Dad and I snagged Mount Mitchell on one of our road trips before, but it was so close to where we were that we decided to go again. The drive there was….interesting. Dad asked Siri to take us there and we followed her directions. “Turn right and you will arrive at your destination.” She told us after awhile of driving. Dad and I both looked at each other as we steered the car in the direction Siri told us to go. “This doesn’t look at familiar at ALL!” I exclaimed. Dad agreed, but we were going up so we kept going. “You have arrived!” Siri proudly told us as we pulled into….a housing development. What. ON. EARTH.
Continue readingstate highpoint
Sassafras Mountain – South Carolina – UPDATED 2019
One of the main reasons Dad and I chose to head down south again for our road trip was to see the new tower they built on the top of Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in South Carolina. It was recently reopened a few months ago so we decided to head down and check it out.
Continue readingDriskill Mountain – Louisiana State High Point
There was a hurricane coming as Dad and I drove to our final highpoint of this epic road trip. We drove down the back country roads to beat it before the rain was expected to start at Driskill Mountain Louisiana. We figured I should have time to hike it and continue driving as far as we could for a bit. They were calling for flooding and crazy winds so I knew I had to hurry.
Mount Magazine: Signal Hill – Arkansas State High Point
Dad and I arrived at Mount Magazine late in the afternoon. We were tired from driving so we decided to stay at the lodge there. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It reminded me of the Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont, but more modern. After we checked in we decided we may as well hike to the highpoint to save us time in the morning because we had another long day of driving.
Black Mesa, OK
I was excited/nervous as Dad and I made our way to the trailhead for Black Mesa in Oklahoma. I figured the hike would be sort of like White Butte in North Dakota, only longer. I thought the hike started at Black Mesa State Park. We pulled in and asked a few people if the hike starts there and one man replied, “Well, you can start the hike here, but it’d take you a day or two!” before giving us directions to the spot a bit farther down the road where the trail ACTUALLY starts.
Mount Sunflower – Kansas
I was really excited about going to Mount Sunflower in Kansas. I love sunflowers and this state high point has a giant metal sunflower made out of rail road spikes. Unfortunately when Dad and I got there it was pretty foggy and misty so I didn’t have the picturesque blue sky with giant puffy clouds in the background for my pictures like I wanted, but it was still a cool little place to check out.
Taum Sauk -Missouri State High Point
The first state high point for my recent road trip with my dad was Taum Sauk in Missouri. On the way to the main parking area there is a great lookout that I recommend stopping at.
Taum Sauk
2017 State High Point Road Trip
I’m not quite sure why it has taken me so long to blog about my road trip with my dad – we had such a great time and ended up getting 8 state highpoints in like 6 days – I really doubted it was possible. This blog post is going to be an overview of the entire trip – I will write an entire post for each highpoint (eventually).
My dad and I studied the map for all the highpoints and decided to head out and get as many as we could with the time we had. It was rainy when we left and I just threw everything in the car right after work and took off to meet my dad. We had been on the road for about 2 hours when I realized I forgot all the dry food I had packed – I grabbed the cooler, but the bin w/ all the bread, cereal, etc was still on the dining room table. CRAP! Well, I figured we could just grab what we needed along the way, there was no point in going back for it.
Charles Mound – Illinois State Highpoint – Road Trip Day 9
They were calling for rain again so we headed out as early as we could. Again we put ourselves within about an hours drive of Charles Mound, the highest point in Illinois so we could snag it first thing in the morning and then continue our drive home. I was expecting there to be a lot of people there as well as this highpoint is on private property and only open a handful of days during the year.
I typed in 688 West Charles Mound Rd, Scales Mound, IL and my GPS took us right to the gate. It was closed with a chain around it, but there were signs directing us to park and continue on foot. My dad parked off the road as far as possible and as we were putting on our hiking shoes a truck pulled up and a man inside warned us to be careful because where we parked there was a big drop off that was hidden in the tall grass. He also stated it looked like it was gonna be a busy day – it was around 8AM or so and there were already a few cars parked besides ours. The man in the truck turned and drove down the lane next to the gate for the highpoint so we are assuming it was Mr Wuebbel who owns the property but he didn’t introduce himself so I am not sure.
blisters and bug bites 