Range Bohemian Ranges
Two neighbouring summits above Strzegom carry a modern naming mismatch: Góra Świętego Jerzego on the west, Góra Krzyżowa / Krzyżatka on the east. Peakbagger's point is right; its name probably is not.
Range Bohemian Ranges
A barricaded start and fading forest roads made Jedlice harder to find than to climb. The reward was not a view but confirmation that this quiet wooded point is the highest summit in the Strzegom Hills.
RegionMasovian Voivodeship
A spare evening in Warsaw became an unplanned walk from the Saxon Garden to the Old Town. Dinner brought the surprise: we had unknowingly chosen the same restaurant we visited about ten years earlier.
Range Rocky Mountains
A 13-day road trip from Wisconsin to Colorado linked state high points, four Ultras, Yellowstone and Utah desert parks, from Michigan’s 12-centimetre summit dispute to a 4,302 m finish on Pikes Peak.
Range Southern Rocky Mountains
After snow stopped my 2019 attempt, I returned to drive Pikes Peak Highway, meeting bighorn sheep, crowds and brake checks before finally reaching a summit I admired more as a road trip than a mountain.
RegionUtah
Four spare hours after Mount Peale became a fast Arches circuit through 43°C heat, dark storm clouds, Balanced Rock, the Windows and enough roadside geology to justify the detour immediately.
Range La Sal Mountains
Mount Peale, highest point of the Colorado Plateau and a Utah Ultra, looked like a short outing until loose scree and a fast-building thunderstorm turned the summit into a brief touch-and-go.
Range Colorado Plateau
A failed Mount Ellen attempt unexpectedly produced Capitol Reef: Waterpocket Fold scenery, roadside Fremont petroglyphs, an OHV detour into badlands and a much better afternoon than the original plan.
Range Southern Wasatch
An Ultra-prominence hike through deer and wildflowers became a judgement call under distant thunder, then ended with a parking ticket that finally explained the trailhead’s nearly useless permit system.
Range Great Basin Ranges
At 40°C, Frary Peak delivered an exposed climb above the Great Salt Lake, an accidental Class 3 ridge variation, a shade-free summit and post-hike encounters with bison and bighorn sheep.
Range Greater Yellowstone Rockies
A second Yellowstone circuit traded bison for travertine terraces, smaller geysers and the impossible colours of Grand Prismatic, which easily became my favourite stop before a crowded Old Faithful finale.
Range Greater Yellowstone Rockies
My first Yellowstone day belonged to bison beside steaming ground, Hayden Valley and mudpots, with geothermal basins steadily overwhelming the irritation of a new $100 nonresident surcharge.
Range Bighorn Mountains
A first-light start became a 40.4 km, 15-hour day of quiet lakes, endless granite boulders, Cloud Peak Glacier, one summit apple and a careful return across the same log crossing after dark.
Range Great Plains
North Dakota’s high point rises from almost horizontal prairie as a compact island of pale, eroded terrain, reached by an easy ranchland trail whose public access has its own highpointing history.
Range Great Plains
A few hundred metres of tractor tracks reached a grassy South Dakota high point whose 150 km of isolation and open Coteau des Prairies landscape mattered far more than its summit shape.
Range Midwest-Great Lakes Area
I came for 215 km of isolation and found beautiful Minnesota lake country, an old lookout tower, uncertain summit ground and enough mosquitoes to turn a 1.5 km walk into a sprint.
Range Midwest-Great Lakes Area
Wildfire smoke made the drive uncertain, but Eagle Mountain became a calm walk through wetlands, Whale Lake and forest to Minnesota’s high point, its survey history and remarkably isolated summit.
Range Midwest-Great Lakes Area
Wildfire smoke and disastrous forest-road shortcuts complicated the approach to Mount Curwood, where a 2024 dGNSS survey challenged Mount Arvon’s official status and identified a new Michigan high point by about 12 centimetres.
Range Midwest-Great Lakes Area
Racine gave a spare half-day a clear direction: Lake Michigan shoreline, a quiet harbour breakwater and Wind Point Lighthouse, where historic foghorns proved more rewarding than a risky scramble over slippery rocks.
Range Midwest-Great Lakes Area
A nearly level Wisconsin summit with 210 km of isolation, two observation towers and one misread park entrance turned a 1.8 km walk into an unusually memorable lesson in topography and parking.
RegionŁódź Voivodeship
After a morning on Trójgarb, a routine drive through Poland turned into an unexpectedly good night in Łódź: Poznański’s red-brick factory empire, a mirror-lined courtyard, a silent disco, and Piotrkowska still warming up close to midnight.
Range Bohemian Ranges
Trójgarb interrupted a routine drive across Poland: one unvisited P100, a compact forest climb and a striking triangular tower that finally opened the surrounding hills beyond the trees.
Range Brazilian Highlands
Eight Ribus shaped our two-week drive through southeastern Brazil, but difficult access roads repeatedly controlled the itinerary. Between them came Atlantic Forest, two Ultras and milestone summits for both Rob and me.
Germany
A cheaper journey home from Brazil left me one hour in Nuremberg before sunrise. Rather than wait at the bus station, I walked through the empty old town to St. Lorenz and Nassauer Haus.