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Highpoint Attempts
West Texas Towns
Texas County Highpoints
Return To The
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In 1993 I climbed the Texas state highpoint, Guadalupe Peak, but did not return for more hiking in the state until the 1999-2000 odometer rollover, when I climbed Franklin Mountain near El Paso on December 31st, and Emory Peak in Beg Bend National Park on January 1st, sandwiched around good beer, food and music at a honky-tonk in Alpine. At first my plan was to concentrate on the mountainous highpoints of the Trans-Pecos region, which is the more-often used name for the western Texas panhandle ("West Texas", as I soon discovered, usually means Lubbock or Abilene). However, I was not above visiting the low-lying desert county highpoints, joining up with Bob Martin for many trips to the state. In fact, from 2000 to 2004, we joined together for at least a few days each year for a county highpoint harvest in the Lone Star state. Bob's company was always appreciated and his gift of charm often won us permission from landowners to seek out the highpoints that I probably would not have done if solo. Over these years I eventually managed to cobble together a continuous run of counties from El Paso in the extreme west to Bowie County in the extreme northeast corner. The challenge here was rarely the climbing, if there was any at all, but the logistics of getting onto the land, and the orienteering to get to the various highpoints. While most were fairly easy, a few were very challenging in the field. Each area of Texas is interesting in its own right: the mountains of the Trans-Pecos, the grassy plains of the northern panhandle, the mesas and breaks of the Lubbock-Abilene region, the scrubby ranch properties of the southern tip, and the rolling hills of the Texoma-Arklatex regions. I haven't done much in the central or southeastern sections of the state. On the one hand it is kind of far, and also, frankly, the swampier, thickety regions don't interest me much - which is not to say I'll never go for them. Some day I'll find myself in the Houston area and then I'll go see what I can do. My current Texas County total is 116 counties, which isn't even half-way, since the state has 254 counties. Bob has managed to accrue over 200 counties, and a few others have passed the 100 mark. 
Bob Martin (1920-2008)
Bob and I tackled numerous Texas county highpoints over the period 2001 through 2005. I truly enjoyed driving and hiking with Bob, a genuinely good man and a true friend. Happy highpointing "up there", Bob!
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