County High Points
Introduction
Congratulations web wanderer, you have discovered cyber headquarters
for info on finding and hiking the US county summits.
The 3141 US county high points range from the 20,300' summit of Mount McKinley,
the highest point in Denali Borough Alaska, to the 10' high swamp that
surmounts Terrebonne Parish Louisiana. Between these extremes lie many peaks,
hills, and knolls that are of interest to a growing group of county high point
fanatics.
Conquering counties is the ideal form of recreation - it exercises body and mind,
boosts your navagating skills, and minimizes your exposure to cathode ray tubes.
Unfortunately, there are hazards to watch for.
The weather can be foul on Mount Fairweather (AK), Grand Teton
(Teton co. WY) has some off trail sections, and Fort Bragg (Cumberland co. NC)
has a strict dress code.
The information that follows will complete your county curriculum.
If you know of any facts, stats, accomplishments, addresses, etc that
are of interest, feel free to pester
Andy Martin.
List lovers will enjoy the
County Highpoint Frontrunners
compilation of every county feat known to man. Here you will find the
mountain climbed 4000 times and counting, the leader in the race
to conquer Texas, the All American County, and many more amazing feats &
facts. Note that there is an email
newsletter for county lovers.
The county craze has even infected
Great Britain.
If you know of similar activities in other nations, please drop us a line.
To fool junk email posters, the string "county" is added to most
email addresses on this page. You will need to remove this before sending
email.
Pioneers
- Winford (Dub) Bludworth - identified and climbed the counties of Utah.
- Dinesh Desai - prepared a list for CA counties, and arranges group hikes to them.
- Paul Moore - listed the New England counties in Appalachia magazine in 1988.
- David Olson - prepared a list for the CO counties.
- Gary Suttle - first published guidebook on county summits.
- Bob Walko - identified and climbed the AZ county HP in the late 1970's.
Completers
- Arizona - Bob Walko, 7-77, Doug Kasian,
Robert Packard,
Scott Holzhauser, Andy Martin,
Bob Martin,
Sarah Martin, Mark Nichols, Jim Huebner, Molly Martin, Jane Martin
- California - Gary Suttle, 7-28-93, Bill Broeckel, Fred Johnson,
John Sarna, Linda Moulton, Marilyn Mendelson
- Colorado - John Mitchler,
9-14-96, supplier of the classy CO county T-shirt, Bob Martin,
David Olson, Bob Packard, Dave Covill
- Connecticut - Lanny Wexler, Fred and Paulette Lobdell, 6-19-97, Bob Packard
- Maine - Fred Lobdell, 7-13-96, Bob Packard
- Massachusetts - Fred Lobdell, 5-22-99, Bob Packard
- Nevada - Guy & Andy Martin & Cloutier, 9-18-98, Bob Packard
- New Hampshire - Roy Schweiker, 10-14-93,
Bob Packard, Fred Lobdell
- New Jersey - Michael Schwartz, 4-25-99
- New Mexico - Andy Martin, 10-7-95, Bob & Bob Martin & Packard
- Oregon - Ken Jones, 8-29-99
- Rhode Island - Fred Lobdell, 7-3-96, Ken Jones, Evan Jones,
Colin Jones, Bob Packard, Ron Tagliapietra
- Utah - Winford 'Dub' Bludworth, 9-26-1992, Paul Hatch,
Paula Huff, Ty Hanson, Evan Hanson, Vernon Bonfield, Michael Weibel, Dan Miller,
Bob Packard, Andy Martin
- Vermont - Roy Schweiker, 6-5-89 & 7-28-95,
George Pearlstein, Bob Packard, Fred Lobdell
- Washington - "Lonesome" John Roper, 8-2-94
- Wyoming - Bob Packard, 9-15-98
Hikers
- 50 highest counties in 48 conterminous states - Bob Packard
- Counties requiring at least 1000 foot vertical gain by easiest route - 214 by Bob Packard
- Most western counties - 279 by Bob Packard
- Most counties - 400+ by Fred Lobdell and Bob Packard. The lead changes weekly
- Most ascents of county with at least 1000 foot vertical gain - 3022+ on Mount Monadnock NH by Larry Davis
- Most county HP with 5000' prominence - 40 Bob Packard
- Greatest distance across a contiguous county cluster [AKA glob] - 2,600 miles by Andy Martin
- Number of states entered by a glob - 22 by Andy Martin
- County chain from Canada to Mexico - Bob Packard, Ken Jones
- Most counties in 24 hours - 24 by John Mitchler and Dave Covill. Much of west Kansas was tamed.
- Climbed all counties within 273 miles of home - Edward Earl.
AK & HI residents need not apply for this position.
Sources of Information
- USA - lists for all states are given in County High Points by
Andy Martin. Oprah - I'm still waiting ...
- Arizona - Routes to nine peaks are described in Arizona's Mountains by Bob and Dotty Martin.
- California - Gary Suttle is the author of California County Summits, which is published by Wilderness Press.
This excellent guidebook includes descriptions and maps of all the HP routes.
- Colorado - Hiking Colorado's Summits : A Guide to Exploring the County Highpoints
by John Mitchler and Dave Covill will guide you to the top of the 63
CO counties.
For background information see Guide to the Colorado Mountains,
by Robert M. Ormes. It gives access and route information for many of the higher counties.
More detailed information on routes can be found in
A Climbing Guide To Colorado's Fourteeners by Borneman and Lampert,
Colorado's Fourteeners, from Hikes to Climbs by Gerry Roach,
and Climbing Colorado's High Thirteeners by Garrett and Martin.
- Idaho - Routes up most named peaks are given in Exploring Idaho's Mountains by Tom Lopez.
- Maryland and Delaware - A booklet describing
Maryland's County High Points was prepared by
Glenn Bock. He has similar information for Delaware.
- Montana - Many HP routes are described in Climbers Guide to Montana by Pat Caffrey of Seeley Lake MT.
- New Mexico - Several HP routes are detailed in Guide to the New Mexico Mountains by Herbert E. Ungnade.
- Utah - All county HP and four more "classic" climbs are covered in
High in Utah by Michael Weibel and Dan Miller.
More local color but less precise directions to 24 of the 26 UT peaks
are found in Hiking Utah's Summits by Paula Huff and Tom Wharton.
For Wasatch and Kane counties the true believers will
visit the border points 10,840+ and 10,080+.
- Wyoming - Some HP routes are in Guide to the Wyoming Mountains and Wilderness Areas by Orrin & Lorainne Bonney.
High point locators, with some of the states they worked on
- Dinesh Desai - CA
- Ken Jones - WA
- Mike Kornbau - VA
- Fred Lobdell - FL, NC, WI
- Andy Martin - too many
- Carl Mills - AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, MI, MO, ND, OH, OK, SC, TN, TX
- John Mitchler - IL
- David Olson - AR, CO, IL, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, OK, SD, TX
- Roy Schweiker - MI, LA
- Bob Walko - AZ
Rising Stars