Taum Sauk: High Point 4

My Dad wants to hike as many of the highest points from each state in the US as he can. He has hiked many more than me, but I have been lucky to hike several of them with him. We started with our home state of California. Mt. Whitney is the highest mountain in the continental US. I was 17 and I enjoyed the hike a lot more after I reached the top.

Luckily, and maybe becuase he took me on the most difficult one first, our next stop was Florida. The high point of Florida is the LOWEST high point in the USA. After that, we had "bagged" the highest high point and the lowest high point in the continental US. Since then we have been working on the in between ones.

Last weekend we went to the highest point in Missouri, Taum Sauk Mountain, which is 1,772 ft above sea level. The funny part is that you drive to the top. Afterward, you can then hike around on the Ozark trail, which is what we did. The Ozark Trail is in Southeast Missouri and goes all the way to Arkansas. (info source)

The Ozark Trail. 

 Fall has sprung! Look at those colors already!

 A stick bug. I almost stepped right on him.

We had a great hike and then afterwards went and ate lots of fried foods. Because driving up to 1,700 feet above sea level REALLY makes you hungry. Stay tuned for more photos on Thursday when I am doing the 12 weeks to Better Photos course on Composition!

California Highest Point: Mt. Whitney, CA -- 14,494 FT -- California Elevation Map
Missouri Highest Point: Taum Sauk Mt., MO -- 1,772 FT -- Missouri Elevation Map
Louisiana Highest Point: Driskill Mt., LA – 535 FT-- Louisiana Elevation Map
Florida Highest Point: Britton Hill, FL – 345 FT -- Florida Elevation Map

You can get elevation and location information for ALL of the high points HERE.

Do you have any strange experiences like this that you "collect"? Do you like hiking? Have you ever been to any of the high points?  

*************Also, check out my post about Why I Travel over at WRTR!