Project Highpointer

I’m working on highpointing the U.S., meaning ascending to all the highest points each of the 50 states. And naturally, writing home about it. 50 peaks, 50 essays.

  • Mount Greylock, Massachusetts

    Mount Greylock, Massachusetts

    Well, this is unexpected. Texas first for the Texas resident, sure. Louisiana, a natural progression therefrom. Massachusetts. Excuse me? One of these things is not like the others. There’s no grand explanation, other than that there are many benefits to having a corporate day job based on the East Coast. (Many benefits.) I flew out…


  • Driskill Mountain: Highpoint 2, Electric Boogaloo

    Driskill Mountain: Highpoint 2, Electric Boogaloo

    What is more timeless than the romance between a woman and her checklist? (Or a woman and her excel spreadsheet, depending on the era). The sparkle of electric chemistry on the moment of creation, the unbearable tension of those first few items checked off, the delight of so many challenges yet to come spread out…


  • Summit at Guadalupe Peak

    Summit at Guadalupe Peak

    I’ve always wanted to be a travel writer. Before I was a poet, before I broke into the industry that is now my day job, when it still seemed possible to earn one’s living writing—I wanted to go places and write about what I found there. What challenges I found, and faced, and how I…