I got to the trailhead late this morning to discover that the trail had been closed for a week. No explanation on the sign. As the ranger office south of the turnoff for the trailhead is closed on Tuesdays, I drove to the ranger office another 16 miles north on 61. They closed the whole area b/c of some distant fires and b/c it is not easily accessible, which would make it difficult to rescue people if the fires spread. No exceptions for a 3-hour hike, even after quite a bit of rain the night and day before, b/c ``once people got there, they can continue hiking away further". Apparently, it is not normal to have fire closures in July, but not too unusual in August and September. I just want to pass this on in case anyone is planning a long-distance trip there in advance.

I solo day-hiked Kings Peak on July 18th. This was my second state highpoint (I did Borah last year). I started at about 12:30 am, and summited at 8:45 am. Total car-to-car time was 15 hours 50 minutes. Despite the favorable weather conditions portrayed in this picture, those clouds in the background started quickly came up and started raining (thunderstorms, naturally) shortly after noon. The last several miles of my hike were in the rain (with a brief stint of hail).

There was no snow on the trail. The lower several miles were complete mud on the way back down because of the rain (the trail turns into a streambed when it rains).

Super stoked for my wife and I to hit 48/50 last week on Gannett! Our friend (not photoed) hit 5/50, and our pup hit 1/50 (our old pup made it to 32/50 with us, but she is no longer here). Happy to share trail and climb info if needed for anyone, just leave a comment or DM.
I'm just pumped and wanted to share :-)

Edit:

Lots of questions about the climb:
Trail until the summit push was nothing major of note, other than mosquitos and deciding whether to take the new bridge or wade the river (we chose to wade). There were a BUNCH of campsites between 10,400-10,900 to setup the night before the summit push, and at 10,900 was where the vegetation stopped (and where we camped). There were more campsites above that in the boulder fields and even up just before the glacier, if you want to take packs up further (we did not).

We chose to enter the hike with only the following gear: trail runners, microspikes, helmets, and glacier axes. We knew going in like this came with risks, and our whole team was on board with the risks, and willing to turn around if necessary.
Day before our summit day, we had all afternoon at camp and watched teams of people struggle coming down the couloir. Because of this and our limited gear, we wanted to start early...so we started before 2am. The glacier was quite good to us in the early AM, we were able to easily walk with the microspikes, and kick steps into the ice when needed. The ice above the couloir was not great, and there was lots of post-holing, so we mainly stuck to the rocky crest as much as we could. Coming down between 6-8am the ice was already starting to get ugly and slushy, but we were able to get down the steep section in ~10 minutes. Given the conditions we had, I don't think boots or crampons would have made life any better. Had we started much later, descending the couloir would have been rough, and we would have needed pitons, ropes, and harnesses. There was a group that climbed up just after we came down, it it took them over an hour to descend that same section we did in ~10mins. The bergschrund was open in 2 spots for us, but there was an easy passage for us to walk between them, so we didnt have to worry about it. With how hot is has been, it is likely much more open now, and our gear would not be sufficient.

If I were trying to summit this summer season, I'd wait until later in the summer when most of the big snowmelt is gone and try to do basically the whole thing on rock. The ice was melting out quick and I assume it will be very dangerous for the next few weeks.

Im more than halfway done with the Northeast, having done NJ, CT, MA, NH, and RI. About 3 weeks ago I knocked out 4 in 3 days (photos are from that trip), now I have Marcy, Mansfield, Katahdin and Davis left to do.

More than halfway done with the Northeast (hiking all of my highpoints rather than driving), having done NJ, CT, MA, NH, and RI. About 3 weeks ago I knocked out 4 in 3 days (photos are from that trip), now I have Marcy, Mansfield, Katahdin and Davis left to do.

Forty nine of the fifty states have been flagged! https://highpointers.org/flags-on-the-highpoints/ All since March 13, 2026. Fifty states in 134 days! The final flagging of Spruce Knob will be this Saturday July 25 at the Highpointers Convention on Spruce Knob. Flaggings don't end on July 25, the Highpointers Club welcome additional flaggings right thru the end of 2026 in celebration of AMERICA 250.

While bikepacking the Grand Illinois Trail, an approximately 500 mile loop around northern Illinois that links together a bunch of trails with some roads in between, I took a detour to hit Charles Mound. Got there about an hour before sunset on July 5. I thought I was the last person that weekend, but it turned out a few people showed up even later than I did. Walked up to the high point and took some pictures. It may not be the most exciting state high point, but I enjoyed the views of rolling hills here and on the roads leading up to it. This was my fourth state high point!

I had a spectacular time hiking up Wheeler Peak this past week on the less popular east approach from the East Fork trailhead.

Howdy! I wrote about my Longs Peak summit this past weekend in a blog. I included timestamps and pictures. Hopefully this information is helpful if you haven’t summited Longs but are curious. Mainly it’s for entertainment! I’m hoping this doesn’t break community rules bc the blog isn’t a promotion - I’m not paid for writing or selling anything here. I genuinely enjoy reading / hearing about other people’s adventures so thought some individuals in this group might feel the same. Linked 🔗 if you’re interested!

While climbing Borah today, I made a haiku:

It just goes straight up. Certified suck fest, no doubt. High Point forty five.

In all seriousness, this hike was absolutely the sketchiest one I've done. Between Cor (not that bad going up), the ice bridge, the scree/loose boulders and the sheer amount of elevation gain over such a short distance, you couldn't pay me any kind of money to hike this again. To top it off, a thunderstorm rolled in right as we were making our way down Cor, not a great time.

Trail conditions were fine up past Cor, the snow bridge was a bit soft, used crampons and trek poles and tried not to imagine shooting down a half mile into the abyss. The final stretch up to the summit has a decent amount of snow pack and the trail is hard to navigate. I don't think the snow has that much longer, definitely very soft in some spots. This peak definitely had me at the edge of my comfort zone. Saw some big Horn sheep, that was neat. Took about 11 hours round trip

Hello community - for those of us considering a hike up Granite Peak via the Southwest Ramp via Lady of the Lakes trailhead - can we get any updates on the snow and ice conditions at the crux within the ramp and or elsewhere (e.g. the snow tongue) and whether crampons (spikes) and ice axe may be required during a summit attempt last week of August 2026? Much appreciated. Thx

I am basing my ratings on the views at each high point, how much fun I had at each, as well as the care put into making each high point unique. This is completely subjective.

Kings peak was much harder than I anticipated, beautiful but brutal is how id describe it. Hats off to you guys doing this in one day

June 23, 2026, our 2 person summit of Mount Rainier and our 25th High Point.