Christmas 2025

 

High Point History

Brian's High Point History

Google Map of Brian's Highpoints

State	Highpoint	Peak	Date	Elevation	Vertical Climb	Distance	Height Rank	Difficulty Rank
Ohio	1	Campbell Hill		1,549		Drive Up	43	47
Indiana	2	Hoosier Hill	July 10, 1999	1,257	20 ft	0.1 Miles	44	40
Pennsylvania	3	Mount Davis	January 1, 2000	3,213	0	Drive Up	33	35
Maryland	4	Backbone Mountain	January 1, 2000	3,360	750 ft	2.2 Miles	32	22
West Virginia	5	Spruce Knob	January 2, 2000	4,861	0	Drive Up	24	34
Vermont	6	Mount Mansfield	July 24, 2000	4,393	550 ft	1.6 Miles	26	27
New Hampshire	7	Mt. Washington	July 25, 2000	6,288	20 ft	Ride Up	18	38
New York	8	Mount Marcy	July 26, 2000	5,344	3,200 ft	14.8 Miles	21	14
Kentucky	9	Black Mountain	September 2000	4,129	0	Drive Up	27	42
Delaware	10	Ebright Azimuth	October 21, 2000	448	0	Drive Up	49	49
Virginia	11	Mt. Rogers	November 11, 2000	5,729	1,500 ft	8.6 Miles	19	16
Colorado	12	Mt. Elbert	August 17, 2001	14,433	4,500 ft	9 Miles	3	9
New Jersey	13	Kittatinny Mountain	July 23, 2002	1,803	0	Drive Up	40	36
Arizona	14	Humphreys Peak	August 31, 2003	12,633	3,500 ft	9 Miles	10	10
South Dakota	15	Black Elk (Harney) Peak	October 10, 2003	7,242	1,500 ft	5.8 Miles	15	19
South Carolina	16	Sassafras Mountain	February 8, 2004	3,560	0	Drive Up	29	37
Oregon	17	Mt. Hood	June 26, 2004	11,239	5,300 ft	8 Miles	13	5
Arkansas	18	Magazine Mountain	March 5, 2005	2,753	150 ft	1 Mile	34	28
Michigan	19	Mt. Arvon	June 17, 2005	1,979	300 ft	2 Miles	38	24
Wisconsin	20	Timms Hill	June 19, 2005	1,951	130 ft	0.4 Miles	39	31
Washington	21	Mt. Rainier	August 20, 2006	14,411	9,100 ft	16 Miles	4	4
Hawaii	22	Mauna Kea	October 9, 2008	13,606	230 ft	0.4 Miles	6	30
California	23	Mt. Whitney	September 3-4, 2009	14,497	6,250 ft	21.4 Miles	2	8
Nevada	24	Boundary Peak	July 15, 2011	13,140	4,400 ft	7.4 Miles	9	11
Massachusetts	25	Mt. Greylock	October 10, 2014	3,491	0	Drive Up	31	39
Connecticut	26	Mt. Frisslle (S. Slope)	October 10, 2014	2,380	450 ft	3.6 Miles	36	20
Rhode Island	27	Jerimoth Hill	October 11, 2014	812	25 ft	0.6 Miles	46	29
New Hampshire		Mt. Washington (2x)	October 2, 2015	6,288	20 ft	Ride Up	18	38
Minnesota	28	Eagle Mountain	October 15, 2016	2,301	600 ft	7 Miles	37	18
Alaska		Mount McKinley	June 13, 2017	20,308	n/a	Visit NP	1	1
New Hampshire		Mt. Washington (3x)	August 3, 2019	6,288	20 ft	Ride Up	18	38
Maine	29	Mt. Katahdin	August 8, 2019	5,267	4,200 ft	10.4 Miles	22	15
Texas	30	Guadalupe Peak	September 25, 2021	8,751	2,950 ft	8.4 Miles	14	13
Utah	31	King's Peak	September 10-12, 2022	13,534	5,350 ft	28.8 Miles	7	7
New Mexico	32	Wheeler Peak	September 10, 2023	13,167	3,033 ft	8.25 Miles	8	12
Idaho	33	Borah Peak	August 24, 2024	12,662	5,550 ft	6.8 Miles	12	6
Nebraska	34	Panorama Point	June 18, 2025	5,424	0	Drive Up	20	43
Kansas	35	Mount Sunflower	June 19, 2025	4,039	0	Drive Up	28	44
Oklahoma	36	Black Mesa	June 19, 2025	4,973	775 ft	8.6 Miles	23	17
North Dakota	37	White Butte	August 14, 2025	3,506	400 ft	2 Miles	30	23
Louisiana	38	Driskill Mountain	December 14, 2025	535	150 ft	1.8 Miles	48	25
Montana	39	Granite Peak	August 4, 2026	12,799	7,000 ft	22.2 Miles	11	3

