Forum of Lists

I'm starting a new topic to focus solely on High Points for wilderness areas.

Here are the states that are done and posted:
Colorado
New Mexico
Wyoming

Here are the states that are done: (some of which need to be redone for verification, using newer more accurate boundaries). Click on each state in bold to get Excel file.
Alabama (done)
Arkansas (done)
Connecticut (no wilderness areas)
Delaware (no wilderness areas)
Idaho (done)
Illinois (done)
Indiana (done)
Iowa (no wilderness areas)
Kansas (no wilderness areas)
Louisiana (done)
Maine (done)
Maryland (no wilderness areas)
Michigan (done)
Minnesota (done)
Mississippi (done)
Missouri (to redo)
Montana (done)
Nebraska (to redo)
Nevada (done)
New Hampshire (done)
New Jersey (done)
New York (done)
North Dakota (done)
Ohio (done)
Oklahoma (done)
Rhode Island (no wilderness areas)
South Dakota (done)
Texas (JK should verify)
Pennsylvania (done)
Utah (done)
Vermont (done)
Washington (done)
Wisconsin (done)

Next on the list:
Florida (17): JF
California: JK

Other states to do:
Alaska (41)
Arizona (84)
Georgia (12)
Hawaii (2)
Kentucky (2)
North Carolina (11)
Oregon (39)
South Carolina (5)
Tennessee (9)
Virginia (17)
West Virginia (4)

(I will update this message as states are finished and indicate which state(s) we plan to work on)

I just finished doing all the wilderness areas in New England (ME, NH, VT, NY, MA - RI and CT didn't have any). The data for these HPs are in the attached Excel file.

It was quite easy to find the HPs for most areas. There were three exceptions, noted in red in the "Notes" column. Here too is a brief explanation for each one.
1) The sole wilderness area for Massachusetts (Monomoy) was an area of dunes with so many convoluted contours, it was essentially impossible to figure out what the highpoint was. Someone who has a digital map might be able to figure this out, but it's impossible with Topofusion.
2) George D. Aiken - an unnamed point was the highest point within the USGS boundary; however, a higher point (Prospect Mountain) was a little ways outside of the USGS boundary. The way the boundary was shaped, it seemed that it could have been further to the west, which would have put Prospect Mountain on the boundary and thus in the wilderness area. I searched all over for a better map, but couldn't find one. If I were to bet on it though, I would say Prospect Mountain is not in the wilderness, so I chose the unnamed point.
3) Moosehorn - There were two possible high points. The boundary was clearly marked on the USGS 1:24K Topo maps. The highest contour in the area was 200' and there were two of them. One was a named summit (Littles Mountain) without a marked elevation, while the other was along the side of a slope on the edge of the wilderness area. The wilderness boundary was slightly closer to the 200' contour than the 220' contour at its closest approach to the 220' contour, so I chose Littles Mountain as the HP.

Thanks Joe

I have NM in progress and we have CO done but not compiled.

I'll call dibs on WY, UT, TX, and CA for now.
I'll build an excel master list of our progress and post later today.

JFToujours wrote:1) The sole wilderness area for Massachusetts (Monomoy) was an area of dunes with so many convoluted contours, it was essentially impossible to figure out what the highpoint was. Someone who has a digital map might be able to figure this out, but it's impossible with Topofusion.

see this map (has two spot elevations with 46'):
http://docs.unh.edu/MA/mnmy53se.jpg

Before finding this, I estimated the HP to be here, which interpolates to 45':
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=41.56441,-69.98885&z=15&t=T

I think 46' is what we should go with since we have a clear document regardless of what the current true topography may be (for instance the north spot appears to be partially gone looking at the most current quad).

