Mount Davis, Pennsylvania Highpoint

Mount Davis is home to the highest natural point in Pennsylvania, rising 3,213 ft. within 5,685-acre Forbes State Forest near the Pennsylvania and Maryland border. One can reach the top of Mount Davis by hiking a number of trails within the forest or by driving up very near the summit and hiking less than a mile to the true summit, which includes a nice, tall metal observation tower for good photo ops.

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Humphreys Peak, Arizona Highpoint

If it happens to be a windy day (it was on the day of my hike) this is also the section of the trail where you’ll feel it the most. The ridges are exposed and the gusts will pick up intensity as you get above 12,000 feet. After the final false summit, you’ll see the true summit up to your left (north). Battle the wind and scramble up the final pile of boulders and the summit is yours.

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Mount Arvon, Michigan Highpoint

Mount Arvon can be found in the northern part of the U.P. of Michigan. It is part of the Huron Mountains and sits only about 10 miles from Lake Superior. In order to reach this summit of this mountain, which trumps nearby peak Mount Curwood by less than a foot, one must drive up a series of old logging loads to reach a trailhead of sorts that must be traveled by foot to in order to reach the summit.

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Highpointing – reaching the highest point in every U.S. state

I stumbled across highpointing shortly after climbing Mount Rainier in June 2008. It was more of an online stumble than a physical stumble, but, believe me, I do plenty of both. I don’t recall exactly how I discovered the official group of highpointers, but I was researching something about Mt. Rainier and I came across this curious group that was all about reaching the high point in every state in the U.S.

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Spruce Knob, West Virginia Highpoint

Spruce Knob, the summit of Spruce Mountain, is the highpoint in the state of West Virginia and is also highest peak in the Allegheny Mountains and Appalachian Plateaus. With an elevation of 4,861 ft., Spruce Knob provides tremendous views of the surrounding areas. This peak sits in both the Monongahela National Forest and Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area (NRA) near the town of Riverton, WV.

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Hoosier Hill, Indiana Highpoint

The most harrowing part of the highpointing experience may be driving the rolling hills leading up to the hill. Route 227 runs parallel to the Indiana-Ohio border (it’s about 1 mile the the west) and leads you on a northbound roller coaster journey to an intersection near the hill. If you don’t obey the speed limit, your car may soon be attempting jumps and stunts that you didn’t exactly plan.

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Campbell Hill, Ohio Highpoint

Indiana and Ohio are both relatively large states, so it’s noteworthy (and convenient) that each state highpoint sits about a two-hour drive from the other. Once we decided to visit Indiana’s highpoint, Hoosier Hill, it was almost a given that we’d be visiting Ohio’s highpoint, Campbell Hill, soon thereafter. Campbell Hill can be found in the northeast section of Bellefontaine, Ohio

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Eagle Mountain, Minnesota Highpoint

Hiking Eagle Mountain, which sits in the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area) Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota, is a true backcountry experience for those seeking a state highpoint that offers up more of an outdoors-trail-hiking feel and less of a drive-up-to-the-lookout-point feel. Some other highpoints throughout the Midwest and other parts of the U.S. are less of an outdoors experience and more of a tourist attraction, but Eagle Mountain is not one of those.

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Timms Hill, Wisconsin Highpoint

On top of Timms Hills sits two observation towers, one steel tower rising about 65 feet and a smaller wooden tower rising maybe 45 feet. The act of climbing the observation tower gives Timms Hill a more “authentic” highpoint feel, and obviously offers up some much better photo opportunities.

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Charles Mound, Illinois Highpoint

The process it takes to ultimately stand atop Charles Mound most likely won’t fill pages of the next best-selling adventure novel but it will give you a taste of what northwestern Illinois has to offer. The IL state highpoint experience is filled with easy, rolling hills and quiet country roads.

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