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    Ameritrekking Adventures: Highpointing Minnesota's Eagle Mountain: Trek, #3.1
    Ameritrekking Adventures: Highpointing Minnesota's Eagle Mountain: Trek, #3.1
    Ameritrekking Adventures: Highpointing Minnesota's Eagle Mountain: Trek, #3.1
    Ebook63 pages55 minutes

    Ameritrekking Adventures: Highpointing Minnesota's Eagle Mountain: Trek, #3.1

    By Joseph G. Whelan

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This booklet is a sample of a full-length book.  It is Chapter 3 in Ameritrekking and Highpointing: Finding the Lost River Range.  If you already have that book, don't buy this booklet.

     

    This short story tells the tale of the author's visit to Minnesota's highpoint, Eagle Mountain.  A highpoint is the highest naturally occurring geographic point in a state.  Eagle Mountain is the 37th-highest highpoint in the 50 states.  The summit is 2,301 feet above sea level.  The visit took place in the same year (1997) as the third Ameritrek, the subject of the main book.  This is one chapter from that book, so you can travel vicariously to Minnesota's highest point and sample the writing at the same time.

     

    The main book, Finding the Lost River Range, resulted from an 8,000-mile, three-week road trip visiting other highpoints and local and national parks in 20 states.

     

    Over the years the author drove more than 125,000 mile—the equivalent of five times around the Earth at the equator—and spent over a year on the road.  He went to 45 highpoints and many other strange and wonderful places.  He continues to travel and write.  Buy this sample booklet and join the adventure today!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJoseph Whelan
    Release dateOct 13, 2020
    ISBN9781393938422
    Ameritrekking Adventures: Highpointing Minnesota's Eagle Mountain: Trek, #3.1

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      Book preview

      Ameritrekking Adventures - Joseph G. Whelan

      Ameritrekking Adventures

      Highpointing Minnesota’s Eagle Mountain

      By

      Joseph G. Whelan

      Copyright © 2019 by Joseph G. Whelan

      All rights reserved.

      We were traveling from Miami to Minnesota, a state located near, or possibly inside, Canada.

      —Dave Barry

      Table of Contents

      1: What’s It All About?

      2: Mosquito Madness

      3: More to Explore

      1: What’s It All About?

      ––––––––

      If they don't have highpoints in Heaven, I'm not going.

      —Jack Longacre

      (Founder, Highpointers Club)

      ––––––––

      Hello!  If you’re new to the Ameritrekking and Highpointing series of books and booklets, Welcome!  If you and I have met before, however indirectly, Welcome Back!

      *************

      I’ll explain what this booklet is about in just a moment but first I wish to be completely upfront and make the following ...

      !!!!!  FULL DISCLOSURE  !!!!!

      ... which is that this short story is taken word for word from a full-length book entitled Ameritrekking and Highpointing: Finding the Lost River Range.  Therefore, if you already have that book, there is no need to buy this booklet.

      *************

      And now, here are quick explanations of Ameritrekking and highpointing.  What are those things?  What’s it all about?

      Ameritrekking is a word I made up.  It began in 1995 when my employer required me to start using up months of accumulated vacation time.  Since they were making me go, I talked my way into three weeks off to see the country by car.  This became the first book in the series, Ameritrekking and Highpointing: Discovering America the Beautiful.  Along the way I realized that something above and beyond a long vacation was happening.  That something I called Ameritrekking.  The next year I took another three-week trip and a pattern was established.  It’s been over 20 years now and I’m still rolling around.  So far I’ve driven over 100,000 miles and been to all of the states in the Lower Forty-Eight.  I’ve spent over a year on the road.  After each trip I created an extensive report based on notes and pictures I had taken along the way.  Lastly I rewrote those reports into what I hope are entertaining books about a beautiful country.

      Highpointing is a word somebody else made up.  A highpoint is defined as the highest natural geographic point in a state.  Each state has a highpoint, even lowly Florida.  Every state is unique and so is every highpoint.  Some are mountains while some are not.  Some are accessible by wheelchair (once you drive to them) while some require a significant investment in mountaineering equipment and training even to attempt.  Trying to get there is highpointing.  I have been to 45 of the 50 highpoints.  I live in Florida within walking distance of saltwater, at an elevation of 13 feet above sea level, and have few illusions about my abilities.  I am not a mountaineer.  Nevertheless I managed to climb higher than I thought possible and maybe reading about my journey will inspire you.

      Highpointing involves a lot of travel, much of it by car.  Even if you decide to fly you’ll find that in most states airports and highpoints are far apart, so you end up driving a long way anyway.  Ameritrekking and highpointing are two different creatures but they complement each other well, especially if you embrace the idea that the journey matters more than the destination.  In the next chapter you can read about my 10th highpointing adventure, the visit to Minnesota’s Eagle Mountain.

      It’s now been about two decades since these things came to pass and looking back over that span of time I honestly can’t say that the highpointing was better than the Ameritrekking or the other way around.  They were both worth doing and today the recollections of each are warm and fuzzy in some vital but indescribable way.

      They form a mental bank account on which we draw in leaner times.

      —Edwin Way Teale

      (on memories)

      The chapter about Eagle Mountain is called Mosquito Madness because these small insects played a big role in the adventure.  At the time of my visit, Eagle Mountain was a little-visited place in a big state.  As far as I know, not much has changed.  The highpoint is the 37th highest in the country.  Getting there involved a long drive followed by a hike that was more difficult than anticipated.  One of the enchantments of highpointing is that every highpoint is different.  I like all the ones I’ve been to, each in its own way.  Eagle Mountain has its charms, mosquitoes notwithstanding, but read on and decide yourself.  Minnesota as a whole has its charms, and you should check them out one day.  If you go, you may find nice people, the headwaters of

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