We left Leadville and decided that we would stop in Denver for dinner and sleep.  We were both in good spirits, as we had completed the 4 hikes planned for the trip, all over 12000 feet, and our conditioning had definitely improved, as we weren’t even dead after any of the hikes (forgetting Boundary Peak, which we wish we could forget).  We had two drive-ups left to grab on the way home, Indiana and Ohio, which were the last two easy ones left for us, other than Hawaii.  He ate a pound of steak each at an Outback Steakhouse outside of Denver and crashed at a Super 8 nearby.  We left Denver on Wednesday morning, with the plan to stop in Kansas City to have dinner with our college buddy Alex.  Alex took us out for a KC BBQ dinner at Fiorella’s Jack Stack, where we gorged ourselves on the best BBQ we have ever had.  They don’t make it like that in New England, that is for damn sure.  We considered spending the night in KC, but we were anxious to get home, so with BC behind the wheel, we hopped back on I-70 after dinner and drove through the night. 

Highpoint: Hoosier High Point
State: Indiana
Height: 1257 ft.
Highpoint #: 41 (JO), 40 (BC)
Date: 8/12/2004
Trails: N/A
Distance: N/A
Vertical Gain: N/A
Time Taken: 10 minutes
Weather: Cool, sunny, 70’s
Group: JO and BC
Comments:  BC ended up driving a 6 hour shift all the way to Indiana (with a lot of help from Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso and Pink Floyd).  We arrived at Hoosier High Point at about 8:30 in the morning.  This is an unspectacular highpoint, as it is in the woods and thus, no view at all, and it is not obvious that it is the highpoint of anything. We only stayed about 10 minutes, since there weren’t a lot of photo opportunities, and we had to move on to Campbell Hill in Ohio.

The WRX at the end of the turn off for Hoosier High Point.  This picture was taken about 10 yards south of the summit.

Highpoint: Campbell Hill
State: Ohio
Height: 1550 ft.
Highpoint #: 42 (JO), 41 (BC)
Date: 8/12/2004
Trails: N/A
Distance: N/A
Vertical Gain: N/A
Time Taken: 20 minutes
Weather: Cool, sunny, 70’s
Group: JO and BC
Comments:  It only took about an hour to get from Hoosier High Point to Campbell Hill, which is on the campus of the Hi Point Vocational School outside of Bellefontaine, OH.  We got to the highpoint around 10 a.m.  This is a very nicely maintained highpoint, with a brick walkway, a bench and a view down the hill to the road.  This marked the last drive-up for us other than Hawaii, and also probably the last highpoint we would drive to from Boston.  A sad moment, as these road trips have been awesome, but there is still a lot of fun to be had with the remaining 9 highpoints. 

BC celebrates highpoint number 41.

JO at the highest point in Ohio.

We hit the road and arrived back in Cambridge, MA at about midnight on Thursday night, 8/12.  This was a very successful trip, and we are now both very excited about the highpoints we have left.  The tentative plans for next year are to knock off the last 3 remaining highpoints that are just hikes, Borah Peak, ID (12,662 feet), Kings Peak, UT (13,528 feet) and Mount Whitney, CA (14,494 feet).  Hawaii (Mauna Kea, 13,796 feet) will probably be done last, as that is a nice place to celebrate finishing the 50 states.  That leaves 5 highpoints, all of which pose a challenge that we will need training to overcome:  Granite Peak, MT (12,799 feet) is a multi-day hike with some alleged 5.4 rock climbing moves near the summit; Gannett Peak, WY (13,804 feet) is a 50-mile-roundtrip several day hike with some glacier climbing on summit day; Mount Hood, OR (11,239 feet) is a short but steep single-day climb up snow slopes and glaciers; Mount McKinley, AK (20,320 feet) and Mount Rainier, WA (14,411 feet) are multi-day expeditions up snow slopes and glaciers. 

Go back to Tuesday, 8/10/04