There are about as many reasons people climb to high points as there are people who attempt them. In fact, not even all the state high points are even summits (looking at you Connecticut). Some are buried deep, or not so deep, in the woods (Rhode Island), in neighborhoods (Delaware), or on almost flat plains (Kansas). Others, like Montana, Arizona, Utah, Hawaii, and of course Alaska, have true mountain summits all higher than 12,000ft of elevation. For reference, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684ft (ranking 16th overall by elevation).

50StateHighPoints.com co-founders decided to visit their first high point (Delaware) in 2012 and, on a whim, challenged each other to summit the remaining 49 states together as a lifetime goal. The motto of the challenge became "It's not the journey, it's the destination" as they decreed that high points could be achieve through whatever means necessary (i.e. driving all the way to the summit, see New Jersey). While this has resulted in some rather easy high points (Delaware, Kentucky, New Jersey, etc.), others have remained a challenge (Tennessee, Connecticut).

Other highpointers, as they are known, challenge themselves to hike to each summit over a certain distance on trails, or to achieve every high point within a certain time window (the record is less than 22 days for all 50 high points by Colin O'Brady).

It turns out, however, no matter how you achieve the high points, each one is remarkable and will provide memories that will last a life time. Inevitably, when our co-founders gather for special occasions, stories from various high points surface and they've both come to realize that even though their motto focuses on the destination, it's still the journey that will always be remembered.