The United States is home to some of the most beautiful and majestic mountain ranges in the world. From Cheaha Mountain in Alabama to Gannett Peak in Wyoming, each state has its own unique highest elevation point, with some reaching more than 20,000 feet from sea level. Here’s a look at the highest elevation points in each U.S. state, as well as the state crowned with the highest peak of them all.
Alabama
Cheaha Mountain is Alabama‘s highest peak at 2,413 feet (735 meters) above sea level. It is commonly referred to as Mount Cheaha and is located in Cheaha State Park is located almost halfway between Birmingham, AL, and Atlanta, GA. Named by the Native American Creek nation in the Muskogee language, “Chaha” means “high place.”
Alaska
Denali is the highest peak in the United States and North America at 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level. The mountain was named Denali, meaning The Great One, by The Koyukon people, part of the Athabaskan Indigenous groups local to the land near the Koyukuk and Yukon rivers. It was renamed Mount McKinley by a gold prospector to honor candidate William McKinley who became the 25th President of the United States. In 2015, President Obama restored the Indigenous name to the mountain and the park.
Arizona
Humphreys Peak is the highest point in Arizona at 12,637 ft (3,852 m) above sea level. It is 14.5 miles northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona, and is part of the Coconino National Forest. When you reach the peak, you can see the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, the mesas of the Hopi Indian reservation, the Verde Valley, and Oak Creek Canyon. The trail starts at 9,200 feet, and the peak’s website warns that breathing could be difficult due to the elevation.
Arkansas
Magazine Mountain is the highest peak in Arkansas at 2,753 ft (840 m) above sea level. It is part of the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests, and is an excellent place for backpacking, horseback riding, mountain biking, ATV riding, and technical rock climbing. It is also one of two parks with hang gliding launch pads in the state.
California
Mount Whitney is the tallest mountain in California and the lower forty-eight states at 14,494 feet (4418 meters). Mount Whitney is close to the border of Sequoia National Park, Inyo National Forest, and the park’s eastern edge.
Because of the Great Western Divide mountain range, it is challenging to see the peak from the park’s entrance, and the best view of the mountain is at the Interagency Visitor Center on Highway 395. The park requires all visitors who wish to climb the peak, and they usually do that from the Inyo National Forest, to obtain a permit first.
Colorado
Mount Elbert is the highest peak in Colorado and the second highest in the lower forty-eight states at 14,440 feet (4401.2 meters). Mt. Elbert is considered one of the “fourteeners,” or one of the fifty-eight Colorado mountains taller than fourteen thousand feet. The nearest town is Leadville, Colorado.
Connecticut
The highest point in the state of Connecticut is the southern slope of Mount Frissell at 2,379 feet (725 meters) above sea level. You will find the mountain summit in Massachusetts within Mount Washington State Forest, part of the Taconic Mountain Range.
Delaware
Ebright Road is the highest benchmark in Delaware at 447.85 feet (136.50 meters) above sea level and is close to the Pennsylvania state line. While there was some controversy if the town of Centerville might be the highest Point, the Delaware State Geological Survey reported that Centerville was only 445.58 feet (135.81 meters) above sea level, making it the second highest point. The Ebright Azimuth disk marks the spot.
District of Columbia
Fort Reno Park is the highest elevation in the District of Columbia at 409 feet (125 meters) and was built in 1861 after the first battle of Manassas by the defeated Union Army as a defense. The forts that defended the cities of the Union and the capital were dismantled after the war, but Fort Reno stood until about 1892.
Florida
Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida and the lowest high Point in the United States at 345 feet (105 meters). A monument marks the spot; the high Point is only 103 feet lower than Delaware’s Ebright Azimuth.
Georgia
The Brasstown Bald Visitor Center is the highest point in Georgia at 4,784 feet (1,458 meters). It is located in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests and has a picnic area, hiking, and a mountaintop natural science and history museum. The Center’s observation deck has views of four nearby states, Georgia, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina.
Hawaii
Pu’u Wekiu, the cinder cone of Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano on the Big Island of the Hawaiian island chain, is the highest point in Hawaii at 13,803 feet (4,207.3 meters). Mauna Kea means White Mountain in the native Hawaiian language. From Mauna Kae’s base in the ocean, the peak is 33,476 feet (10,203 meters) tall, or taller than Mount Everest, the tallest mountain above sea level.
Idaho
Borah Peak, at 12,662 feet (3,859 meters) above sea level, is the tallest peak in Idaho. It is also known as Mount Borah and Beauty Peak and is part of the Lost River range.
Illinois
Charles Mound is the highest natural point in Illinois at 1,235 feet (377 meters) above sea level. It is a high hill with a gentle slope in Scales Mound Township and is the lowest high point in the Midwest United States.
Indiana
Hoosier Hill is the highest point in Indiana at 1,257 feet (383 meters). A monument marks the spot inside a tree grove fifteen miles north of Richmond, near the Ohio border.
Iowa
Hawkeye Point is the high point of Iowa at 1,670 feet (509 meters) above sea level. For many years, no one could see it because of the crops in the cornfields. But that’s no longer a problem since Osceola County built a roadside stop commemorating Hawkeye Point’s location.
Kansas
Mount Sunflower is the highest point in Kansas at 4,039 feet (1,232 meters). According to data from the University of Kansas, it is part of the High Plain in Kansas, which comes from sediment that ran down from the Rocky Mountains over time and was deposited in Kansas, forming the Ogalla Formation, which is the base of the High Plain.
Kentucky
Black Mountain is the highest mountain in Kentucky at 4,145 feet (1,264 meters) above sea level, also known as Katahrin’s Mountain. It is located in Harlan County, close to Virginia‘s border.
Louisiana
Driskill Mountain is Louisiana’s highest elevation at 535 feet (163 meters). It’s called a mountain but is more of a hill. Located in a forest area north of Shreveport, hiking to the summit is easy and can be accomplished in about forty-one minutes.
Maine
Mount Katahdin is Maine’s highest point at 5,268 feet (1,607 meters). In the Indigenous Penobscot language, Katahdin means Great Mountain. Katahdin stands in Baxter State Park, where the Appalachian Trail ends in the north.
Maryland
Hoye-Crest is the highest peak in Maryland at 3,360 feet (1,025 meters). It is a summit of Backbone Mountain in the Potomac-Garrett State Forest. It has a second-growth hardwood forest dominated by mixed oaks, sugar, red maples, black cherry, basswood, ash, and birch, one of the only such forests left in Maryland.
Massachusetts
Mount Greylock is the highest elevation in Massachusetts at 3,491 feet (1,065 meters). The Massachusetts website says of the mountain, “From its peak on a clear day, you can see as far as 90 miles away.”
Michigan
Mount Arvon is the highest peak in Michigan at 1,979 feet (604 meters) above sea level. Twenty-seven miles from L’Anse, Michigan, in Baraga County and part of the Huron Mountains, visitors have an excellent view of Lake Superior from the peak.
Minnesota
Eagle Mountain is the highest elevation in Minnesota at 2,301 feet (702 meters) above sea level. It is a seven-mile hike round trip, and part of the trail is in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, so it is a wilderness trail.
Mississippi
Woodall Mountain is the highest peak in Mississippi at 806 feet (246 meters) above sea level. It was the scene of the battle of Iuka during the Civil War. The original name of Woodall Mountain was Yow Hill.
Missouri
Taum Sauk Mountain is the highest mountain in Missouri at 1,772 feet (540 meters) above sea level. It is part of The Taum Sauk Mountain State Park and the St. Francois Mountains. You can hike through the park’s trails for eighteen miles, and portions are part of the Ozark Trail.
Montana
Granite Peak is the highest peak in Montana at 12,807 feet (3,904 meters) above sea level. The mountain is in the Northern Rockies and part of the Beartooth Range. This mountain is a challenging hike, and part of the ascent contains class three and four technical rock climbing.
Nebraska
Panorama Point is the highest natural point in Nebraska at 5,429 feet (1,655 meters) above sea level. It isn’t a mountain but another low-rise part of the High Plain like Mount Sunflower in Kansas. It has a marker set to document the spot and a state corner marker close by.
Nevada
Boundary Peak is the highest mountain in Nevada at 13,140 feet (4,007 meters) above sea level. It is naturally located in the Boundary Peak Wilderness area and is a challenging and long hike. At the peak, you have panoramic views of Lake Mono, The Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the White Mountains Wilderness.
New Hampshire
Mount Washington is the highest peak in New Hampshire at 6,288 feet (1,918 meters) above sea level. The mountain is known for its extreme weather, featuring over two hundred mile-an-hour winds. While most of the mountain is part of the Presidental Range of the White Mountain National Forest, the areas around the summit are part of Mount Washington State Park.
New Jersey
High Point is the highest mountain in New Jersey at 1,803 feet (550 meters) above sea level. It is the summit of the Kittatinny Ridge, and you have a view of three states at the summit, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
New Mexico
Wheeler Peak is the highest point in New Mexico at 13,161 feet (4,014 meters) above sea level. It is part of the southernmost range of the Rocky Mountains, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Formerly named Taos Peak, the mountain is near Taos and Red River.
New York
Mount Marcy is the highest peak in New York at 5,344 feet (1,630 meters) above sea level. The Algonquin call the mountain Tahawus, meaning cloud-splitter, and the Mohawk call it Tewawe’éstha, meaning it pierces.
North Carolina
Mount Mitchell is the highest mountain in North Carolina and the highest peak in the Appalachian Mountains at 6,684 feet (2,039 meters) above sea level. It is part of the Black Mountain subrange. The Cherokee call it Attakulla, meaning leaning wood.
North Dakota
White Butte is the highest feature in North Dakota at 3,506 feet (1,069 meters) above sea level. It is located within the Badlands area of the state and the closest town in Amidon, which is seven miles away.
Ohio
Campbell Hill is the highest elevation in Ohio at 1,549 feet (472 meters) above sea level. This summit was originally an air force station, now a career center, and is considered a glacial moraine or a place built up by deposits of debris in an area that used to be covered by a glacier.
Oklahoma
Mesas are ridges or hills with flat tops, and Black Mesa stretches through three different states, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Black Mesa is the highest point in Oklahoma at 4,973 feet (1,517 meters) above sea level. It is considered a geological wonder of North America.
Oregon
is the highest mountain in Oregon at 11,249 feet (3,429 meters) above sea level. Part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, it is more than just a mountain. It is a possibly active stratovolcano or composite volcano. Krakatoa in Indonesia, Vesuvius in Italy, and Mount Saint Helens are all stratovolcanos.
Pennsylvania
Mount Davis is the highest elevation in Pennsylvania at 3,213 feet (980 meters) above sea level. It is located in the Forbes State Forest, near Markelton in Somerset County, and was named for a Civil War era naturalist and veteran, John Nelson Davis.
Rhode Island
Jerimoth Hill is the highest point in Rhode Island at 811 feet (247 meters) above sea level. An observatory sits on the location of the high point and was formerly hard to visit due to the local landowner before 2005.
South Carolina
Sassafras Mountain is the highest mountain in South Carolina at 3,554 feet (1,083 meters) above sea level. It is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. In 2019, the state opened an observation tower at the summit.
South Dakota
Black Elk Peak is the highest peak in South Dakota at 7,244 feet (2,208 meters) above sea level. It is part of the Black Elk Wilderness area in The Black Hills National Forest. In Lakota, the mountain is named Hiŋháŋ Káǧa, meaning owl-maker, or Heȟáka Sápa, meaning elk black.
Tennessee
Clingmans Dome is the highest elevation in Tennessee at 6,643 feet (2,025 meters) above sea level. The Appalachian Trail does intersect with Clingman’s Dome, which is part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Domes are mountains formed by magma pushing sedimentary rock layers upwards and forming dome-shaped mountains.
Texas
Guadalupe Peak is the highest mountain in Texas at 8,751 feet (2,667 meters) above sea level. It is nicknamed the Top of Texas and is considered a strenuous hike that is more difficult on the way down. The round-trip hike is eight point four miles and takes six to eight hours to finish.
Utah
Kings Peak is the highest point in Utah at 13,528 feet (4,126 meters) above sea level. It is a mammoth twenty-seven-mile hike located three hours away from Salt Lake City. It is nestled in the Ashley National Forest and part of the Highline Trail.
Vermont
Mount Mansfield is the highest peak in Vermont at 4,395 feet (1,340 meters) above sea level. The summit is within Underhill, and the mountain is a spot where true alpine tundra still exists in Vermont. An interesting feature of Mount Mansfield is if viewed from the east or the west, the mountain looks like the profile of a human face.
Virginia
Mount Rogers is the highest mountain in Virginia at 5,729 feet (1,747 meters) above sea level. It is part of the Mount Rogers Recreation Area, and you can hike up to the summit with minor difficulty coming up to The Appalachian Trail through Grayson Highlands State Park.
Washington
Mount Rainier is the highest peak in Washington State at 14,411 feet (4,395) above sea level. It is another active stratovolcano covered by glaciers that feed no less than five rivers. The Puyallup call the mountain Tahoma, which means the mother of waters. Ancient forests and wildflower meadows also cover the magnificent volcano in its national park.
West Virginia
Spruce Knob is West Virginia’s highest elevation at 4,863 feet (1,483 meters) above sea level. It is part of the Allegheny Mountains and is the chain’s highest ridge. The odd name comes from the growth of Red Spruce trees on the mountain, and the high winds in the area often cause the trees to grow in flag shapes or one-sided.
Wisconsin
Timms Hill is Wisconsin’s highest point at 1,951 feet (595 meters) above sea level. It is located in the town of Hill and Timms Hill County Park. The hill has a lookout tower, and Timms Hill Trail is connected to The Ice Age Trail, a national scenic trail.
Wyoming
Gannett Peak is Wyoming’s highest mountain at 13,804 feet (4,210 meters) above sea level and the highest peak in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The Gannett Glacier is possibly the largest in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. The mountain is remote amid the Bridger Wilderness and connects to the Bridger-Teton National Forest and Shoshone National Forest. Gannett Peak rates a profound difficulty level for climbers and hikers, a class four/five terrain.
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