Peak travel: Viewing the U.S. from each state’s highest point

California’s Mt. Whitney is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States. Reaching its windswept summit requires a strenuous hike of more than 20 miles roundtrip, ascending to an elevation of 14,505 feet. 

But for the 180 people who recently gathered in the nearby town of Bishop, Mt. Whitney is on exactly the same level as Mississippi’s Woodall Mountain, Nebraska’s Panorama Point, or Indiana’s Hoosier Hill. Each stands tall as a state highpoint. 

“There is Denali, there’s Rainier, there’s Hood that are really difficult peaks,” said Shannon Brumund. “But you can do a lot of peaks that are easy to do, that are a fun trip with the family.”

Brumund is the president of the Highpointers Club, a group devoted to celebrating, and summiting, the highest peak in every state. “It’s partially about just coming together as a group that enjoys this kind of weird hobby that people haven’t heard of,” she said.

On the surface, to those who do not prioritize elevation above all else, “highpointing” might sound a little bit pointless. After all, why would a person with enough skill to climb Wyoming’s challenging Gannett Peak at nearly 14,000 feet, also care about visiting Britton Hill, a parking lot in the panhandle of Florida with an elevation of 345 feet?

“We have this, like, huge, unique, beautiful and diverse country, and a lot of people don’t see a lot of it,” said Lucy Westlake. “And I just think highpointing is an amazing way to travel around the country and have, like, a purpose and a guideline on how to do that.”

In 2021, at 17 years old, Westlake became the youngest woman to ever visit every state highpoint. She now writes a column for the club’s Apex to Zenith newsletter. 

For most members, getting to all 50 is a lifetime goal.

While some of the highpoints are extremely physically challenging, others, like Mount Washington in New Hampshire, or High Point State Park in New Jersey, have drivable summits.

And some can be logistically complex. The highest point in Illinois, Charles Mound, is on a private farm. But to accommodate the altitude-obsessed, the…