"Highpointing", the process of visiting the geographic high point of each of the fifty states, is another passion, and an agreed-upon goal between my son, Nathan, and myself. To be precise, we will almost certainly settle for 49 of the 50 highpoints, as Mt. McKinley (20,320'), the highpoint of Alaska and of the North American continent, is likely to remain forever beyond our reach.

The origin of this goal can be traced to a friend's lending me the book Seven Summits by Dick Bass. Bass, the developer of the Snowbird ski resort in Utah, made it his goal to be the first person to climb all seven continental highpoints. Now, I aspire someday to hike to the base camp on Mt. Everest, but its summit is and will remain beyond my mountaineering skills and risk tolerance. Instead, Bass's book started me thinking about the "Fifty Molehills" and led me to the Highpointers Club as a more achievable personal goal.

Reaching many of the high points is merely a matter of driving to a well-maintained parking lot and meandering a few hundred yards along paved trails. Others require a bit of exploring, like Kansas, whose Mt. Sunflower lies an hour or more south of Interstate 70 near the Colorado border, after several obscure turns, none of which are documented on the state highway map.

Yet others are strenuous but straightforward hikes: Mt. Whitney in California and Mt. Elbert in Colorado have trails all the way to their summits, but getting there involves several miles and 4,000' to 6,000' of elevation gain.

A few are legitimate climbs. Mt. Hood in Oregon and Mt. Rainier in Washington require technical snow and ice climbing, with crampons. Granite Peak in Montana and Gannett Peak in Wyoming also involve snow, but require a degree of rock-climbing, as well.