Category Archives: State Highpoints

Getting to the top of the Garden State (22/50)

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Our trip to New England in 2017 saw us pick up five highpoints. The last of those was New Jersey (photos)

The Summer of 2017 saw me and Ben knock out quite a few highpoints in New England. From a sidewalk near the Delaware/Pennsylvania border, to a cool summit in New Hampshire, to just missing the Vermont Highpoint and having to settle for Ben and Jerry’s to a visit to Maine to our last highpoint of the trip, Highpoint, New Jersey, it made for a great summer vacation.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t have high hopes for the New Jersey highpoint. All I thought of when I thought of New Jersey were Enzo and Cass, fist pumping, and not pumping my own gas. I didn’t research this highpoint much. I had no idea before going there that the Appalachian Trail ran through New Jersey, much less this highpoint.

Apparently, I had New Jersey all wrong.

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No Wizardry, Just a Great View: Mt. Greylock, Massachusetts (21/50)

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Ben at the summit of Mt. Greylock

Ben just grabbed a seat after walking across the summit of Mt. Greylock. It’s hard to blame him. Mt. Greylock Photo Album

After our adventures in Rhode Island, the time came to make the about two hour trip back to Massachusetts and pick up the highpoint of the Bay State.

All of the time I had ever spent in Massachusetts had been in Boston and along the cape, so I didn’t know what to expect from the mountainous area of the commonwealth.  I quickly learned that it was much better than I had expected.

Mt. Greylock has been featured in literature, and it has inspired writers in the past.  J. K. Rowling placed a school of wizardry on the mountain in 2016 (spoiler alert….we didn’t find it), and Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville both found it as muse of sorts in their writing.  After hiking the mountain and sitting at its summit, it is easy to see why.

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On the Road to Rhode Island: Jerimoth Hill, RI (20/50)

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jerimoth hill start

After nearly missing the start of the trail a few times, we were finally headed to the highpoint of Rhode Island. (Jerimoth Hill, RI Photos)

First off…isn’t it crazy how life gets busy and next thing you know, you are a year behind on your blog posts?!?

Ever have one of those days where you want to accomplish something, but don’t really know how much you will take down?  That was our day of highpointing Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  At one point, I had the grand plan of adding Connecticut to that list, but thanks to sleeping in, not so good recognition skills, and spotty C-Spire service, stop No. 3 had to be skipped.  Oh well, the other two stops were still pretty good.

When you think of Jerimoth Hill, you don’t think of danger.  Nope, you save that for places like Denali or Mt. Rainier.  I mean, what could be dangerous about Jerimoth Hill?  Getting hit by a car while crossing the street?  Well, back in the day, getting shot was up on the list.  You see, Jerimoth Hill was on privately owned land, which has since been transferred, but before that transfer, folks had been threatened with being shot for attempting to reach the highest point of the Ocean State.

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The Highpoint by a Sidewalk: Ebright Azimuth, Delaware (18/50)

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Ebright Azimuth Sign

Ben and I in front of the sign explaining Ebright Azimuth. The actual geodetic marker is about 20 feet away.  (Ebright Azimuth photos)

Tom Petty once said that good love is hard to find.  Apparently, one of the easiest highpoints to snag in all of the United States might be too, at least for me, as I drove past the Delaware highpoint four times.

Located just inside Delaware’s border with Pennsylvania, Ebright Azimuth does not do much in the way of standing out.  In fact, my son still asks if Delaware’s highpoint is also its second lowest point. The confusion is understandable as this spot checks in at a less than whopping 447.85 feet.

However, as with some other highpoints, there are some quirky characteristics to Ebright Azimuth.  For starters, the geodetic marker is found in a cut out area of a sidewalk.  That’s right.  At one point, this marker was going to be paved over for a sidewalk. Those plans were changed, and instead, the marker was bypassed when the sidewalk was built.

This sidewalk is located in a neighborhood, so one has to wonder if some local jogger has the record for most trips to the highest point in Delaware.  It seems likely to assume there may well be someone who has ascended Ebright Azimuth hundreds or maybe more than a thousand times.

While the elevation of the highpoint may not pack much sizzle, the folks maintaining the highpoint have done a pretty nice job making it a bit more special.  There are signs explaining the highpoint and a bench for sitting if needed.

Ben and I snagged this highpoint as part of a trip up to New England to see how many highpoints we could get.  After hanging around this highpoint for just a bit, we hit up Dunkin Donuts and started a push toward New Hampshire.

The parking for this highpoint can be a bit tricky.  There are traffic control measures in place that making parking on the side of the road next to the highpoint very difficult.  Additionally, there are two private roads in the area to complicate things more.  However, there is what looks to be an abandoned road between the highpoint and the state line.  That looks like your best bet for parking and snagging this highpoint.