Jul. 21, 2025
In order to climb Mount Whitney you first need to obtain a permit from the Forest Service. With permit in hand, you can hike the beast that is Mount Whitney. My expierence with the permit lottery is I put in for a permit three years in a row, and pulled a permit two of those years. Your expierence may vary, depending on factors on how large your group is and what days you are willing to hike. I am assuming days like Labor Day weekend are more popular than a day mid-week.
Jun. 29, 2025
White Butte is a delightful hike. I climbed White Butte on a warm Sunday in late June. White Butte is located in the western part of North Dakota and are part of a series of buttes called the Chalky Buttes. As you can see from the photographs, the buttes look almost pure white from a distance.
Nov. 2, 2024
Bruneau Dunes State Park is about 60 miles southeast of Boise, on the south side of the Snake River. In the midst of the desert landscape, are giant sand dunes. Next to the dunes are small lakes, that attract a large amount of waterfowl. In addition to hiking and climbing the dunes, you can also rent sleds and “sandboards” that you can carry up the dune and ride down. This area of Idaho is good for star watching, and the park is home to an observatory which you can visit in evenings.
Mar. 31, 2024
Black Mountain is near the state line between Virginia and Kentucky in coal country. The trail consists of an access road that serves an FAA Radar facility, and some radio towers and related infrastructure at Black Mountain proper. The high point is accessible with a high clearance vehicle. The view from the top is mostly industrial with the radio tower and infrastructure, plus a coal mine on the Virginia side of the ridge line. I hiked this mid-morning on an Easter Sunday - which was a great way to spend a Sunday morning.
Mar. 30, 2024
Mount Rogers is one of my favorite high points so far. I started at Grayson Highlands State Park at Massie Gap, and followed the Rhododendron Trail to the Appalachian Trail. Grayson Highlands State Park is home to a herd of ponies, in which the trail to Mount Rogers passes through areas where the ponies were hanging out. The trail was well marked, and went in an out of forest areas into bald areas which afforded views down into the rugged mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. The actual high point was a rock in a forested area - so there were no views from the actual top. There were a lot of people out on the day that I hiked - lots of people enjoying the warm spring day as well. I forgot to charge my phone before the hike, so my pictures are limited and I did not get any pony pictures.
Mar. 29, 2024
Spruce Knob has a paved road that goes all the way to the top. However, I chose the Huckleberry Trail route, which is a steady climb up a ridge line to Spruce Knob. I hiked this trail late on a clear spring day. The views from the top show why West Virginia is called “The Mountain State”. The green mountains stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. This was the third and final high point I completed on that day.
Mar. 29, 2024
The Hoye Crest (part of Backbone Mountain) trailhead is accessed from West Virginia. There is a small turnout on either side of US-219. The trail mostly follows what appears to be an old forest road, up Backbone Mountain. On the far side of the mountain you cross into Maryland and reach the high point itself. The view from the top is the neighboring valley and next ridge over in Maryland. The trail is short and steep, and on the spring day I hiked the trail none of the trees had their leaves yet. My favorite part about the trail was the spur to the West Virginia/Maryland border marker, where I got to stand with one foot in Maryland and the other foot in West Virginia. This was my second high point of the day.
Mar. 29, 2024
I made the trip to Mount Davis early in the morning on a sunny spring day. The forest was still without leaves, save for an evergreen here and there. The hike was a gentle trail through the forest that followed the ridge line south from the parking area to the viewing platform. This would have been a fun bike ride along the country roads, up onto the ridge to Mount Davis. The views were beautiful from the top. I enjoyed climbing up the metal viewing platform. This was my first out of three highpoints for the day.
Sep. 8, 2023
I hiked the Humphreys Peak trail in early September. I camped at a dispersed camping area about 15 minutes west of the trail head, and was on the trail before sunrise. The trail is pretty steep, but the trees provide a lot of shade below the saddle. This was less important in the dark, but was nice on the way down. At the saddle between Humphreys Peak and Mount Agassiz, you get a clear view of the summit and the route up to the summit. There was a fair amount of wind along the ridge line. The trail between the saddle and the summit is probably the hardest part of the trail, because you are picking your way through lots of rocks. The view from the summit is amazing - clear views up towards the Grand Canyon, and south towards Sedona.
