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This is the Twelfth episode of my trips to visit as many of the fifty US States' highest points. In chapter eleven we looked at the trip I took in August of 2020 to Idaho and Nevada. This time it's a coast-to-coast endeavor to bag Maine and California in the summer of 2021. The goal for this year was to make a second run at Katahdin, Maine and then six weeks later to backpack on the John Muir Trail with Mt. Whitney, California as the highlight of that hike. Both trips were advertised as trips for the Ozark Society and required a lot of permit applications and logistics to pull them off. There was also a lot of physical conditioning required as both peaks would present challenges. By mid-May, most of the planning and prep had been done, so it was time to concentrate on trip one, Katahdin, in the Baxter State Park of Maine. Maine In Episode Eight I recalled my trip to the North Eastern states in September 2018. Among the peaks I attempted was Katahdin, Maine. It was a tough hike and I had to turn back because I ran out of time to make it safely [...]

This is the eleventh episode of my trips to visit as many of the fifty US States’ highest points. This time it’s a week in the inter-mountain west to bag Idaho and Nevada in August of 2020. This trip was set up when my backpack on the John Muir Trail for July 2020 was canceled by COVID- 19. Mt. Whitney was to be the goal of that hike. This left me in shape but nowhere to go. I saw that no permits were needed for Idaho or Nevada, so I set this trip up as a replacement. The trip started on August 18th with a flight to Salt Lake City, Utah from Little Rock. I rented a small SUV with the ground clearance I would need for access to Nevada’s high point and got the hiking supplies I would need to do my attempt of Borah Peak, Idaho on the 20th. Flying during COVID was not too bad. You had to be aware of your surroundings and made sure you had stuff to eat on the plane as all they passed out was water and packaged snacks. The center seats were left open on the plane. Overall, I felt folks [...]

Steve Heye is organizing a multi-day backpack trip along the John Muir Trail in the California Sierras the Summer of 2020. The hike will be from the Onion Valley campground to the Whitney Portal, around 45 miles. The trip is currently in the planning stages and will require input from all those wishing to go. Because this area is high demand wilderness, we must apply for a permit to hike this trail. This is done by lottery and so dates of the trip will be dependent on a permit being issued to us. We will begin applying daily in January for permits issued for July dates and continue applying until we obtain a permit. We should know by April first if we have a permit and what the dates will be. The hike itself will probably be seven days/six nights with a day hike to the top of Mt. Whitney at 14,500 feet. The hike has several wilderness restrictions. Most of the hike is at an altitude of 9000 to 10,000 feet. Other restrictions deal with food containers, human waste, the size of the group, campsites and campfires. There has been early interest shown, so if you would like to [...]