John Kirk wrote:

JFToujours wrote:1) The sole wilderness area for Massachusetts (Monomoy) was an area of dunes with so many convoluted contours, it was essentially impossible to figure out what the highpoint was. Someone who has a digital map might be able to figure this out, but it's impossible with Topofusion.

see this map (has two spot elevations with 46'):
http://docs.unh.edu/MA/mnmy53se.jpg

Before finding this, I estimated the HP to be here, which interpolates to 45':
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=41.56441,-69.98885&z=15&t=T

I think 46' is what we should go with since we have a clear document regardless of what the current true topography may be (for instance the north spot appears to be partially gone looking at the most current quad).

Wow, the map from unh is so much better than the USGS one!

I agree that the 46' one should be used, as a spot elevation greater than any interpolated elevation should be used, unless proven otherwise from field observations.

Am I correct that you have a digital version of these maps? I have a digital version of the 1:100K maps, but not 1:24K.

Joe - Could you post the wilderness HP lists for Illinois and Wisconsin? I'm curious at what they are and whether I visited any of them when I was living in the midwest. Thanks in advance.

A draft list is prepared for CO. Looks like we'll need to create 3 new "peaks", one is a 14er not yet listed (has only 29' prominence). Two wilderness areas were left off the peakbagger.com list, and 6 other HPs on that list are incorrect (one of those because of map error on elevation of Pt 12712).

TWorth wrote:Joe - Could you post the wilderness HP lists for Illinois and Wisconsin? I'm curious at what they are and whether I visited any of them when I was living in the midwest. Thanks in advance.

Here they are (and for Indiana and Michigan too)

Colorado is listed and a Wilderness HPs area has been built:
http://listsofjohn.com/wilderness/wildindex.php

Soon should have NM in there too.

An updates area will need to be built for states without full listings at LoJ, which will include a means to update wilderness HPs for all states.

New Jersey done (all two wildernesses )

Pennsylvania done (all one area)

Like so many wilderness areas, the high point lies along the boundary. I wasn't able to figure out precisely the location, but I have it really close. The best map for the boundary I could find is at http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/alleghe ... ek/map.jpg The high point lies just to the west of where a lookout tower is indicated on the USGS topo maps, which is not in the wilderness area.

I have completed Montana, including two areas that overlapped into other states (in each case, HPs were in Montana.)

As usual, there were a few issues:
1) The HP of UL Bend Wilderness lies along an uncertain boundary.
2) I strongly believe Welcome Benchmark (7723') is the highest peak in the Welcome Creek Wilderness. The highest peak according to the data on LOJ is Cleveland Mountain, listed as 7737' on the USGS topo map and LOJ. However, I strongly believe the USGS Topo map has a typo and the elevation is actually 7337'. The next lowest thick contour is 7200' and there are three thin contours in between. The stats for Cleveland Mountain and Welcome Benchmark will need to be fixed.
3) The Selway-Bitterroot HP is Trapper Peak A. However, on the LOJ site, the line parent on LOJ is listed as Watchtower Peak ID/MT, a shorter peak. This needs to be fixed.

I checked my data against those at peakbagger.com and they all agreed.

JFToujours wrote:2) I strongly believe Welcome Benchmark (7723') is the highest peak in the Welcome Creek Wilderness. The highest peak according to the data on LOJ is Cleveland Mountain, listed as 7737' on the USGS topo map and LOJ. However, I strongly believe the USGS Topo map has a typo and the elevation is actually 7337'. The next lowest thick contour is 7200' and there are three thin contours in between. The stats for Cleveland Mountain and Welcome Benchmark will need to be fixed.
3) The Selway-Bitterroot HP is Trapper Peak A. However, on the LOJ site, the line parent on LOJ is listed as Watchtower Peak ID/MT, a shorter peak. This needs to be fixed.

Thanks Joe - corrected

John Kirk wrote:Thanks Joe - corrected

You're welcome. It's the least I can do to help improve your awesome site.

Idaho is complete. An easy state to do. Only issue was Hells Canyon which has a tie: both He Devil and She Devil have the same interpolated height. LOJ has He Devil ranked higher, so used this peak.