Yellow states while living in Ohio 1999-2005 ~ Blue states while living on west coast 2006-2025

Driskill Mountain, LA (535)

38th High Point Visited 

48th Highest State Highpoint 
25th Most Difficult

summitpost.org
wikipedia.org

This was a very unexpected highpoint trip.   2025 was a great year for state highpoint progress and Louisiana marks #5 for the year!  I had a business trip that I wasn't expecting to Houston and looked on the map and realized it's about as close as I'm ever going to get to Louisiana's high point.  I opted to fly to Houston one day early so gave me 24 hours to rent a car drive 600 miles round trip and return back to Houston Sunday night for work Monday morning.  

To make the trip a little more fun, because of the long drive, I thought it would be fun to do in a cool car so instead of renting the least expensive economy car I opted to try a luxury car rental and picked up a 2 series BMW.   It was sport, comfortable and fun to drive.  How often do you get a rental car with sunroof?!   As luck would have it I didn't get to keep the sunroof open very long because I drove into some dark ominous clouds which turned out to be severe thunderstorms.   Nearly the 2nd two thirds of the trip to Louisiana it was raining so hard my wipers were at full speed and I still could barely see where I was going.  The bad weather made the drive an extra hour long.

I was hoping to find a good place for southern cookin' in Louisiana but by the time I got to Shreveport most of the places were already closed.   I found what looked a little bit like a fast food southern cooking spot called Sam's, it seemed liked there were several locations.  I ordered some brisket and jumbo shrimp which were both really good.   Back in the car for the last hour to my hotel in Arcadia, LS.  I think I finally got in ffront of the storm, but as soon as I got out of the car to check into the hotel it again started raining cats and dogs. 

Sunday I woke up and the previous day of 75-80 had changed to 30 degrees.  Burrr.   I wasn't really dressed for a 40 minute hike, all I had were shorts and a few layers for under my jacket, so my first stop was to Dollar General which was across from the hotel and I picked up a pair of gloves, a hat and even some sweatpants for total $17.    The trailhead wasn't far away, but happy to see that the rain was long gone and it was scattered clouds and a little wind.   The fall leaves were beautiful, but mostly fallen down from the storm the night before?   

The trailhead was simple to find, Google took me right there.   I didn't think in a million years at 30 degrees anyone else would be on the hike, but wouldn't you know as soon as I pulled into the parking lot a car pulled in next to me.   It was a young girl that lives nearby and she came to give her dog, Magnolia, some exercise.   I was happy to have a regular of the trail so no worries of getting lost, however, the hike is perfectly straight forward.    I bundled up with all my layers and the two of us and her dog headed down the muddy trail.  

For as much as it rained the day before, the trail soaked in most of the water and while there were a few mud puddles on the first section that was flat along the road, but as soon as the actual trail turned off to the left and started climbing a bit there were no more mud puddles.  The trail was completely covered with leaves, but was still easy enough to follow.   Signage was good and no fear of getting lost.   Taylor grew up in the area and was an absolute hoot to hike with.   Her idea of fun is to shoot water moccasins on the weekends in the summertime so safe to say we didn't have a lot in common.   She new the way of the woods, she pointed out where the deer rubbed their antlers on the trees and where they laid down in the pine needed to sleep.      

The whole trail one was was only .8 miles so we were there in about 20 minutes.  There was one outlook on the way up with a nice view as well as a lookout near the top with some benches to sit and enjoy the view.   The benches were sponsored by the highpointers organization.  The rumor has it that Mr. Driskill bought the land with the mountainside for $5.   At the top there is a big sign and a pile of rocks marking the summit.   There were two caches at the top.   One was actually a "Geocache" container which I mistook for the summit log.  Apparently you can sign the register and take or leave items in the box.   Also on the kiosk/sign was the actual summit register.  There had been several people that had visited over the weekend including two from Colorado.

There is an alternate path over a false summit so we opted to go that route on the way down.  It was less traveled and with all the leaves a little harder to follow because the trail is much more narrow as well as heavily covered by leaves.   There were however blazes on the trees that marked the trail all the way back to the main trail.  The trails merged about the start of the hike where the actual trail had veered off the back country dirt road.

Another highpoint is in the bag!

The trip home I took a different route that seemed a little more scenic.  I didn't find any good options for gas for awhile but managed to refuel before having to start panicking.   I exited Louisiana near Toledo Bend which has a road that goes directly over a giant lake which separates Texas from Louisiana.  There were parks on each side of the lake where I stopped for a few pictures including welcome signs for both states.  Imade it all the way to Lufkin, Texas where I found the best spot in the world for lunch called Tia Juanita's Fish Camp!    

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