What's missing from these pictures?

Our religious blog readers may have noticed that there is something missing from our last highpointing trip (NC, SC, GA, TN, KY). If you study our entries carefully, you may be able to guess what that is. If you think you know the answer, post it as a comment or send the answer in a briefcase filled with unmarked bills. The first right answer will receive a FANTASTIC gift package! Act fast...you don't want to miss out!

Kentucky Highpoint

On the way home from Asheville, NC we stopped at the Kentucky highpoint, Black Mountain.

Our 12th highpoint! At this pace we will be done is less than 10 years.

The marker was nicely tucked away in the trees. I've excluded all the radio towers and the FAA radar that litter this highpoint.

We picked a great time of the year to do these last five highpoints.

North Carolina

Some photographer took this of us on a lookout on the beautiful Blueridge Mountain Parkway.

Another picture from the parkway.


We get to the parking lot for the summit to find out it is closed!!!! On top of this there is a ranger truck right at the trail head with the caution tape and backhoe. For a while we think it is one of the guys walking around in the parking lot. We hang around for a while and most people leave and I convince Becki to sneak up to the top with me. We traveled too far to turn back now.

You can see here the top isn't far from the parking lot.

Shhhh, they might hear us.


This is the summit pose. Isn't nature wonderful with gravel, rebar, concrete forms, heavy construction equipment?

On the way out of the park Becki caught a nice sun set. We had planned on camping in the park, but we were really hungry, without food, and the restaurant in the park had already closed. We got a little lost trying to leave the park and follow the Google Map directions. We were supposed to turn on right on "Old Railroad Grade". No surprise this wasn't a road that could be traveled by car. We had no choice but to head back to Asheville, NC. Fortunately my parents were staying in Asheville so we called them up and stayed in their room.

South Carolina

In about 3 hours after Georgia's highpoint we reached South Carolina's Sassafras Mountain. We didn't see anyone else on this highpoint and it was probably the ugliest highpoint we've been to so far. Not much to say about this one except now we've completed 10 highpoints.


My outfit is lovely isn't it: crocs, wool socks, and plaid shorts.
On to North Carolina's Mount Mitchell...

Georgia Highpoint

We got up super early (6AM for us :) to highpoint GA, SC, and NC today. This meant we cruised through the Smoky Mountain National Park with hardly any traffic. We learned many valuable lessons about following Google Map directions. The best thing when making lots of turns is to follow the directions exactly and reset the trip odometer at each step along the way. Then you can cross off each direction and can anticipate the upcoming roads. This is really important when traveling in the middle of nowhere. Most importantly though, don't try to follow Google Map directions if it tries to put you on an "unnamed road". I though I was clever by getting to the Georgia highpoint from the northeast side to save time, but the road turned out to be some old logging road that was no way suitable for our little Golf TDI. So we lost a little time and drove around the mountain and followed the directions from our guide book.

Black is the color of the day. The guide book said it was an hour round trip hike, but it was more like 15 minutes to the top on a fairly steep asphalt trail. It was funny to see people there with hiking boots, camel packs, and other unnecessary hiking accessories. I climbed Brasstown Bald in my crocs.


On the way down we did the "I just crapped my pants walk" and giggled the whole way down. Now that we got our ab workout in its time to go to South Carolina.

Tennesse Highpoint

Here we are on top of Clingman's Dome our 8th highpoint. The crux was probably finding a parking spot because the place was packed. Word on the street is that this is the most visited highpoint in the US. I believe it, there were bikers, babies, and grandparents hiking with us. None of our grandparents (or babies, or bikers) were with us, but Shawn's parents did the hike too! This was Debbie's 3rd highpoint and Dave's 1st. Shawn needs to work on his smile, doesn't he?

Tomorrow, we'll be on the summit of that peak, Mt. Mitchell, NC. I suggested that we hike there from Clingman's Dome, but Shawn totally wussed out. He'll say it's not true, but it is.

We were lucky to get such a great view--73 miles away! Since the 1940s, air pollution has reduced the view by up to 80% in the summer. Luckily the Tennessee Valley Authority has reduced the the impact of coal-fired power plants by upgrading ozone-emitters, and residents and businesses have signed up for green energy programs.

Tonight we'll practice our smiles in the mirror because tomorrow will be a big highpointing day with GA, SC, and NC in our sights.

Next highpoints

We now have plans for 5 highpoints this weekend through Tuesday. We dropped Virginia from the list because it is a longish hike, but we'll do it separately over a weekend in the near future. I made a detailed google map of the trip, all of 24 hours of driving, whew!!!

We are considering several more for spring break 2008. Our trip may include Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois.