 3,506 |
| 31 | Massachusetts | Mount Greylock | 3,487 |
| 32 | Maryland | Backbone Mountain | 3,360 |
| 33 | Pennsylvania | Mount Davis | 3,213 |
| 34 | Arkansas | Magazine Mountain | 2,753 |
| 35 | Alabama | Cheaha Mountain | 2,405 |
| 36 | Connecticut | Mount Frissell-South Slope | 2,372 |
| 37 | Minnesota | Eagle Mountain | 2,301 |
| 38 | Michgan | Mount Arvon | 1,978 |
| 39 | Wisconsin | Timms Hill | 1,951 |
| 40 | New Jersey | High Point | 1,803 |
| 41 | Missouri | Taum Sauk Mountain | 1,772 |
| 42 | Iowa | Hawkeye Point | 1,670 |
| 43 | Ohio | Campbell Hill | 1,549 |
| 44 | Indiana | Hoosier Hill | 1,257 |
| 45 | Illinois | Charles Mound | 1,235 |
| 46 | Rhode Island | Jerimoth Hill | 812 |
| 47 | Mississippi | Woodall Mountain | 806 |
| 48 | Louisiana | Driskill Mountain | 535 |
| 49 | Delaware | Ebright Azimuth | 442 |
| 50 | District of Columbia | Reno Reservoir | 415 |
| 51 | Florida | Britton Hill | 345 |
How many state highpoints have you ticked off of your list? Best of luck if you choose to hit them all.
You can find skiing, hiking, and mountaineering trip reports for the following state highpoints on A Mountain Journey:
