My dad and I are on a journey to reach the highest point in every state in the contiguous US. We knocked off 8 of them on a road trip through the Midwest and mid-Atlantic in the summer of 2022.
Indiana
Our journey to the highest point in Indiana began with a fun stop at the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown Indiana – the actual gym in the movie Hoosiers that is still used for Indiana high school basketball today. After shooting some hoops and touring the gym, my mom, dad, Katie and I headed east on I-70 towards the towering summit of Hoosier Hill in Indiana. We exited the freeway and headed north for about 10 miles on Arba Pike before parking in a pullout surrounded by corn and soybean fields and a small patch of trees. There was a small sign pointing us toward the highest point in Indiana, and it took us a few steps to reach the “summit”. The highest point in the state was unnoticeably higher than the rest of the ground surrounding it. I love how highpointing can take someone to such out of the way parts of the country that one would likely never see otherwise.
Ohio
We departed Hoosier Hill and crossed the border into Ohio. The terrain was still made up of flat fields of soy and corn as far as the eye can see. After an hour and a half drive, we approached the town of Bellefontaine, Ohio. The highest point of the state is just out of town on highway 540 and is actually located on the campus of a local technical college. We parked and were instantly greeted by people painting new parking spots in the parking lot asking us if we were “here for the highpoint?” We told them yes, and they cheerfully pointed us up a small hill to the summit. The summit is marked with a few signs and a flagpole.
Before we left Ohio, and after a wonderful time at my cousin's wedding in the Hocking Hills of Ohio, we took some time to explore the state park. It is surprising to me that the highest point in the state is not located in this area. The terrain is much hillier, and there are some impressive rock gorges, streams, and waterfalls. We checked out Old Man’s Cave, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave in a whirlwind tour. All were uniquely beautiful sites and I especially liked Ash Cave, a massive sandstone overhang with a beautiful waterfall cascading over the rim. The only issue I had was that we went at midday on a weekend in the summer, so each place was PACKED with people. It was a different level of crowding than you ever see in Washington state, even at the most crowded trailhead. I would recommend visiting Hocking Hills early in the morning and on a weekday if possible. It is a truly beautiful sight to see, and worth it to see it without masses of people around.
Pennsylvania
After checking out the beautiful, and in my opinion, underrated, city of Pittsburgh, we dropped Katie and my mom off at the airport to return to Seattle. My dad and I continued on in the pursuit of more state highpoints. We first drove out to do an evening “climb” of Mount Davis. The Mount Davis Natural Area is slightly over an hour and a half drive from the city and is well-signed as you get closer. The weather was partially sunny in Pittsburgh, but as we headed further east, the clouds built and soon we were in a steady misty rain. My dad had forgotten to bring a rain jacket on the trip, and Katie kindly offered hers to use before she flew home (even through it was a few sizes too small for him!). Because of our tight schedule, we found ourselves racing daylight up a wide, rocky, and wet trail. The one-way distance was 0.9 miles, with about 83 feet of gain. The summit is marked with a tall lookout structure, which we climbed up into the clouds. There was no view, but it was still a cool experience to be far above the tops of the trees.
We didn’t have much time before dark, so we splished and splashed back down the trail and to the car, where we dried off with another state highpoint in the bag before heading off to Swallow Falls State Park in Maryland.
Maryland
I wanted to wake up early and check out the waterfalls in the park, but we really needed to maximize our time for the day, so we instead drove south further into the Appalachians to the border of West Virginia and Maryland. The trail to the top of Maryland actually starts in West Virginia on the side of Highway 219. The weather was misty for us, so we had a nice muggy walk up through vibrantly green forest, crossing the border into Maryland very close to the summit. The summit was wooded, but it seemed like there could be some views through gaps in the trees if we weren’t in a cloud. Because of our busy schedule, we couldn’t take too much time to savor – so we turned around and dashed back to our car for the journey further into West Virginia. The entire hike was 2.2 miles with 647 feet of ascent in about 55 minutes.
West Virginia
I had never been to this part of the country, so it was fun to drive through the Appalachians and see some of the West Virginian mountains. We had to play some John Denver on our way, of course. Spruce Knob – the highest point of the state, can be a drive up with just a short walk to the summit. Our plan was to drive up and do some exploration on some of the surrounding trails before visiting the true summit. We started the 11 mile long drive up from the valley, but after a few miles our plans were dashed by a good-sized tree across the road. Darn! It didn’t look like this was going to be cleared any time soon, and we weren’t going to be in West Virginia very often, so we chose to just walk the road. This would turn our short walk to the summit into a 10–11 mile journey and would hamper our schedule for the rest of the day. Oh well, we were there so the only option was to do it! The road was nice, lined with verdant green trees, and occasional nice views out to Appalachian ridges.
Thinking we could save time, we tried to cut a large switchback in the road, which turned into a bit of a bushwhack. If anyone else finds themselves in a situation where you are forced to walk the road - I don’t necessarily recommend this route, it saved us distance, but I doubt it saved any time. Plus, it was much more difficult walking compared to the pleasant road. We eventually popped back out on the road and headed up toward the summit area, where we once again entered a cloud. I take for granted the generally stable weather we have in the Cascades – it is not the case here. The summit area was nice, with a big lookout structure, which I’m sure would have excellent views on a clear day. We still had a long way to walk heading out, so we didn’t spend much time on the top. On the way down, we took another, slight shortcut, which I also don’t recommend. All in all, we made the most of Spruce Knob, and had a very memorable time snagging the high point through some adversity. In total our hike ended up being 10.1 miles with 900 feet of ascent in 3 hours and 23 minutes.
Kentucky
We were behind the eight-ball a bit timewise after having to walk the road on Spruce Knob, and we still had a long way to go to get to the high point of Kentucky. It was over a 6-hour drive, and on the way, we split it up with a stop at New River Gorge, one of the newest national parks. We didn’t have much time, and couldn’t see the famous bridge, or some of the well-known rock-climbing areas, but we still had some great views of the deep valley and powerful river below.
Our drive took us into the skinny, far southwest part of Virginia. When we hit the town of Appalachia, we headed up highway 160, which curves steeply up into the mountains from town. Eventually, we reached the pass, which sits right on the dividing line between Kentucky and Virginia - complete with a "Virginia is for lovers" sign. From the pass, we took the Black Mountain Ridge Road, a steep, gravel road, about 2 miles, before parking and walking the short distance to the summit. There were no views from the top, although that wouldn’t have mattered because we were still in that pesky cloud. The summit wasn’t particularly attractive, so we hustled back down to the pass to try to catch sunset if there was going to be one. The view back into Kentucky was nice, but there was no real sunset to speak of. The long day of driving still wasn’t over, so we piled back into the car and drove back into Virginia, with the intention of setting ourselves up for success on Mount Rogers the next day. We eventually settled in at Beartree Campground, after a LONG day.
Virginia
No rest for the weary as we were up early to bag the highpoint of Virginia today. There are multiple routes to the summit of Mount Rogers, as it is right off the Appalachian trail, and we chose Massie Gap as our starting point. We were in a thick cloud again, surprise surprise, and we set off through open forest and grassland – known as the Grayson highlands. One very interesting part of this hike was that this area is filled with wild ponies! They were everywhere around the trail, consisting of just about every pattern and color. It was fascinating to watch them in the mist, and we even heard some disembodied whinnying coming out of the gray that was very unexpected.
They were fascinating creatures and were definitely the highlight of the Mount Rogers trip. Eventually, we entered a more wooded section of the trail and turned off the AT to make the quick trip up to the state highpoint. The high point is densely wooded, and it is not obvious what the actual highest point is, but we eventually found a rock with a marker on it. Heading back, we said hi to the ponies on our way through and coasted back to the car 3 and a half hours after we started. The final stats were 8.4 miles and 1283 feet of ascent.
North Carolina
Our final highpoint of the trip – the highest point of the Appalachian Mountains. Ater Mount Rogers and a stunning drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, we found ourselves angling up to Mount Mitchell State Park. Mount Mitchell is another summit that you can essentially drive all the way to the top of. We wanted to hike at least a bit further to get to the top and I noticed an “Old Mitchell Trail” leading to the summit that parallels the road. We decided to take this from the State Park Restaurant parking lot, figuring it would be a leisurely trail that would allow us to stretch our legs and maybe get some good views. It turned out to be deceptively difficult, with some steep, rocky ups and downs and generally poor footing. Still, it was a fun adventure, and we eventually topped out, joining the crowd at the lookout structure at the summit. This was our first summit since Ohio that was not in the clouds, and we enjoyed some excellent views of the endless ridges of Appalachia. We then headed back to our car with our 8th highpoint of the trip done.
That afternoon we drove through the nice town of Asheville, North Carolina before descending into the heat and humidity of South Carolina. We stopped at Congaree National Park as the sun was going down in absurdly hot and sticky conditions. You could have told me it was 100% humidity, and I would have believed you. We walked around the boardwalk and I felt like I had been dropped off in a tropical rainforest. That night was ridiculously hot as we tried to get some decent sleep in Longleaf Campground.
Eventually it cooled down enough to sleep, and in the morning, we were on our way to explore the town of Charleston.
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