US National Park Highpoints

US National Park highpoints

Near the summit of Mt Olympus, the Olympic National Park highpoint, during an attempted March 2007 ascent

The US currently has 63 officially-designated national parks, and each national park has a highest point. These parks tend to be in mountainous locations, and thus the national park highpoints constitute a list of fun and sometimes difficult mountains, in regions of the country recognized for their natural beauty. Currently nobody has climbed all the highpoints, though several mountaineers have climbed 59/63 of the highpoints.

The difficulty of these peaks range from easy drive-ups like the Everglades highpoint, to sea kayaking trips (Biscayne Bay and Dry Tortugas), technical rock climbs (Goode Mountain in North Cascades National Park), and serious glacier expeditions (Mt Fairweather in Glacier Bay national park). The most difficult peaks are likely Mt Igikpak in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Mt St Elias in Wrangell St Elias National Park.

So far we have climbed 45 national park highpoints (Eric – 44 and Matthew 20). Click below for a trip report from each of the highpoints we’ve climbed.  Park highpoints are listed in order of elevation, based on data from peakbagger.com.

Highpoint locations (map from peakbagger.com)

1. Denali – Denali (20,310ft)
2. Wrangell St Elias – Mt St Elias (18,008ft)
3. Glacier Bay – Mt Fairweather (15,325ft)
4. Sequoia – Mt Whitney (14,498ft)
5. Mt Rainier – Mt Rainier (14,411ft)
6. Rocky Mountain – Longs Peak (14,255ft)
7. Kings Canyon – North Palisade (14,242ft)
8. Grand Teton – Grand Teton (13,770ft)
9. Hawaii Volcanoes – Mauna Loa (13,679ft)
10. Yosemite – Mt Lyel (13,114ft)
11. Great Basin – Wheeler Peak (13,063ft)
12. Yellowstone – Eagle Peak (11,367ft)
13. Death Valley – Telescope Peak (11,048ft)
14. Great Sand Dunes – Great Sand Dunes Wilderness Highpoint (10,520ft)
15. Glacier – Mt Cleveland (10,466ft) (attempt)
16. Lassen Volcanic – Lassen Peak (10,457ft)
17. Lake Clark – Redoubt Volcano (10,197ft)
18. Haleakala – Haleakala (10,023ft)
19. North Cascades – Goode Mountain (9,200ft)
20. Grand Canyon – Lookout Tower Hill (9,165ft)
21. Bryce Canyon – Rainbow Point (9,115ft)
22. Capitol Reef – Billings Benchmark Southeast (8,960ft)
23. Crater Lake – Mt Scott (8,929ft)
24. Black Canyon of the Gunnison – BCG Public Land highpoint (8,840ft)
25. Guadalupe Mountains – Guadalupe Peak (8,749ft)
26. Zion – Horse Ranch Mountain (8,726ft)
27. Saguaro – Mica Mountain (8,664ft)
28. Mesa Verde – Park Point Lookout (8,571ft)
29. Gates of the Arctic – Mt Igikpak (8,276ft)
30. Olympic – Mt Olympus (7,969ft)
31. Big Bend – Emory Peak (7,825ft)
32. Katmai – Mt Griggs (7,600ft)
33. Canyonlands – Cathedral Butte Northwest (7,160ft)
34. Great Smoky Mountains – Clingmans Dome (6,643ft)
35. Carlsbad Caverns – Open Hollow North (6,535ft)
36. Kenai Fjords – McCarty Peak (6,400ft)
37. Petrified Forest – Pilot Rock (6,234ft)
38. Joshua Tree – Quail Mountain (5,813ft)
39. Arches – Elephant Butte (5,653ft)
40. Wind Cave – Rankin Ridge (5,013ft)
41. Kobuk Valley – Mount Angayukaqsraq (4,700ft)
42. White Sands – White Sands National Park Highpoint (4,116ft)
43. Shenandoah – Hawksbill (4,050ft)
44. Badlands – Red Shirt Table (3,340ft)
45. Pinnacles – North Chalone Peak (3,304ft)
46. Redwood – Redwood National Park Highpoint (3,262ft)
47. National Park of American Samoa – Lata Mountain (3,169ft)
48. Theodore Roosevelt – Peck Hill (2,860ft)
49. New River Gorge – Grandview (2,517ft)
50. Channel Islands – El Montanon (1,808ft)
51. Acadia – Cadillac Mountain (1,528ft)
52. Hot Springs – Music Mountain (1,400ft)
53. Voyageurs – Voyageurs Highpoint Tower (1,400ft)
54. Isle Royal – Mt Desor (1,394ft)
55. Virgin Islands – Bordeaux Moutain (1,286ft)
56. Cuyahoga Valley – Cuyahoga Valley National Park Highpoint (1,170ft)
57. Mammoth Cave – Cave Ridge (920ft)
58. Indiana Dunes – Indiana Dunes National Park Highpoint (900ft)
59. Gateway Arch – Gateway Arch National Park Highpoint (470ft)
60. Conagree – Conagree National Park Highpoint (130ft)
61. Everglades – Grossman Hammock (10ft)
62. Dry Tortugas – Loggerhead Key Highpoint (10ft)
63. Biscayne Bay – Totten Key Highpoint (10ft)