American Alpine Project
Ascending America's Highest Peaks to Raise Spirits Around the Globe
High Point, New Jersey
High Point, NJ
Elevation: 1,803 ft.
Summit Attained: Around 4 p.m., January-February 2000.
This highpoint is located in northwestern New Jersey, near the Poconos region. The creative name for the place makes more sense when you get there and realize that it's just a structure resembling a lighthouse, sitting at the top of a small tree-covered hill.
There is a road to the top, but my family decided that it would be more legit if we did at least a hundred feet of climbing to get to the summit. It was the dead of winter, so our scramble up the hill involved trudging through glowing nuclear New Jersey snow...well not really, but it was knee-deep all the way up the fairly steep incline. If you kept your eyes glued to the snow, it almost seemed like you were climbing somewhere other than dirty Jers.
The top was literally a sheet of ice. To add to the extreme conditions, a really strong wind was blowing, which allowed us to play a great game where we stood with ours arms extended to the sides and rocketed 30 ft. backwards in about ten seconds. The winner was the one who almost went over the edge first.
This highpoint could have been pretty boring, but was fun because of the conditions. Go in the winter, preferably after a really bad storm, and the place should be pretty entertaining.
Elevation: 1,803 ft.
Summit Attained: Around 4 p.m., January-February 2000.
This highpoint is located in northwestern New Jersey, near the Poconos region. The creative name for the place makes more sense when you get there and realize that it's just a structure resembling a lighthouse, sitting at the top of a small tree-covered hill.
There is a road to the top, but my family decided that it would be more legit if we did at least a hundred feet of climbing to get to the summit. It was the dead of winter, so our scramble up the hill involved trudging through glowing nuclear New Jersey snow...well not really, but it was knee-deep all the way up the fairly steep incline. If you kept your eyes glued to the snow, it almost seemed like you were climbing somewhere other than dirty Jers.
The top was literally a sheet of ice. To add to the extreme conditions, a really strong wind was blowing, which allowed us to play a great game where we stood with ours arms extended to the sides and rocketed 30 ft. backwards in about ten seconds. The winner was the one who almost went over the edge first.
This highpoint could have been pretty boring, but was fun because of the conditions. Go in the winter, preferably after a really bad storm, and the place should be pretty entertaining.
