Carrauntoohil – Ireland’s High Point Ireland’s western coast is strewn with fantastic mountains. The southwestern tip of the island contains the famous Ring of Kerry, a loop that tours the Iveragh Peninsula of County Kerry. This region is a quintessentially Irish mix of rock and green. The mountains and the sea intersect in a sensory delight. Nestled …
Guadalupe Peak Redux – Texas’ High Point Around 300 million years ago, western Texas and southeastern New Mexico were covered by an inland sea, called the Delaware Basin. Over time, a reef developed around the edge of the water. In these systems, calcium carbonate from organisms with shells forms limestone rock. Sometime during the Cenozoic …
Mt. Marcy – New York’s High Point Northeastern New York is dominated by the Adirondack Mountains. Of the hundreds of summits that rise from the massif, none stretches higher into the sky than Mount Marcy. With an elevation of 5,344 feet above sea level, Marcy clocks in at 21st on the list of state High Points; it’s also the …
Pico da Neblina – Brazil’s High Point The Andes and Aconcagua, in particular, dominate the conversation about South America’s mountains. And rightly so, as the chain is the world’s longest, while the continental high point is the second-tallest of the seven large tracts of land. Yet, a continent as enormous as South America undoubtedly contains other mountainous …
Kilimanjaro “No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.” –Ernest Hemingway, The Snows of Kilimanjaro Africa’s tallest mountain – Kilimanjaro – looms like an icy sentinel over the surrounding savannas of northern Tanzania, just south of the border with Kenya. Kilimanjaro towers over the grasslands of Tana – photo by Volodymyr Burdiak …
Taum Sauk Mountain – Missouri’s High Point We do not often associate Missouri with altitude, but we learned the Saint Francois Mountains – a subset of the Ozarks – are an ancient chain of true, geological mountains. The highest point in these old crags is Taum Sauk Mountain. Rising 1,772 feet above sea level, …
Mount Rainier – Washington’s High Point Mount Rainier is one of the most famous, striking, and prominent peaks in the United States. This beast of a crag racks up an impressive list of superlatives. At 14,417 feet above sea level, the mountain is the High Point of Washington, as well as the eponymous National Park in which she …
Spruce Knob – West Virginia’s High Point If the state of West Virginia had not presciently decided to move away from the wickedness of slavery during the Civil War, its High Point would be about 250 miles south-southwest at Mount Rogers, near the Virginia tripoint with North Carolina and Tennessee. Instead, the good citizens …
Mount Frissell – Connecticut’s High Point Among the 50 state High Points, Connecticut’s apex sports a unique trait. Mount Frissell’s peak is actually in Massachusetts, but its southwestern shoulder – right on the border of the two states – happens to be the highest point within Connecticut. So to stand on the rooftop of …
Mt. Greylock – Massachusetts’ High Point This edition of the High Points series takes us to the northwestern corner of Massachusetts. Mt. Greylock rises 3,489 feet above sea level. Though the peak is often associated with the Berkshire Mountains, it is technically part of the Taconic Mountains. The whole region is filled with craggy goodness. The Green …