Jul. 10, 2022
Mount Elbert is the highest peak in Colorado, and is the second highest peak in the lower 48. I wasn’t really sure how to acclimate for this one, so I arrived in Leadville mid-afternoon the day before I hiked, and spent the afternoon walking around town. Leadville is just over 10,000 feet in elevation. The Mount Elbert hike is non-technical, but the high elevation is definitely a factor for this hike. I was on the trail by 4:30AM, trying to avoid any afternoon thunderstorms that happen in this area. As it was, the parking lot was very busy when I pulled up. The hike starts out with a steady climb along the Colorado Trail, and then becomes steep, and then steeper. There are two false summits that trick you into thinking you are almost done. I didn’t have any symptoms of altitude sickness, but you could tell that the air was thinner.
Apr. 30, 2022
Black Elk Peak (formerly known as Harney Peak) is in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The trail starts at scenic Sylvan Lake, in Custer State Park. The lower part of the trail is a gentle climb through the forest before gaining a ridge line, where the view of Black Elk Peak and other Black Hills rock formations opens up. The general ruggedness of all of the rock formations, make this hike not feel like you are in a state that is mostly great plains. At the very top of the peak is a series of stairs cut into the mountain, before getting to a stone lookout tower. The views into the distance show the rugged Black Hills fading into the prairie. I hiked this on a warm April day, and there were a lot of other fellow hikers on the trail as well.
Mar. 1, 2020
Small wilderness area encompassing a Joshua Tree forest outside of Searchlight, Nevada.
Jun. 23, 2019
Sassafras Mountain is in the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern South Carolina, on the border with North Carolina. Except for a short hike from the parking lot, the summit is accessible by car. The route I chose to hike this mountain was the Foothills Trail, starting just north of the community of Rocky Bottom on US-178. The trail starts in a canyon along the Eastatoe Creek and is a steep climb to the summit. It was a hot, humid, and sometimes rainy morning when I made this hike. The vegetation along the trail was very lush, it felt like a rainforest. The last quarter of my hike back to the car was a crazy cloudburst that literally felt like it was raining buckets.
Jun. 22, 2019
The high point of Georgia is in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northeastern part of the state. The easiest way to get to the top is by car, but the route I chose was the Jack’s Knob Trail which begins at Jack’s Gap at the intersection of GA-180 and GA-180 Spur. The trail is well marked, and is a fairly steep climb through a thickly forested landscape. As someone that spends most of my time hiking in the western US, I am always suprised by how green, and lush the southeast is. I climbed this in late June and it was super humid. At the top is a huge viewing platform, and you will expect to see a lot of other people up there. It has been said that on a clear day you can see the buildings of Atlanta from the top, although the day I climbed was drizzly and foggy.
Jul. 22, 2018
Borah Peak is probably the hardest of the high points that do not require any special gear. The standard Chicken Out Ridge route, is so named because of a rocky section that is somewhat exposed and requires scrambling. The exposure on the ridge can be intimidating, and hence is where pepole chicken out and turn back. From the parking lot to the summit is 3.5 miles, a very steep 3.5 miles! The crux of the trail is at the base of Chicken Out Ridge where the trail skirts along a narrow ridge line for around 20 feet or so. When I hiked the trail on a mid July day, there was still snow on this stretch that was stamped down with boot tracks. A slip here would spell disaster for sure. In my opinion the hardest part of the hike was going back down. The trail is very steep and the soil seems like a fine powder - which makes for pretty poor traction. Definilty bring hiking poles, if for nothing else, than the climb back down. Even with these, I slipped a few times on the way down. Start early on this one, as summer thunderstorms are frequent, and there is no shelter from the lightning above treeline. I started the hike at 5:00 AM on a July morning as was back to the car by 12:30 PM.
Mar. 29, 2014
Black Mesa is located at the far western end of Oklahoma, just a short distance from the Colorado and New Mexico borders. Landscape wise, this is high plains, with mostly short grasses, Yucca, and some Pinon-Juniper woodlands along the side of the mesa. There is not a lot of shade on this trail, and would be very exposed during the summer months. I hiked this on a late March evening and the sun set while I was returning to the car. Overall this is not a terribly challenging hike, but quite a beautiful one.
Apr. 15, 2013
Guadaulpe Peak is located in Guadalupe Mountains National Park in far western Texas. The trail is located in the Chihuahuan Desert, and at the lower elevations means there is not much vegetation to provide shade.As you climb higher onto the mountain there are some small patches of forested areas. Because the trail is so exposed, I would not recommend hiking this one in the middle of a summer day. I hiked this trail in April, starting shortly after sunrise. Heat was not an issue, but the winds at the top were quite strong. The views were amazing from the top.